Disney, not just for kids.

Disney has evolved into a multi-billionaire corporation that appeals directly to young kids.

Tales of enchantment, princesses, little people, and faraway kingdoms really have the ability to attract attention.

Disney is for kids, so it should be safe to continue to cook Disney characters shaped pasta in the kitchen while your kids have a ball in the television room? Wrong.

From http://cinemaroll.com/animation/6-subliminal-messages-you-never-noticed-in-your-favorite-disney-films/, I present to you some subliminal messages you never noticed in your favorite Disney films. This is truly horrifying, shocking, and intriguing all at the same time.

Aladdin is a story that takes place in an exotic, faraway land full of sand, trees, and marketplaces. Kids love the genie and his humor, and Aladdin's status upgrade. They're so fascinated by the colors, costumes, and Jasmine's huge eyes that they probably would not hear this:

It's scary, but true. Would you want your kids listening to that and having their unconscious minds taking in everything they hear? I do not think so.

In The Rescuers, there is a very naughty picture in one particular scene that is caught in a photograph.

Why would they even consider putting such an image in a children's movie? I mean, are they that bored at work that they just pencil in nude pictures anywhere they want to? Also, what were they thinking if they thought that they could get away with it ?I just don't understand. This baffles me, and makes me even more wary about Disney films than I already was.

In the Lion King, there is a scene where the leaves spell out "S-E-X" as some people believe it to be.

Honestly, most children probably would not notice this. However, some kids are very perceptive and curious. Wouldn't you be horrified if your child called you into the room and showed you this scene on pause? "Mommy, what does SEX mean?"

I am appalled at Disney. What did they hope to achieve in committing such horrendous acts? And, their main victims were children?!

It may possibly have been a publicity thing - one tactic to draw adults into the Disney craze - but that does not justify their actions in the least bit.

After reading more about Disney and their ways, I highly doubt that I will show Disney films to my children when they are young. They will grow up watching Pixar movies or National Geographic.

All in all, this post is just a plea of warning. The world has to be careful of the media and its daunting ways, especially if children are going to be exposed to inappropriate and unacceptable things in what they divulge their childhood into.

99 Buckets of Blood on the Screen

Traditionally, entries in the horror movie genre have included such classics as The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein. These films play on our fear of the unknown and with things that confront our senses of tradition and morality. The trailer for the original 1931 Dracula:

These films have no need to utilize graphic violence or realistic gore to illicit chills from viewers. These monster movies were also clearly fictional and far removed from the reality of moviegoers.

Contrast these films with those like the Saw franchise, Hostel, Turistas, and Rob Zombie's films House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. They rely almost exclusively on the use of extreme violence, shown unflinchingly on screen, to the delight/terror of viewers. Consider the trailer for Eli Roth's Hostel, below:

This movie is based on a single premise: watching people being tortured. Which begs the question: is this type of violence acceptable to show in films, and do audiences have a immoral obsession with violent content? It seems that every movie released in theatres today has to out-do the last in terms of the amount of fake blood they manage to spill in ninety minutes.

But what about when the violence conveys a message? Consider another Eli Roth film, Cabin Fever:

The "disease" in the film can be seen as a metaphor for HIV or another sexually transmitted infection, spread as a consequence of the promiscuous sexual behavior displayed among the young people in the film. In the end, movie violence is more easily justified when it has a point.

Disney Takes Things a Step Too Far: Dumbo and Racism

Although I consider myself to be a Disney fanatic, Dumbo seems to be the one film that somehow slipped through the cracks. I never watched the movie in its entirety as a child and after what I've discovered about the themes its perpetuating I don't think I ever will.

While Disney has had a history of racism in their films and amusement parks, as discussed by Giroux in his article, "Are Disney Movies Good For Your Kids?" Dumbo seems to have taken things a step too far. A set of racist black crows with stereotypical African American traits, and names like Jim Crowe is only the beginning, and in my opinion not nearly as offensive as the lyrics to one of the films opening songs, "The Song of the Roustabouts":

Some of the most offensive lyrics are as follows:

We work all day, we work all night We never learned to read or write We're happy-hearted roustabouts 

When other folks have gone to bed We slave until we're almost dead We're happy-hearted roustabouts

We don't know when we get our pay And when we do, we throw our pay away (When we get our pay, we throw our money all away) We get our pay when children say With happy hearts, "It's circus day today" (Then we get our pay, just watching kids on circus day) 
Boss man houndin' Keep on poundin' For your bed and feed

 I found these lyrics to be appalling. Is Disney teaching our children that slavery was OK? That's what it seems like. This song is saying that slaves worked all night doing back breaking labor, but the system wasn't wrong, because the slaves were happy to do the work. The song even mentions that slaves were also satisfied with working for no pay. The lyrics suggest that money wasn't something they worried about. They didn't know when they were getting paid, but it didn't matter because once they did get paid they would just throw their money away. Their true payment was watching the joy of the children on circus day and that was fulfillment enough for all their hard labor. Lyrics such as "we slave until we're almost dead" but, "we're happy hearted"are utterly absurd and disgraceful. Slavery was a morally wrong institution and the fact that Disney is condoning its practices is horrifying. 
Although I will forever remain a Disney fan, and will want my children to to be exposed to the happiness that Disney movies can bring, I can be sure that I will not be sitting my child in front of Dumbo!

Yikes, Disney...

I think its clear to all of us (whether we want to admit it or not) that Disney perpetuates a lot of social ideologies that we would rather eliminate from our society. We only permit Disney’s dangerous socialization, because on the surface, their movies are just entertaining, bright, friendly, and innocent. As a child, I was a typical girl who wanted to be a princess like the ones I saw in Disney films. More than anything else about Disney, though, I loved the songs!! In fact, for my first couple years of auditions and piano lessons, I wanted everything I performed to be Disney. Nothing else appealed to me, musically.

However, as I look back on some of the lyrics to seemingly innocent Disney melodies, I’m shocked. What are we allowing our children to hum and sing to? Seeing the lyrics now is very concerning. These lyrics (as well as the dialogue in the movies themselves) promote sexism, objectifying women, racism, impossible ideal body images, etc.—they make complicated, serious social issues friendly, catchy, and fun! That doesn’t seem right to me. Read over these couple lyrics and tell me that it’s okay for children to be exposed to these ideas. Yes, we’re more likely to understand why they’re wrong and that they’re flawed at all, than children are, but that doesn’t mean Disney’s ideas have no impact on children whatsoever. Children absorb what they’re presented with, even if they cannot recognize it at the time.

Real (Shocking) Disney Lyrics:

“A girl worth fighting for…I couldn’t care what she’ll wear or what she looks like…it all depends on what she cooks like…”

“They cut off your ear if they don’t like your face…it’s barbaric, but hey, its home.”

“Its she who holds her tongue who gets a man…”

These Youtube clips examine and analyze Disney’s messages. Check them out. I know its hard not to defend Disney, as it was a part of all of our childhoods, but seriously…these are important things we must criticize them for…:

Disney Disapproves of A-Cups

In 2004, Disney remade the famous story of King Arthur in a movie that included actress Keira Knightly, who was heavily publicized at the time for her recent role as Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean. Keira Knightly is known for being incredibly skinny and there has been much speculation on whether or not she has an eating disorder although she has constantly denied these allegations; but still, no one can deny that the girl is thin, borderline emaciated. Most people who are as thin as Keira rarely has much of a s figure since they have a low amount of body fat (unless they have received plastic surgery) therefore her chest is flat, like all the other models on the runway. In a promotional poster for King Arthur, Keira was photographed in skimpy outfit where her flat chest was clearly visible in the original photo but in the released photo, Keira appeared with an inflated chest: Disney had bumped her from an A-cup to a C-cup.



Disney is notorious for promoting female characters with unrealistic bodies. All the Disney Princesses in the movies are thin, have flawless skin, and have large chests. Ariel, the Little Mermaid, who is only sixteen years old in the movie, has like a 16inch waist and a C-cup chest; if she was a real person, she would probably topple over because her lower half of her body wouldn’t support her top half (that’s probably why she has to be in water). Disney is teaching little girls, who are taught to grow up wanting to be just like the princesses, to look just like them in order to be well liked and to get a handsome prince.
After this controversial photo was released, Keira Knightly stepped out and admitted that the chest in the photo was not her but she did not make Disney retract it. Four years later though, when another studio tried to do the same thing to her chest for the movie Duchess, she did not allowed them which she was greatly praised for. I give Keira Knightly props for standing up for her chest size but if she is truly trying to be a good role model for young girls, she needs to put on some weight. Someone get the girl a sandwich!

The Triumph of the Disney Emipre

The Disney Empire is often accused of cultural imperialism and being a "ruthless global business." What you would think was originally designed for preserving childhood memories and supporting dreams is controversial in the least bit.

The Disney Empire is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world. What do they own? Besides the hearts of every little kid who would stand in line for hours just to take a picture with a man in a mouse suit (source: wikipedia):

• The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group
• ABC broadcast television network
• Cable television networks (Disney Channel, ESPN, ABC Family)
• 11 theme parks around the world
• much more

Now if this is not cultural imperialism, I don't know what else you would call it.

There is Disney everything, ranging from Disney toys to Disney clothing. Each and every product that they sell stamped and approved by Disney (except for the the Disney wannabe products that you can find in Chinatown for cheaper).

Their movies are sold all over the world and voices dubbed so Aladdin now sounds like a pubescent little boy in Guatemala. They even have food products, stamped with Disney.

"When the cartoon Popeye the Sailor Man emerged in the United States in the 1920s, sales of his signature food, spinach, rose by one-third. Today, Disney is hoping that Zac Efron can do the same for avocados. And Mickey Mouse for eggs. And Tinker Bell for corn on the cob" (source: Washington Post)

The title of this article by the Washington Post is called "A Hannah Montana Banana? Disney's Brand Goes Healthy." I literally laughed out loud after reading that. In order to up sales to the umpth degree, Disney will try anything and everything.

I'm not going to lie. I am a fan of Disney movies - the way they move hearts and can make a grown man cry intrigues me. But, when will the triumph subside? They want to take over the world. I know it. And why use children as bait? It's wrong.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/02/AR2009050200075.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company