When we are children we do not comprehend all the hidden racist, connotations within the classic Disney movies. While we can look back and see the flaws within each plot, it is only after a college education that these flaws have become apparent to us. Yes, women are portrayed as helpless and mindless characters that rely on a man, or a beast, to rescue them, but to a child this is nothing more then pure love. Cinderella is about a princess, who is kind to all and in turn becomes a character kids look up to. These movies demonstrate simple ways to understand relationships between people.
We can all admit that the Disney’s films take little care in developing diverse universes. Each one is usually about white characters and if another race appears they do seem to portray the stereotypes of a certain race. Does a five-year-old child see this in the film? Some people mentioned in class that children look up to certain characters and they may form prejudices based on what they see in films like Cinderella and Snow White. As someone motioned in class, an African American child’s self esteem may be hurt because she feels inferior to the white girls portrayed as princesses in these films.
In my opinion children do not simply form ideas on race based on the faults in a Disney film. When kids watch these films they see a princess, a prince, and a bad guy. They don't consider the races and stereotypes in these films. If they do, it is a matter of what they have been exposed to growing up, rather then simply what they see in a film. I grew up going to public schools and my entire kindergarten through eighth grade experience was at a school that used a Spanish immersion program to teach kids. In turn, Caucasians and upper middle class students were the minorities. My closest friends used to be children of immigrants from all over the world. My parents wanted me to be aware of the differences amongst people.
I even remember my first American Girl doll, which my mother picked out and surprised me with on my birthday. It was not Samantha, the wealthy, little, Caucasian girl growing up in the turn of the centur, but it was the Addy doll. Addy was a girl born into a life of slavery. My next doll was Josephine the girl living in Mexico. With these simple gifts my mother was teaching me lessons. I was not narrow minded, and I believed these dolls were just as pretty, if not prettier than the Caucasian dolls. Each one told a story of courageous girls growing up during hard times in a world extremely different then my own.
The point of all this, is that your family has a huge impact on how you receive and interpret messages you gain from the media and other human interactions. When a child watches Cinderella and doesn’t want to be friends with a girl of another race (other then white) it is ignorant of us to only blame Disney films. Parents can tell stories, use a small gift, and other ways to demonstrate equality amongst other cultures. Disney movies are fundamentally happy tales, which teach kids about life experiences in the most simplistic way. Kids get an insight into love, friendship and what is right and wrong. They may provide shallow insight, but the fact is most kids can only understand the basic levels of these themes. We all want to blame the media for our problems, but I do not believe Disney films single handedly provide negative messages for kids. We must critically analyze family life and other aspects of a child’s environment, since these are some of the main causes that encourage a child’s one-dimensional view of the world.
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