Saturday, March 1, 2014

My no longer happily ever after…why Disney why


I have to first say that I loved loved LOVED this reading! I have already used my “reflection” blog option, SO I have decided to do a hyperlinks blog this week.  I was really shocked to read about the Disney information and was sad that most of it is…true. I like many other children grew up with Mickey Mouse and friends and even all the Princesses. Let me tell you, my heart BROKE reading that section of the reading because as a child I believed every girl should grow up and find her prince. (Cliché ..I know), but after reading, I realize how the role of women is poorly portrayed infact..many roles are. I mean I would love to be whisked away to a castle and live my life without any worries but truly that's not the case. (Keep in mind during this whole post, I am a huge disney fan, But what must be analyzed will be analyzed.)


 Looking into cartoons, the woman became portrayed with different body types and even race. We have the desirable and beautiful Jessica Rabbit and then the Evil Ursula. Very different body types and personality portrayals

Jessica Rabbit is portrayed as a white, desirable, perfect figured character, were as Ursula is not. "The young pretty one's only ant to hook their man; the old, pretty ones are mean because they're loosing their looks. " (131)

Author Christiansen mentioned the absence of parents in cartoons. From Donald Duck cartoons, to Aladin, either a mother or father role is missing. Another big point that stuck out to me was how people of color are absent or misrepresented in many in many of the cartoons. Even charters who are over weight are portrayed differently from the roles of the "tinner" figured characters. Take a look at this clip from Beauty and the Beast. " Little Town " shows a variety of characters who are not as "beautiful" as Bell or "good looking" as Gaston. And the people of this town sing that Bell is the "odd" one yet they are all portrayed differently than her perfect character.  WHICH I NEVER NOTICED! (palm to face)

I feel as though I did what the students in the reading did and deciphered all these cartoons and Princess movies and now I analyze them ALL. Christiansen mentions that many of the students later stated " I want a toy that isn't sexist or racist" ( 134) Does that toy exist? i found this perfect example in a reading where adults ask this same question and even share examples os extremely racist or sexist toys. Remember BRATZ dolls girls? take a look at this article 

I truly believe Disney has tried to add diversity to their mix of characters and while many of the Mickey and friends cartoons or even Loony Toons don't have as much, Characters such as Tiana, a Princess of color, has recently been added to the Disney family.  Tough she still portrays this ambitious and determined girl working to make her dreams come true (again stereotyping a woman, working a small job, who later finds love with a man and her life is all set), there is a small touch of added race diversity.Yes, now that we have all read this article and understand the analyzing aspect,  this may be hard to accept but in some way Disney tried and in many ways succeeded. There are quite a few characters who have different nationalities and are from different places all over the world. Points to discuss in class could be how society has changed the way we look at various roles of men and women. Even look at some cartoons and movies from disney today and compare to older classics. 
I am in no way saying Disney is awful for creating these cartoons, because believe me I grew up watching Mickey Mouse and loved watching the episodes. I was probably a princess every year for halloween until I was 7.  My mind is just more open now to how the myths are created and portrayed to  younger audience. Loved this article though my "happily ever after" isn't so planned out anymore haha:)

10 comments:

  1. Hey! I really liked your post this week! I felt the same way when I read the article, but as you said as well, "what must be analyzed will be analyzed". I agree with the point you made about how this article does help us to be more open minded even though we still love the Disney movies :)

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  2. I like how the final thing you said for this blog post was that you are not bashing Disney, but instead are more open-minded to the real world. Which I think all of us realize when we are 18 years old and still not married like Ariel. (like come on she is perfection hahaha :) ) I was really surprised of how the students analyzed all of the cartoons and movies so well, and I think our class would have a similar approach to the lesson if we did it! Great job of showing pictures for every point you made!!

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  3. I really enjoyed reading your article this week, I felt the same about all of your point, and you included great videos! I will always love disney movies but I like how the reading this week was able to keep me open minded about society being portrayed in media. I also agree with what you said about Disney trying add more diversity! great job

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  4. Hey! I loved how you added the videos all of the videos. It made your post that much better. Also, I totally agree with the fact that this article just opened your mind to what the younger audience is taking in. Except now this is all I will be able to think about when I watch anything!! Nice job.

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  5. JACKIEEEEE! I loved your post this week! I love how you still have love for Disney movies but you're also able to see Christensen's view at the same time. Your love for this movies haven't changed (other than your happily ever after) but you still can analyze them the same way Christensen did. I agree, Disney does try to incorporate different themes in their movies but it's kind of hard to have every single theme in one movie. Overall, great post! ((I loved when you said "PALM TO THE FACE" when you realized you overlook something haha))

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  6. I loved your post this week! You did such a good job providing like actual videos of all the stereotypes that Christensen mentioned her class discovering themselves. So I really enjoyed watching them. But overall yeah great job I loved reading your post this week !

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  7. I loved your post Jackie!! You always do any amazing job analyzing the texts. OH By the way i'm using this post as my extended comments post this week. :)

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  8. Loved you post so so much. I was just as heartbroken reading this article, but I totally agree with you! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Hey Jackie! I loved your post this week with all the videos! It was enjoyable to read/watch. You did an awesome job analyzing this article! Your not the only one with the palm to the face issue, so did I! Great job :)

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  10. Great post Jackie!! The way you talked about the article and the videos you used portrayed the article so well and helped me understand the article so much better. I enjoyed your post because it was very personal as well. Great job and can't wait to read your next post. :)

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