How media affects people is an important element in
understanding society. It is essential to determine how people respond to media
so we can better understand today’s culture. Our consumption of media starts at
an early age. Children are influenced heavily by movies. The Payne Fund
findings indicated “children accept the information in the movies as correct
unless it is flagrantly incorrect.” This shows the importance in the messages
displayed in children’s movies such as Disney films. These films and their
effects on children were examined by the Mickey Mouse Monopoly documentary. The
documentary focuses heavily on the cultural studies media and magic bullet perspectives
by examining how gender and racial stereotypes affect children who watch Disney
movies.
In the Lion King, Dr. Alvin
Pouissaint claims that the Hyenas speak in a street/city African American
dialect identifying the hyenas with inner-city minorities, particularly African
Americans, and portraying the hyenas as the bad guys in the movie. This
portrayal of the hyenas as the bad guys led to a three-year-old white child
associating a group of African American children with the hyenas. According to
Jacqueline Maloney, the child not only recognized the type of dialect used but
also made the connection that the group of African American children were bad
as the hyenas were portrayed in the movie. The Lion King is not alone—Tarzan
depicts a white man in the jungles of Africa with no African people present
potentially promoting white supremacy to African American children. Not many
Disney films depict even one African American character at all and the children
interviewed in the documentary took notice of that.
The documentary also explores the depiction
of women as being slim with large breasts, and mostly dependent on men. In
Aladdin, Princess Jasmine uses her looks to seduce Jafar, while in movies like
the Hunchback of Norte Dame and Hercules, the main female character has to be
rescued by the lead man, symbolizing an inability to be independent.
Just by viewing these movies
children might see these misrepresentations as truth. This is an example of the
magic bullet theory where the effect of the media has an immediate impact on
them. Furthermore, as children they don’t have an ability to find out if what,
if any, customs they viewed in the movie are actually true. This is a major
reason why the messages and portrayals in children’s movies are so important.
They just take what they see and hear as truth, being very passive in how they
view the media.
I found it really interesting when the documentary explained the situation with hyenas being associated with black children by a white child. Obviously, it wasn't the child's fault that she associated the other children with the villainous hyenas from the Lion King, but she was just making a connection based on the similarities of the voices and dialects. I find this particularly interesting because in all the time's I've watched the Lion King, I've never once associated the hyenas with African Americans. I've never even thought the hyenas sounded like they were voiced by black actors. I think this shows that these types of things hit us on a more subconscious level, and that we don't think about it unless we are in a situation like the one in which the little girl was in.
ReplyDeleteI commented on the sexism displayed in Disney movies in my discussion as well. I focused more on the fact the women are always being rescued but I think it's important to note too how woman are portrayed to use their looks to seduce men and that women are objects that men should chase after. The documentary showed a couple instances of men admiring women in Disney movies such as Bambi and Beauty and the Beast. This is just a large a problem as showing women needing to be rescued. In addition to young girls learning they need a man in their life to rescue them, young boys are learning that its appropriate to ogle and chase after women.
I think both racism and sexism are huge issues in past Disney movies and it's important that Disney works to keep these issues out of future productions.