Teaching (popular) Visual Culture

Teaching (Popular) Visual Culture: Deconstructing Disney in the Elementary Art Classroom goes into depth about how Disney can have a negative effect on our children. Kevin M. Tavin and David Anderson seem to have a few outlandish and almost conspiracy theory type views on the Disney Company. They talk about Disney using many of it's outlets to push its agenda in many facets. Going as far as calling Disney an oligopoly and infiltrating the classroom and giving children a false sense of how the real world is.

Tavin and Anderson do a wonderful job in breaking down the three woman characters that are portrayed in most is not all Disney movies: "idealized teenaged heroin, middle-aged beauty, or nurturing post-menopausal woman (24)." They also talk about how these are not only held to human characters but they transcend to the animals in Disney's movies. In the movie Lady and the Tramp, Lady who is the main character is faced with many challenges. While she has many challenges, most of her happiness seems to hinge on whether or not the male dog character accepts her. Tavin and Anderson go on to write about how many racial and ethnic stereotypes are portrayed in Disney's movies as well. By giving animals "urban" voices and even going as far as using people of color to portray animals as having dark motives.

Tavin and Anderson point to a few Disney movies to show how Disney uses stereotypes in its films. The authors point to the film Aladdin, they point to Aladdin the main male character. Pointing out that he has light skin, Anglo features and speaks standard American English. While the evil doers in the film have much more exaggerated "Arab" features and have a broken English, thick accent.

I do think that Tavin and Anderson to make some rash assumptions and give much of their opinion in trying to say Disney are trying to take over much of the students. I however to believe that bring up many good points to support their use of Disney portraying ethical and sexual stereotyping.

Things Walt Disney Never Told Us compares a lot of the early Grimm folklore and compares it to the "Master of Fantasy," Walt Disney. Stone points to Disney as a purposely infiltrating North America's young females with tales of subordination, acceptance of abuse, narcissism and passivity.

Kay shows this by showing how such stories such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty have such a passive and submissive female character that they litterally, "have to be awaken by a man" (43). Kay also finds that Disney portrays that woman in a the Disney tales must be, "passive and pretty, but also unusually patient, obedient, industrious and quiet (44)."

I found that Kay shows a great example of showing how Disney uses the princess as a prize for a hero to save or win. She makes a great correlation to how females interpreted the Disney movies by interviewing females from different walks of life and ages. Kay finds through her interviewing that females are susceptible to the female role portrayed in these films. One woman interviewed stated, " (I) really expected to bloom one day as Cinderella had done, but (I) am still waiting (49)."

I do agree with Kay that Disney portrays woman as only very beautiful and submissive characters. I also agree with her quote, "The only tests of most heroines nothing beyond what they are born with: a beautiful face, tiny feet, or a pleasing temperament (46)." Disney portrays women as more of an object than a strong female who can take care of themselves.

Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess

Author(s): Dorothy L. Hurley

Reviewed work(s):

Source: The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 74, No. 3 (Summer, 2005), pp. 221-232

Published by: Journal of Negro Education

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027429 .

Accessed: 15/09/2012 15:09

Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tail Princess is a Journal written by Dorothy L. Hurley. She states that children's self-image is affected by Disney's portrayal of certain