Racism and Sexism in Disney Movies

The majority of adults in America today watched Disney films growing up, as do their children now. While Disney prides itself on teaching valuable lessons to young people, some films are tainted with racist portrayals and sexist acts.

Aladdin

The 1992 movie follows a young Arabian man named Aladdin as he tries to escape poverty and falls in love with Princess Jasmine. It teaches young people valuable lessons about love and fighting for what you want. However, the film sparked much controversy over its semi-racist elements. For example, the opening song, "Arabian Nights" contains lyrics that describe Arabian lands "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, its home."Also, the film depicts the evil character, Jafar as a stereotypical Arabian man with dark skin and dramatic eyes, while Aladdin, the good character, is seen as more Americanized with lighter skin.

The Little Mermaid
This classic movie about Ariel, a young mermaid princess that gives up her voice and tail to meet a human prince on land. While it shares valuable lessons about going after one's dreams, it also shows racism through some of the characters. For example, Sebastian, one of Ariel's friends, is a Jamaican sounding crab. The lyrics he sings at one point in the movie suggest that he is lazy and does not want a job, one of the stereotypes we assign to black people in America.


Cinderella
Perhaps the most famous Disney film, Cinderella portrays a young princess whose wicked stepmother forces her to be a servant to herself and the princess's two evil step sisters until she marries the Prince. It is a cute story that shows the importance of honesty, however, it is quite sexist. Cinderella's character is seen as the perfect woman, but upon analyzing her traits and values, one can see the true view of how a woman is expected to be based on this story. Not only is she thin, blonde, pale, and blue-eyed, but she cooks, cleans and sings. Her "evil" stepsisters are shown as ugly, fat and lazy with darker hair and big feet. One can see that the film suggests a woman should be pretty and thin and do housework.

The Jungle Book

The 1967 film is centered around Mowgli, a young boy who has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle and the friends he makes while living there. The movie is somewhat racist because, while all other animals in the jungle speak in British accents, the monkeys speak with strange gibberish accents. While this only lightly suggests racism towards black people, the monkeys also sing about wanting to become "real people."

Disney films will forever be classic children movies because they combine music and visuals to teach valuable lessons and morals. However, many of the films contain racist and sexist suggestions. Not only are there very few heroic and courageous women, but the way that women are shown is demeaning. Also, it is clear that Disney favors white people due to their lack of respectable characters of color. But because these films teach children so many vital things in an entertaining matter, they should not be banned or boycotted. Instead, parents must instill in their children the correct values, and point out the flaws in the films and explain to their children what is wrong. Hopefully, by doing so, a child would be more able to view a film and understand the racism and sexism and why it s not acceptable.