I may not have grown up as immersed in the Disney stuff as most of my peers, but it did have an undeniable presence in my childhood - just the animated musical films, though, just to be clear. In fact, the first movie my mother took me to see in the movie theater was Aladdin. Having read Henry A. Giroux's piece, "Are Disney Movies Good For Your Kids?" I realize how narrow-minded the viewpoint from that movie looks in hindsight (and every other sight). When I was young, and I think I was five years old when I saw it, Aladdin represented an exotic land to which I was foreign. I'm sure that was the intention.
Before I go any further I need to say that Giroux presents a very good case and I am therefore tempted to play the devil's advocate just because I can. Here goes.
Children's movies are written for a main demographic audience. Who would that be? Children. When something is written with its main purpose being the consumption of children, it is simplified so that the young throats don't choke on complicated concepts. Giroux mentioned that in Aladdin that the bad guys were given thick accents, and the good guys sounded conveniently American. I can see the implications of prejudice in that as well as the next critical reader, but as a writer I offer an alternative reading. Aside from the fact that it was an American film and therefore most of the voice actors can be assumed to be American, I offer the explanation of a simple plot machine. In order for children to understand the difference between the bad guys and the good guys, they must be able to identify with the good guys. How better to have the audience identify with the good guys than to have them appear attractive and speaking in their mother dialect, while the bad guys, with whose ideals they would not identify, appear unattractive and have foreign accents? The only better way I could think of would be a neon arrow above Aladdin's head reading, "HERO --> WE LIKE HIM," and a similar neon arrow above Jafaar's head reading, "VILLIAN --> WE DISLIKE HIM."
Giroux's point about Aladdin was the only one I wanted to contest. The rest of the things he said about Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King were observations with which I agreed, for the most part.
The bottom line must be, I feel, that children are not as impressionable as we may think. Also, what is being read by one is not necessarily being read by another.
By the way, he didn't mention Mulan and the raging chauvinistic sexism in it seemingly obvious to one such as Giroux. Within the historical context, sexism is unavoidable in a story like that. However, I'm including my favorite song of the movie (from YouTube) in this blog. If somone can find an underlying prejudice here, let me know.
Monday, September 14, 2009
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