Running head: “LADY AND THE TRAMP”: NOT ONLY AN ENTERTAINING FILM
“Lady and the Tramp”: Not Only an Entertaining Film
Maher El Khechen
American University of Beiurt
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“LADY AND THE TRAMP”: NOT ONLY AN ENTERTAINING FILM
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Abstract
Disney animated films are not only for entertainment. They are films that are filled by different
kinds of stereotypes starting from gender passing through race ending with social inequalities or
different social classes. “Lady and the Tramp” is one of those films that include gender
stereotypes related to the roles of men and women, race stereotypes related to people from
different races and countries, and social classes’ stereotypes related to the difference between
upper and lower classes, and other ones.
“LADY AND THE TRAMP”: NOT ONLY AN ENTERTAINING FILM
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“Lady and the Tramp”: Not Only an Entertaining Film
Even movies, what entertain us, do not exist aside of the world political and social
messages. The films that we think are for kids’ entertainment and happiness are actually full of
stereotypes, political and racist messages. Therefore, what families think is fun for them and
their children, is actually what can implement certain ideas in their mind, and play a big role in
bombarding them by certain ideologies. Disney animated films are part of the movie industry
that gather in every film a full package of gender, race stereotypes, and surely political messages.
Children’s being the audience of those animated films does not stop the controllers of the
industry from using the films as a place to throw their thoughts, the thoughts of the powerful.
Lady and the tramp is a Disney animated film whose story is about a female dog that lives with a
family and then she gets in some troubles and another dog, the tramp, helps her and they love
each other and marry at the end. “Lady and the tramp” has different stereotypes related to
gender, race, social classes.
The gender stereotypes of the film are obvious in showing the differences between girls
and boys, and how should they be. The first problem is when the man in the film became very
happy because his wife gave a birth of a boy where he yelled “Whoa, boy, whoa”. This
represents the reactionary thoughts that boys are better than girls, and that men prefer their wives
to give birth for boys. The second problem is with the character of the Lady, it shows the typical
Disney’s image of the woman: the pretty, with beautiful eyes, eyelashes, and hair. She is the
princess-like character that appears in many Disney films. The film also shows how women are
always in need for men to feel safe, or they are attracted by men and they want to follow them
only. This is shown when the lady left the home and only the tramp –the man- helped her staying
“LADY AND THE TRAMP”: NOT ONLY AN ENTERTAINING FILM
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safe, and also shown in the song of a female dog that was about the tramp that says: “And I wish
that I could travel his way”.
This film also contains scenes and figures that hold racist messages. First, there are the
Siamese cats with broken- English language to show that they are not American, and their eyes
look like people from the Far East of Asia, and they love to eat chopsticks and fishes. In other
words, the film uses the characters of those cats in order to back up the Asian stereotypes. Those
cats are portrayed as bad ones and tricksters. The film also contains other stereotypes related to
race or people from different countries. This is shown in other Italian and Mexican characters. In
addition, all the human characters in the film are white, even the dogs are not black, however, the
lady (dog) meet with bad animals that are all black. For example, the rats and birds are black.
This is another racist stereotype that completes the black people stereotype.
Other stereotypes related to social inequalities exist in this film. One of those stereotypes
is actually in the whole story where the tramp is the poor one who tries to reach the heart of the
rich lady. This leads that the poor is always looking to reach rich people. In addition, the film
represents the different social classes, and the privileges the rich can have and the poor cannot.
For example, the lady and her dog neighbors can get license because they live with rich families,
while the tramp and other dogs that do not have a shelter do not get a license and thus the police
prosecutes them. Moreover, the film shows how the life of the upper class people differs from
the lower class, and that the poor has always a bad attitude and habits, and he is the one that
people do not love. For instance, the tramp was not welcomed by many dogs that live with rich
families, and even when he married the lady and had puppies, the puppy that looks like his father
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is riotous and another dog compares him to his father: “But there's a bit of their father in them
too”, and the tramp was once described as “mongrel”.
The film includes other small stories that can be put under the title of stereotypes and
problems. For instance, the rats are portrayed as bad creatures and that they should be killed and
when this happens, the happy end comes. The final scenes show this where a rat was going to
hurt the baby in his bed and when the dog kills the rat he wins the love of the rich family and
they accepted his marriage to the lady. Furthermore, the kids, when watching this film, are in
exposure to love relationships where the lady and the tramp kiss each other under the moon, and
the way men look at women.
Watching Disney films, children are manipulated by and susceptible to many
stereotypical messages related to race, gender, and society. Therefore, those entertaining Disney
films can prepare children to tolerate those messages or be unconsciously familiar to.