Animated Oppression?
by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Brian Johnson
Imagine these words set to music…
What can you expect from filthy little heathens? Here’s what you get when races are diverse. Their skins are hellish red; they’re only good when dead. They’re vermin, as I said, and worse, they’re savages. Barely even human…They’re not like you and me, which means they must be evil.
Beneath that milky hide there’s emptiness inside. I wonder if they even bleed. They’re savages, barely even human—killers at the core. They’re different from us, which means they can’t be trusted.
Now, imagine your child memorizing and singing them over and over and over again.
This exchange from Disney’s Pocahantas (1996) is just one of thousands of scenes in mainstream Hollywood films targeted at young children. What have your children internalized from watching these animated “family friendly” films?
“Difference” is a common theme in these types of films, and unfortunately, the overwhelming take-home message is that difference is not good—or, at least, it’s a major hurdle to overcome.
Critical engagement with diversity and multiculturalism provides an opportunity for parents, teachers and learners to challenge ethnocentric assumptions and the manners in which we have been shaped by educational institutions, religious traditions, community leaders, family systems, and yes, the mass media.
As parents, we have to take seriously the idea that popular film can be a vehicle for social commentary, analysis, and criticism. We should examine both how a film works as a cultural medium and how and why it affects the viewer the way it does. We should learn how to use popular American films to understand competing perspectives on American history, culture, and society.
Consider this scene from Happy Feet…(DVD scene 15)
It is mating season in Emperor Land and several male penguins are vying for the attention of Gloria, a young female with a beautiful singing voice. The males sing their “heart songs” and the one with the complementary song to Gloria’s will win her affection. Mumble returns with his new friends, The Amigos, and tries to dance his way into Gloria’s heart. It appears to be working and the other young penguins begin to dance with Mumble. The elder patriarchs of Emperor Land catch on and attempt to put a stop to the fracas. The leader, Noah, blames the shortage of fish on a “foreign” element (Mumble and his friends), and he calls for their expulsion—he calls them a “disorder,” and an “aberration,” referring to their dancing as a “kind of backsliding” and a “pagan display.”
It’s scary to think about what the studios are teaching our kids about how to treat others who are different. I don’t know—should we ban our kids from watching these types of “innocent” movies? What do you all think? I’ve only named two examples—I would love to read more examples from you parents.
Brian Johnson is committed to fostering intercultural learning and building communities across layers of difference. He is an ordained minister and is the founder of Manna Unlimited Motivations, a motivational education company that provides diversity education for schools and businesses.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Maegan la Mala wrote:
Um this is why my children are not allowed to watch Disney movies. There is a new film coming out as well, with Chihuahas .Peter Pan and what makes the red man red jumps into my head.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 7:09 am ¶
mama d wrote:
Piggy backing on the “Happy Feet” example: There are layers of hate/fear in that movie.
My children both live with congenital gifts. One was born with a cleft lip and palate (now 3.5 years) and the other is albino (3 years old). It will be some time before they see “Happy Feet” because of they way it handles the father’s mismanagement of his egg and how that mismanagement results in a penguin who is different; or, as the older generation put it, an “aberration.”
Posted 16 May 2008 at 7:20 am ¶
mrs._lioness wrote:
I just had to comment because I absolutely HATE Happy Feet and feel that it is a perfect example of racial stereotyping (which seems to be something that Robin Williams is quite comfortable doing time and time again - he voices one of the Amigos and Lovelace). Not only do you have the “Three Amigos”, translate “vatos from East L.A. who are there for comedic affect that rides on being able to laugh at the “other”, you have “Lovelace” a spiritual guide who gives animated sermons in a stereotypical African American style complete with slicked back featherss, translate, a satirizing of Al Sharpton.
I am sick and tired of the “sidekick character” who is using stereotypical characteristics of various people of color and is basically acting out the role of court jester in movies. It seems this day that one of those characters in thrown into almost every children’s movie and then the movie’s makers believe they have somehow made a culturally diverse movie and deserve a pat on the back. How about some real diversity?! Not just the promotion of what is basically modern day blackface/brownface/etc.
Thanks for the post Mr. Johnson - we need more commentary like yours out there.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 8:46 am ¶
BMS wrote:
I tend to be biased, as I don’t own a TV, and I severely restrict the DVDs my kids watch. But it seems that regardless of how little or how much screen time kids have, parents need to be aware. Yes, my kids have seen Star Wars. But not before I considered what they were going to take away from it. They have not seen all the Disney flicks in existance - some of them are really outdated in terms of their views on race. I feel that indiscriminate media exposure can be a real problem, and parents need to be aware that although they may get an hour break during that DVD, the behaviors and attitudes they take away from it may take a lot more than an hour to undo.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 9:14 am ¶
Yoli wrote:
I honestly think these films portray how ignorant it is to be racist and to fear something or someone different. I think they are great for discussing with children what they might encounter. I like these more than the ones who go about singing about castles and princesses and the perfect world. I am sorry, not with you on this.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 9:46 am ¶
Stephanie wrote:
Also consider that Mumbles has blue eyes whereas all the other penguins have brown. In addition, it conveys that conformity is the norm and Mumbles has to “learn” to be happy with who he is the way he is instead of it being “the norm” to be an individual.
Pocohantas - With all of the braves of her own tribe of course she is going to fall for a caucasian. Puleeze. I am so sick of the white man is preferable to men of my own tribe/clan/group as it is portrayed in tv and movies.
I don’t watch tv any more and rarely go to the movies as a result. and I am an adult and can filter out this nonsense, just imagine what kind of impression this has on open and fertile young minds.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 12:40 pm ¶
turtlebella wrote:
Qeulle horror, or whatever the proper French may be. These examples are really quite awful. Not having children yet (only 4 months to go though!) I haven’t watched a disney or disney type movie in quite some time. I’ll certainly restrict the watching of them by my young children…there are so many messages that can be internalized here. Personally, I don’t think the castle/princess disney themes are much better. Difference is not good there either and there are so many unrealistic and frankly misogynistic messages about girls/women/relationships/men/love, even if not about race, per se.
At some point, I would not be adverse to watching them with older children - as part of media literacy and developing critical thinking. Like Yoli suggests, I think it would be useful to discuss the racism that is inherent in these movies, how it reflects society, why it’s wrong, etc. I suppose you could try doing this from a relatively young age but I don’t think it’s enough of a reason to actually watch the movies with young ones, i.e., the target age for the movies. But they are bound to see the movies somewhere- friends houses or whatever. In that case, it’s useful to develop a way to talk about it to children and not just among ourselves as adults. I wish someone had talked to me critically about disney movies when I was a kid- maybe it wouldn’t have taken me so long to figure out why the messages were so damaging.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 12:49 pm ¶
Tracy wrote:
“Pocohantas - With all of the braves of her own tribe of course she is going to fall for a caucasian. Puleeze. I am so sick of the white man is preferable to men of my own tribe/clan/group as it is portrayed in tv and movies. ”
But isn’t the reverse also a negative message? That I can/should ONLY love/find acceptable the men in my own clan/tribe/group?
Posted 16 May 2008 at 1:35 pm ¶
mamazilla wrote:
i have to admit i’m one of those parents who allows their child to watch disney films… even the racist ones… because i feel like there are other children out there who are going to internalize these images and i need to prepare my children for that onslaught…
incidentally, i’m filipino, my kids are mixed and i was born with cystic hygroma - a prominent vascular malformation on my neck. i know a quite a bit about being different and being teased for it.
re: the pocahontas film… my big probs w/ the film are how historically inaccurate and “politically correct” some of the characters and situations are… i.e. she was not the same age as john smith, she could not have learned how to speak english so quickly, she probably would not have been so “pro-european”, she was never romantically involved with john smith, but later did marry a caucasian settler, etc…
when i finally watched the movie with my children we talked about the songs - about how/why the europeans considered the indians savages and vice versa. that first song you mentioned is sung by both the indians and the europeans about each other. this in itself needed more context too, i thought - disney should have been more responsible in illustrating european savagism and the indians treatment of their enemies.
i also think that one of the saving graces (there’s few, i know) of the film is pocahontas’ song colors of the wind and the lyrics:
“You think I’m an ignorant savage
And you’ve been so many places
I guess it must be so
But still I cannot see
If the savage one is me
How can there be so much that you don’t know?
You don’t know …
You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew…”
“…For whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind…”
i appreciate that disney was trying to be ambitious, trying to”teach” tolerance. however, i think that the story of pocahontas was a completely inappropriate vehicle to do so.
re: happy feet - for some reason none of us could get into this movie… it was totally forgettable… i think the only thing i got a kick out of was that steve irwin was an elephant seal in it.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 3:02 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
I hear you on Pocohontas. In part, it inspired a history student whose LJ I followed for a while to quip, “If a Hollywood movie claims to be historically accurate, and Mel Gibson is in it, it’s probably wrong.”
And I wasn’t happy with either the Amigos or the “reverend” of Happy Feet. I could certainly have done without it.
But the part of Happy Feet that you cite is that the “difference” that Mumbles was born with was not only NOT an obstacle to mating and having a life (i.e. he does “get the girl” at the end), but he ends up attracting the attention of scientists with his “difference” which stops the overfishing (simplistic and improbable solution, absolutely, to a real-life issue, but it is a kid’s movie).
The message is NOT conformity, unless you only watch 1/2 the movie.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 5:09 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Sorry - should read: But the part of Happy Feet that you cite is ULTIMATELY SAYING that the
Posted 16 May 2008 at 5:10 pm ¶
Liza wrote:
Absolutely. I have to admit, when we started having kids, we did get sucked into the “nostaliga marketing strategies” of today’s brilliant minds. We have bought a number of Disney DVD’s, only to spend our $20+, sit down with a bowl of popcorn and our 2 young girls, and then watch the movies (if we ever got that far!) HORRIFIED by the terrible messages they were sending. Of course, when we were younger, we weren’t as keen to the both subtle and not-so-subtle messages.
Just a big shout out of thanks to the people who mentioned the “Disney-ish”/Fairy Tales books that featured darker skinned characters. We ordered them in the mail and received them today. The girls (and I!) were so excited to see Goldilocks with cornrows and a Prince who had braids, too! Hurray!
There HAS to be more culturally appropriate stories and movies out there, right??? I don’t want to necessarily ban all television or movies from my children’s lives (although, I can see why people would want to go that route given all of the negative messages they see on tv/media/movies). But, these constant bombardment of negative messages about people who look just like them are making a case for banning all TV!
Posted 16 May 2008 at 6:47 pm ¶
That Girl Tam wrote:
I have problems with ALL Disney movies that display NONE caucasion characters looking…umm…let’s say not-as-attractive as their white counterparts. I grew up watching Disney movies and the movies that have been released since I’ve become a parent and movies that I don’t allow in my home.
I am also a Pagan parent, so the comment in Happy Feet kinda pissed me off. The undertones in that movie were SO overt that you couldn’t overlook them at all. The elders sounded like old Catholic Irish Priests. They treated Mumble different because he WAS different. It’s all racist and ugly. Disney should be ashamed.
Posted 16 May 2008 at 11:03 pm ¶
bfwallis wrote:
Don’t you talk to your kids about the things they see in the media?
I’m pretty sure (I’ll have to test this later) that I could sit my 8-year-old son down after he’s seen a movie or television show for the first time, and he would be able to tell me which characters display positive traits and which display negative ones, as we define them in our family. Though in talking to him I’d probably call it “the right/wrong way to behave,” or “being a good/bad friend” or words to that effect.
Because we *do* talk to him about these things — especially when we find him quoting the villainous and/or misguided characters.
Posted 17 May 2008 at 6:42 am ¶
Snafu Suz wrote:
I agree with Yoli and Lyonside. The message is that these things are bad, not good. First they have to show the ignorance before they can show the characters OVERCOMING the ignorance. If you get hung up on the part where they are illustrating the ignorance, then you miss the message at the end that conformity and racism are bad and that we should celebrate who we are.
And yes, these movies are simplistic and not historically accurate but they are FAIRY TALES. They aren’t meant to be 100% realistic. They are meant to share a “moral of the story” and the moral is to celebrate difference and uniqueness.
Posted 18 May 2008 at 4:03 pm ¶
Snafu Suz wrote:
Oh, one other thing I forot to share…
When these movies come out our kids want to see them especially because all the other kids want to see them. Rather than refuse to let our kids see the movie, why not use it as a learning opportunity? Why not watch the movie WITH your child, and discuss the movie afterward? Talk about the bad parts of the movie and why they are bad, and talk about the good messages and why they are good. Then if you catch your kid singing songs from the bad part you’ve got yourself another opportunity for thoughtful discussion with your child.
The thing is, our kids are going to be exposed to these things whether we like it or not. Even if they don’t see the movie most of their peers are going to be talking about them and acting out scenes from the movie during play and buying the dolls and other merchandise. Better to use it as an opportunity than to try to shield them from something that you really can’t adequately shield them from anyway.
Posted 18 May 2008 at 4:18 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
>And yes, these movies are simplistic and not historically accurate but they are FAIRY TALES. They aren’t meant to be 100% realistic.
Thanks for the support, SnafuSuz, but please reconsider the usage of “Fairy Tales.” Pocohontas was a Barbie-ized bundle of historical inaccuracy and Native American false imagery that is closely in line with what is ACTUALLY TAUGHT in many history classrooms as fact, when the real facts are usually either not taught or not remembered. The mvoie has real historical figures that alternately get dragged through the mud or placed on pedestals, because we as a nation like the American origin myths a little too much.
Happy Feet I have no arguments with as a folk tale, as it seems to follow the classic hero structure of myths and legend : young person, usually male, born different and ostracized, leaves his home to learn new things and bring them back to the tribe; intially rejected, he returns in triumph in time to save them all (and get the girl too).
Posted 19 May 2008 at 11:31 am ¶
Stephanie wrote:
Tracy -
The message most often conveyed is that the white man is PREFERABLE MORE DESIRABLE, ADEPT, STRONG, SMART, etc whereas their own men are protrayed as bumbling, inept, not as fill-in-the-blank.
The message conveyed should be selecting a mate based quality of character and integrity, be they balck white, brown yellow or green…and NOT just because the person is white.
Posted 19 May 2008 at 3:42 pm ¶
Snafu Suz wrote:
“Pocohontas was a Barbie-ized bundle of historical inaccuracy and Native American false imagery that is closely in line with what is ACTUALLY TAUGHT in many history classrooms as fact, when the real facts are usually either not taught or not remembered.”
I am not a historian so I’ll take your word for it on this, and I don’t doubt that it is true. What the European settlers did to the Native Americans was abominable and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I fully understood this - when I was in school in the 70s they certainly didn’t teach the gravity of what happened.
I honestly don’t know the details of the real Pocohontas story myself. In fact, back in the 70s I’m not sure they taught her story at all, and if they did they didn’t put much emphasis on it because I certainly don’t remember it. When the movie first came out I didn’t even know Pocohontas had been a real person. Seriously. And I’m a well-educated, intelligent person! How sad is that?
All this said, it sounds like the real problem is what’s taught in history class and not so much Disney. Disney is going to simplify the story regardless, because there just isn’t time to show how long it takes to learn English, etc. But I agree 100% that history classes should be more accurate. It’s really sad that they’re not.
Posted 19 May 2008 at 5:19 pm ¶
Tracy wrote:
I see what you mean. …and I agree..the message that should be shown is that mate selection should be based on interior qualities, not exterior!
Posted 20 May 2008 at 6:15 pm ¶
S's mom wrote:
I thought this site was neat. If you scroll down, it contrasts the Disney Pocahontas movie with what actually happened. http://pocahontas.morenus.org/
I saw the movie when it originally aired, but haven’t seen it since the, but for some reason I was thinking the movie didn’t have Pocahontas and the British guy getting together in the end, but I guess I am wrong.
Posted 20 May 2008 at 6:37 pm ¶
CircleReader wrote:
I think Yoli, Lyonside and Snafu Suz are right on target; the portrayal of ugly, racist attitudes in these stories has to do with their simplistic good-guy/bad-guy story structure, is intended to show the “bad-guy” side of things, and might offer opportunities for talking with your children about racism and how it shows up in our views of other people. Getting all indignant about the bad-guys’ racism in a mass-market fairy tale is kinda silly. Those parts are supposed to be bad.
But if those story-analysis talks don’t happen, and the ugliness remains stereotypical and / or unchallenged, where does that leave us? Have these movies helped us be more heroically anti-racist? I need to offer something more to my kids than a Disney deconstruction session. I need a stories for kids (and adults) show more complicated truths–and still have a tune they can sing.
(And thanks to S’s mom for linking to the Pocahontas movie/history comparison page put up by Pocahontas’ great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- grandson!)
Posted 22 May 2008 at 5:19 pm ¶
Robyn wrote:
I agree with Yoli on this. The movies are trying to show that racism and fearing what’s “different” is wrong, not that conformity is a good thing. In Beauty and the Beast, the angry mob sings, “We don’t like what we don’t understand and it scares us”, then the “hero” ends up being the villain, trying to kill the “beast” who is really a prince.
Now, I don’t like Pocahontas because it’s so very wrong from an historical standpoint, but I do think that it portrays racism as the wrong way to go.
Posted 23 May 2008 at 4:32 pm ¶
monique wrote:
i am not a parent yet, but i think it is important to expose children to the different (or dominant) attitudes of our society, and during which…discuss it! If you are afraid of the mentalities the media may bestow upon them or negative feelings that result, just beat disney to it and let your child know how life really is…everyone is beautiful, everyone is of equal worth. I would suggest that rather than keep the films and tv shows from them, watch it with them, it would probably do more good than harm!
Posted 27 May 2008 at 5:16 pm ¶
KateK wrote:
I’m seventeen and checking out this page for a media literacy class and i just thought i could possibly send a little reassurance your (you parents’) way by saying that in public schools today, on the most part, they get the facts right. I recall when i was in the first grade knowing that Pocohontas was a real person and Native American culture is much more than arrows and corn. I have a feeling we’ve come a long way since the seventies…i just wanted to throw that out there…things HAVE changed thank god
Posted 27 May 2008 at 5:25 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
This is quite shocking. I never thought that Disney being a huge company would allow lyrics like those in their movies and the worst thing about it is that they are targeting the lyrics to little children. This is sick and should be stopped.
Posted 28 May 2008 at 12:22 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Um, as we’ve already pointed out, Anon, these lyrics are specifically recited NOT by the heroes of the film, but by the villian and the hotheads (in regards to Pocohontas). Are you really shocked? Or are you putting us on?
“A huge company like Disney” is neverr immune to racism- May I introduce to you: the crows of Dumbo, the Siamese cats of Lady and the Tramp, and Uncle (Tom) Remus in Song of the South, among others. And lest you think I’m picking on Disney alone, try Buggs Bunny cartoons from the 1930s-1950s, and google Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves.
Brian Johnson is not on the wrong track, I just think he mayt have picked the wrong examples.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:16 pm ¶
jen* wrote:
I agree that the wrong example was cited for the article. The song is precisely about showing how terrible the folks who espouse those beliefs are. It’s a Disney movie, so there aren’t a lot of moments of actual *discussion* about race relations and the decimation of native populations due to colonization of the Americas.
And frankly, the most memorable song [in terms of accessible and easy to learn lyrics] from Pocahontas is ‘Colors of the Wind’. Most of the time, kids are just getting the chorus from the ‘Savages’ song, seeing that both sides [as portrayed in the movie] see the other as being ‘less than human’. [This jibes more with the idea that this was a marriage between historical/legend and Romeo & Juliet.]
For those who would like to completely ignore Disney et al in the raising of their children, good luck. I wouldn’t presume that there is nothing redeeming about the content, however.
Posted 31 May 2008 at 2:20 pm ¶
BCmomtobe wrote:
I live in an area with a large population of Coast Salish (specifically Sto:lo) people. As racist and condescending as I found the movie to be, I found it ironic that many little Sto:lo girls were suddenly running around with Pocohontas dolls, t-shirts, and other mass produced paraphenalia. They were pleased that there was a movie that wasn’t all about white people, and had Native people in the forefront. Too bad the industry won’t come out with a movie that fosters a positive racial identity in children.
Posted 01 Jun 2008 at 4:32 pm ¶