Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Children's Culture and Disney's Animated Films Writing Assignment
I thought that this essay by Henry A. Giroux is very informative and amazing at the same time. He addresses the impact that Disney leaves on children, statistical information to defend Disney's ownership of wealth and power, and many other topics, including critiques of Disney films. He transitions well from topic to topic and I was shocked to read about the amounts of money that Disney makes off of movies and consumer products, especially about The Lion King. The Lion King is my favorite movie of all time and I love everything about the movie. I think it is interesting on how Giroux attacks Disney films, including The Lion King. He discusses how the hyenas have black and hispanic voices, and how Scar is darker than "the good lions", and I never really noticed these things when I was little. I also like how he ties landscaping of Disney parks to other areas of the world like shopping malls and even homes. Children really do learn lessons from these movies, like he states, and I've learned many from these movies, especially Hakuna Matata, No Worries! I've never read anything like this before and I think that after reading this, I will be paying more attention to themes of Disney, their theme parks, and their overall impact on the world's societies. My dad even sent me a cool e-mail today about Disney offering internships to all college students, any major, and any school. This perfectly supports the idea that Disney is everywhere and that it impacts us everyday, no matter what we are doing.
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I agree with the fact that Disney is everywhere, but that is part of living in a capitalist society. If a company has the means to be everywhere most of the time they will to make more money. Also with the claim that the lion king is racist because Scar is darker than the other "good" lions, imagine if Scar had been an angelic white lion. It just would look stupid. Despite the racism people could infer from this fact, i believe this was done purely for cinematic purposes. In society the color black is related to evil and that is why scar was a darker color than the other lions. I dont think this had anything to do with Disney being racist.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting to hear your interest in the reading and the connections you made between this and your personal life. I agree that it is interesting to see the color of skin (hyena fur in this case) and hear the voices of characters played by blacks and Hispanics, and how they range between the "good" and the "bad" characters. As a child, I never noticed these depictions either, but after reading this article, I agree that it's interesting to look back on it with this new knowledge. I really liked how you tied in your dad emailing you about Disney, it's a really good way to draw a final parallel between Disney and its impact on individuals today.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the essay I also was like, "Wow, he has a point." But like you said when we were young we just didn't think that way. It was just a cartoon to us and it didn't have any subliminal message. I think that the image of innocence that Disney portrays itself as is more a reflection on us, the audience, than the movies itself. Once we have lost that innocence and look back at these movies, we find the underlying messages. But at this point in our lives we have already been subjected to the stereotypes and prejudice. But back then, it just really didn't matter to us.
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