Not So Fast, Giroux

This week in class, the majority of our discussion was based on controversy surrounding Disney films. Fueled by Giroux's investigation of Disney, we mainly discussed stereotypical gender and ethnicity roles. While I do agree with Giroux's claim that women are presented in sexist ways, and that african american, arabic, asian, etc. roles are stereotypical, I believe it is important to consider the times these films were made. "Snow White," the first color animated motion picture, was released in 1937, and Giroux's article was written in 1997. The 40 years in between has seen multiple feminist movements, the civil rights movement, wars, and many other events that have shifted our views of what is and is not acceptable in a culture. While talking about Giroux's article it is necessary to consider where American society was culturally when these films were released.

For example, Giroux uses the films "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," and "Aladdin" to show that Disney defines women's roles as dependent on men. These are all relatively current films that base their overall plot messages on successful films of the past and the first of all of these films was "Snow White." As mentioned this fairytale was originally released in 1937, pre-second wave feminist movement (in which the main goal was equality in the workplace). In the 1930's, the widely accepted role of women was as a homemaker. Snow White represents women as what they were accepted to be in that time. Just as today, women are generally characterized as successful businesswoman-types because that is how we accept women to be in society. Today, we look at the Disney princess characterization of "homebody, male dependent" women and criticize it, but at the time of its creation it was the norm.

In today's society it is hard to argue against anything that is racist toward African Americans. The following opinions are not self-created by me, but instead have been garnered and combined from various internet blogs and forums. Two main movies we discussed were "Dumbo" and "Aladdin." The first was originally released in 1941 when African American treatment was controversial, but before the Civil Rights Movement. The movie displays a group of stereotypical African American crows. While the portrayal of the crows has been criticized recently, it was at the time deemed as "progressive." The crows sing and dance in the jazz style popularized by the Harlem Renaissance years earlier. Rather than criticizing African Americans, the film celebrates the emerging culture they have created. Furthermore, the crows are the positive driving force behind Dumbo in his quest to learn how to fly. The crows are not shown demoralized in any way, they are praised for their helpful actions toward Dumbo. Looking at the crows from today's perspective, post-civil rights, we obviously see them as racist. But at the time of their creation in 1941, they were "progressive."

I do agree that Giroux makes some very good points. But he is looking at it from the perspective of a 1990's critic who has been exposed to sources preaching for feminism and civil rights. We must remember while reading his article, that these films were not made a few years ago, but instead before all of these societal advances. And now, 13 years after Giroux's publication, we have an even keener eye for identifying these issues. This ability stems from the media explosion that has occurred in the new millennium. We are currently smothered with sources exposing more and more controversial issues, and classes such as media criticism teach us to constantly look for these discrepancies. However we cannot forget the country's history and the cultural distance we have come since these movies were made.