For many of us, Walt Disney Pictures have played a large part in our childhood. Giroux (1995) even goes as far as saying that Disney are just as useful as school teachers and parents at teaching values and morals to younger children. Throughout Disney movies, important life lessons and messages are constantly being put across; whether it being Rapunzel telling us that sometimes, feeling the fear and letting go of familiarity can allow us to move forward and experience new and better things (Walt Disney Pictures, Tangled, 2010) or Timon from the Lion King sending out the positive message of 'Hakuna Matata', meaning no matter how hard life gets, you can always pull through (Walt Disney Pictures, The Lion King, 1994).
For the past century, many children have looked up to Disney characters with great admiration. Although these characters may have taught us lessons and inspired us to aim for our dreams, they may have also subliminally encouraged us to believe even more in the 'beauty goodness' stereotype.
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Is it really just biological and physical factors that determines whether someone is beautiful or handsome, or is there more to it? Whenever we hear someone describe another person as being 'beautiful', we automatically visualize a tall, slim woman with a curvy bone structure, long, blonde, glossy hair, smooth, sallow skin, crystal blue eyes, peachy lips, a neatly chiselled jaw line and prominent cheekbones. We also very often associate positive traits such as innocence and goodness with the stereotypical meaning of 'beautiful'.
All the features listed above are the type of characteristics people constantly see Disney promoting in their films which leads many to believe that they portray the 'beauty-is-good' stereotype. However, whilst Disney are seen to be the main culprits of encouraging this stereotype, there is no solid empirical evidence to prove that they are continuingly displaying it in every single one of their
Walt Disney once said “I don't believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn't treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should. Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature. Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality;” Rex and Mary Rose Walls lived by this quote.
In the book Of Mice and Men, Lennie is one of the first characters to be stereotyped. He is judged by everyone who sees him because he has a mental disability that people have a hard time looking past. They all see him as a big and dumb, even though he is described as tough and hard working many times in the book , for example on page 34 George says “He ain’t bright. Hell of a good worker, though. Hell of a fella, but he ain’t bright.”
There has been a lot of quarrels over the years about how children’s picture books are embracing traditions and presenting gender stereotypes. In an article I found, author Narahara May of “Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Picture Books,” discusses two major problems. One being that gender stereotypes and sexism has an emotional impact on the development of children’s identity and development. Secondly, she explains about how books in the last decade have portrayed gender negatively. Furthermore, I will be discussing May’s ideas further in depth by examining the portrayals of gender stereotypes found in the popular “Berenstain Bears” picture books.
The book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck took place in the 1930s when segregation was still present and people were treated poorly because of the color of their skin or their gender or a disability that they have. This story starts with our two main characters George and Lennie and they are moving around because Lennie gets the two kicked out of every town they go to. They go to the Ranch and meet the other characters and the main antagonist Curley. Curley’s wife flirts with everyone and gets Lennie in trouble with Curley where Curley punches him multiple times then Lennie crushes his hand. Later Lennie gets a puppy but plays too hard and kills it then Curley's wife walks in and talks to him, he accidentally kills her and runs to the original
In Outer Banks, Rafe Cameron is jealous of a character for the great treasure of goldthat he owns. Like in the television show, Rafe Cameron’s jealousy leads him to make unjust decisions that leads regarding the man to receive future negative karma. The stepsisters in Cinderella relate tremendously to Rafe. Cinderella has many stereotypes that support the theme of karma and the lesson that comes with it as shown using stepparents as evil people and stepsiblings as being jealous.
Hollywood is the home of flashing cameras, the famous red carpet, and glamorous celebrities. Hollywood is also the birthplace of extraordinary films which reach audiences across the world. The casting choices made by the film industry affects more than just the movie that is created. Hollywood directors and writers should have the social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters because the stereotypes offer poor (and often inaccurate) insight into the culture, negatively impacts child viewers, and limits the amount of quality roles for actors/actresses with diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Hollywood has been known for keeping latinos in their “racial lane.” Latinos have faced many challenges throughout the years in Hollywood due to racial stereotypes. Racial stereotypes in Hollywood typically include parts like, maids, housekeepers, immigrants and criminals. Although there's nothing wrong with being a maid or a housekeeper, it is wrong to stereotype all latinos as undocumented, uneducated criminals. For example, the late actress Lupe Ontiveros had recalled playing a maid 150 times during her acting career.
In addition, at the beginning of Bart’s career as the new sheriff, citizens hate him and would refer to him as nigger. An example of this, is when he greets an elderly woman good morning, she replies, “Up yours, nigger,” which illustrates her disapproval of the new black sheriff through racism. The townspeople’s racism gets in the way of what their town needs, which is a sheriff. After stopping Mongo, Hedley’s failed attempt to scare the townspeople away, the townspeople are a little more willing to accept him in their town. For instance, the old woman apologizes for her racist comment, “up yours, nigger”.
As one of the most influential entertainment producers, Disney dominates the global market for ages attracting the countless audience around the world. However, Disney’s most famous “‘princess’ fairy tale stories” (Barker, 2010, p. 492) are criticized for racism and sexism. In 2007, Disney confirmed production of the film, The Princess and the Frog, featuring the first African-American Disney princess, Tiana. For Disney this film was the response to the accusation of racism and sexism represented in its animation. Also, it was filled with African American parents’ anticipation and excitement who longed for a non-stereotypical black woman on the screen (Breaux, 2010, p. 399).
Disney, why is it so attractive to children? Parents thought of this question before, but didn’t find any answer. Many young children grew up watching Disney television shows, films, and even buying Disney cartoon characters. For instance Walt Disney began his company to share love and spread fun for both children and adults. However when gender equality, oppression, and advertising become an issue and fear over the population over those years, Disney has been hit with various claims of taking the difference between male and female, focus desires, and attracting children with amazing advertisements.
As children grow up, they tend to forget the stories that once made up their lives and look down upon what they deem as “child’s play”; however, these stories raise children where parents are not present. Fairy tales characters for children are the construction workers of the adult world, and as the children mature into adulthood, the gates of imagination are opened and the storybook characters morph into newspaper headlines; suddenly, the clock strikes twelve and the glitz and glamour disappear as the realization that “human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real [and] life is harsh before it is happy” (Tatar 306) sinks in. James Braddock, as he attends the ball, assumes the role of Atlas, holding the weight of the working class
There are many different stereotypes out there that wrongly depicts how one person would act depending on what they look like. Particularly, indigenous peoples have been stereotyped. With the expansion of media in this era, we can easily view how terrible these stereotypes are and have been for many years. Residential schools were fed by the ongoing assumptions on indigenous peoples, some TV shows and movies that are made for younger kids contain racist acts, and their culture has been used as a marketing strategy. Residential schools were built off of the horrible stereotypes and assumptions about indigenous peoples.
In Walt Disney’s The Lion King, a great amount of symbolism and life lessons teaches younger children and even adults exceptional things. Through the archetypes: wise old man, immortality, and symbolism of circles, Walt Disney’s The Lion King demonstrates that one’s past does not define their future.
For example, the Disney tale of Cinderella(1950) teaches little girls they need to be beautiful and pretty to be loved. It teaches kids not to be like Cinderella’s stepsisters who are ugly and jealous and
“When I grow up I want be a princess.” Almost every little girl 's dream was to grow up and live the life of the princesses we saw in movies. It was not until I actually started to analyze the movies that I realized that I do not want to be the princess I see on the screen. For so long I fell in love with the idea that I will one day find a man who will take care of me. I also pushed myself to fit the image of a “perfect princess”.