Disney: Reflections of Identity

Touching on the material mentioned in the last entry on Disney’s educational values, it makes sense to consider an educational approach to identity also. Eisner and Disney have implied they are aware of the influence their corporation can have on its audience and consumers as an educational factor (Giroux, p. 28). Indeed Disney animations and films can be used to teach morals, traditions and values which can be seen to resemble religious teachings; but if this is so, racism, discrimination and ethnocentrism is also very possible in which case Disney animations under Eisner (who remains central to Disney Corp. productions (Stewart, p. 116)) were either not carefully constructed or deliberate in the subtle teachings of inequality.

“Disney’s centrality in culture, its dominance of the children’s film market, and its constructivist post modern worldview contribute to the understanding of it as a major force of influence in culture, a hegemonic agency” (Ward, p. 131).

According to Pinsky (p. 127) Eisner tends to remain quiet about his opinions on the subject of Israel, which is perhaps due to his background and Jewish heritage (Pinsky, p. 127). Instead Eisner has acknowledged his feeling’s as being uneasy regarding setting a film in the Middle East, such as Aladdin (1992) (Pinsky, p. 127). The media has huge impacts on how people are socialised from a young age (ward, p. 16) so these cultural representations become imprinted within their ways of life.

However, Disney has created few of their animated films with animals as they are used to replace human emotion and identities in many of the Disney films. This is perhaps a clever attempt to shadow racism as animals are not distinctly ‘human’ and furthermore reinforce the idea of a ‘circle of life’ (Burt, p. 49), the resemblance of the economy, and Disney as the Lion. The Disney film The Lion King (1994) was one of Disney’s known racist films, as the Hyena’s were likened to an urban gang voiced by African American’s (Pinsky, p. 154).

Furthermore, as Disney was a transnational corporation, they reflected numerous stereotypes through different characters for different nationalities, for example the Rescue Aid Society featured numerous mice from around the globe in the Disney animation The Rescuers (1977). These representations can be considered stereotypical and at times rather racist such as Mulan (1997), and can be used as an educative tool for young children.

“Racism and sexism linger in the small cracks and crevices of American life, so children’s films that support equality in matters of race and gender are still valuable” (Booker, p. 173).

References:

Booker, M.Keith. Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children’s Films. California: ABC-CLIO. 2010.

Burt, Jonathan. Animals in Film. London: Reation Books. 2002.

Giroux, Henry.A. The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2001.

Pinsky, Mark.I. The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. Kentucky: Westminister John Knox Press. 2004.

Stewart, James.B. Disney War. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2005.

Ward, Annalee.R. Mouse Morality: The Rhetoric of Disney Animated Film. Texas: University of Texas Press. 2002.

Ward, David. The European Democratic Deficit and the Public Sphere: An Evaluation of EU Media Policy. Amsterdam: IOS Press. 2002.

Image: 'Mulan' copyrighted Disney Enterprises Inc.