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COMS101 ESSAY: What conclusions can be reached
through a critical analysis of Disney’s films for
children? What would critics of these conclusions
argue?
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Introduction
Through a critical analysis of Disney’s films for children there are a
number of conclusions that can be reached around the representations of
romantic relationships in the films. Through an analysis of Pocahontas (1995),
this essay will focus on the conclusion that Disney films convey ideas that
interracial relationships are uncommon and marginalized. It is clear to see
through these conclusions that Disney’s films for children portray clear
ideas about what a relationship should look like and how it is formed. This
has quite an impact on how modern-day Western culture views interracial
relationships, because Disney is a site of learning and children are exposed
to it from a young age (Giroux 2001).
The Marginalization of Interracial Relationships
The conclusion can be reached through a critical analysis of some of Disney's
children's films that they portray intimate interracial relationships as
marginalized. There are very few depictions of romantic interracial relationships
in Disney’s films at all, which enforces the idea to the viewer that they are
uncommon. The film Pochahontas centres on the romantic relationship between
English colonist John Smith and American-Indian Pocahontas. The two of them
share a similar love for adventure, display kindness towards animals, both are
ultimately peacemakers, and both risk their lives for one another. However, at
the end of the film they cannot be together. The message comes through that
since they are from different races it will not work. This film is the only one
among the Disney films which does not end with a ‘happily ever after’ resolution.
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It seems to be beyond a co-incidence that this was also America’s first interracial
love story (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168).
The Idea Characters must be the ‘Same’
There is some interesting symbolism in the film itself. In a scene where
Pocahontas and Smith are together in the forest, the camera pans out to show
Smith’s gun lurking in the darkness of the bottom corner of the frame. The
conclusion can be drawn from this that, ultimately, the gun, symbolizing the
differences between their cultures, will be the cause of their separation. This idea
is backed up by a theme found in Disney films that characters must be similar or
share similar values to stay or be together (Towbin et al. 2004, pp.19-44). In the
case of Pocahontas where the two lovers do not look the same, yet still share
similar beliefs and personalities, this conclusion sends a startling statement to
the viewer that it is the visual difference of the characters that is the problem.
This attitude towards interracial relationships comes through in an analysis of
Disney animator Glen Keane’s approach towards rendering the figure of
Pocahontas (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168). Her body is composed of different
“aesthetically pleasing” body parts from American-Indian, Asian-American,
African-American and Caucasian models, and Keane designed her based on a
Western idealization of beauty (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168). The book The
Making of Pocahontas quotes that he referred to images of Western beauty to
“concoct a heroine that John Smith, or any other man, animated or otherwise,
might love” (The Making of Pocahontas, quoted in Edwards 1999, pp.147-168).
This comment implies that Pocahontas’s beauty must overcome her own race,
and that it is only her synthetic westernized standard of beauty that enables
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Smith to be attracted to her (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168). Some critics, however,
would argue that it is the exoticism of Pocahontas’s body is what makes her
appealing to Smith (Lacroix 2004, pp.213-229).
Interracial Romance as a Symbolic Metaphor
Another conclusion can be reached that interracial relationships are given
symbolic meaning to compromise for the lack of actual miscegenation. Disney’s
Pocahontas is the film where this can be seen most clearly. Through Pocahontas’s
rescue of Smith where she is willing to sacrifice her own life in order to save him,
Pocahontas becomes a symbolic mediator between the two conflicting cultures
(Whitley 2012, pp.82-85). Because of this act of self-sacrifice, Pocahontas
convinces her father to both spare Smith’s life and declare peace with the
colonialists. Although there have been critics who have argued that the film is a
sentimental deviant from the true history (e.g. Blum 2004; Giroux 2001; Ingram
2000), there is great importance in the symbolism of the relationship in terms of
creating peace (Whitley 2012, pp.82-85). However, in this symbolism the actual
reality of the interracial romance gets lost, as Pocahontas and Smith’s romance
becomes linked to their attempts for peace (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168).
Racial Mixing and Miscegenation
This distraction from the actual romance through symbolism is continued
through the attempts to create a picture of multi-ethnicity in the film (Edwards
1999, pp.147-168). In real history, Pocahontas married another colonist, John
Rolfe (Woodward 1969, quoted in Whitley 2012 pp.82-85). However, in Disney’s
version there is no actual interracial mixing. This confirms the conclusion that
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Disney has avoided the miscegenation of races and therefore conveys the idea
that interracial relationships should be marginalized. Disney had avoided this
actual interracial mixing by depicting Pocahontas’s body as visually multi-ethnic,
even though this would have been historically impossible (Edwards 1999,
pp.147-168). Animators achieved this by using models from different ethnicities
to depict her body as a colored version of white standards (Edwards 1999;
Jhappan & Stasiulus 2005, pp.164). The effect of this is to create a synthetic
interracial mixing that would be enough to satisfy the need for actual
miscegenation, and in the process to gain a larger audience, and therefore
revenue, for the film.
The separation of Pocahontas and Smith at the end of the movie prevents any
possibility for any continuing relationship that could result in sexual
miscegenation (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168). It is speculated that Disney did this
to avoid complications of racial categories while still symbolizing the unity of
different races (Edwards 1999). The effect of this promotes the idea that
interracial mixing is “taboo”. According to Edwards, the writers never imagined
racial mixing to occur in the present, they instead simply symbolized this
through the visual mixing on Pocahontas’s body, which also created a synthetic
miscegenation for the past. This conveys a negative message about the mixing of
different races, and perhaps what is even more alarming is the fact that the
difference of color is seen to be such an important factor to consider in the first
place. In a culture that claims to overlook differences and claims equality,
Disney’s films for children portray a strong, negative message about racial
differences (Giroux 2001). To its credit, Disney did attempt to fix its reputation
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for racism in the film Pocahontas by hiring a team of American Indians to consult
with, though this appears simply as an attempt to satisfy the critics by seeming
more inclusive, and to satisfy viewers needs (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168).
What Critics Argue: Positive Interpretations of Disney’s Representation
Although the conclusion can be reached that Disney’s films convey the idea that
interracial romances are marginalized, some critics have argued that there is
progress in this area and that, in the film Pocahontas specifically, there is
imagery around breaking past these differences (Whitley 2012, pp.82-85).
Whitley (2012) speculates that these ideas form the ideas of America itself.
Disney’s vice-chairman and head of Feature Animation Department himself
claims that Pocahontas’s story was chosen because it involved people getting
along with each other despite their different cultures (The Making of Pocahontas,
quoted in Edwards 1999, pp.147-168). Similarly, Whitley (2012, pp.82-85)
argues that Pocahontas’s saving Smith out of love shows that it is possible to
overcome the differences between different social groups, and that an individual
can break away from the expectations and ideologies of their social conditioning.
This can be debated in the fact that Pocahontas does not go with Smith at the end
of the film because of her dedication to her culture, and she chose the traditional
gendered path by staying with her family and therefore staying within their
assumptions (England 2011, pp.555-567). It can also be argued that Pocahontas
is a positive example of interracial romance because of the relationship’s
symbolism of creating racial harmony and peace (Edwards 1999, pp.147-168).
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Progress in the Representations of Interracial Relationships
Critics also have noticed some progress in the representation of interracial
romantic relationships in some other Disney films. In one of the most recent
Disney films for children, Princess and the Frog (2009), there is another
interracial relationship, yet this one ends with a marriage (England 2011,
pp.555-567). This shows significant progress from Pocahontas, although critics
still query the racism that could be interpreted from the working position of the
colored princess. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) also ends with an
interracial marriage. Although this is seen in only two films, it does present some
hope that Disney’s views of interracial relationships might be changing.
It is also interesting that Pocahontas and Princess and the Frog are two of the few
Disney films that show an intimate relationship taking time to develop (England
2011, pp.555-567). In Pocahontas the relationship takes one day to develop,
rather than instant love at first sight, and Princess and the Frog is one of the two
films where it takes the whole movie for the characters to fall in love (England
2011, pp.555-567). This is interesting because these films represent the majority
of Disney’s films on interracial romance. Perhaps a conclusion could be drawn
from this that interracial romances are depicted as positive because they are
related to the developing of a friendship before entering the relationship rather
than instant love at first sight.
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Conclusion
Through a critical analysis of Disney’s films for children there are a number of
conclusions that can be drawn around relationships in the films. This essay has
focused on the conclusion that intimate interracial romances are marginalized in
Disney’s films for children. Although these conclusions have strong evidence to
prove they are true, there are naturally critics who would argue for exceptions.
Critics argue that there is progress in Disney’s representation of interracial
relationships and that it is slowly beginning to portray a more balanced and
realistic portrayal of these relationships. Although Disney has attempted to right
its racial stereotyping, the theme still emerges that interracial relationships are
not encouraged.
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Bibliography
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Ingram, D 2000, Green screen: environmentalism and Hollywood cinema,
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