Stereotypes In Walt Disney Movies

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“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained,” Walt Disney once said. With a legacy that spans worldwide, ranging from theme parks, films, television and more, there are no companies quite as beloved as The Walt Disney Company. In just 90 years, Disney has become a worldwide renowned company with 45.4 billion global revenue reported in 2013. Despite all of it’s success, Disney’s movies have been known to stir up controversy now and again. While many of the films give off a majestic, lighthearted vibe, aimed at children and making adults feel like they’re children once again, the hidden stereotypes can be damaging to a child learning things subconsciously. Disney’s success…show more content…
Disney (1893-1971) founded what is now one of the most commercially successful companies in existence. The Walt Disney company is responsible for the production of over 500 movies. Starting with Snow White, the trend of princess movies took off. Released in 1992, Aladdin still remains one of Disney's highest animated grossing films, bringing in more than $535 million dollars (Shaheen). Along with the films massive success, Aladdin also won two academy awards (Giroux). Though Aladdin had such immense success, the racial stereotypes that were presented in the movie were aimed at Westernized culture and offensive toward those of Middle Eastern…show more content…
Beginning with a Merchant on a camel singing “Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place where caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear, if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home,” it sets the tone for the middle eastern people in the movie. As soon as this hit theaters, it caused an uproar and protests from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). The problem with the line is that it creates a stereotype in American’s minds, leaving them to think that the Arab people are cruel with no sense of humanity. Due to the offensive nature of the lyric, Disney was forced to change it to “Where it’s flat and immense, and the heat is intense,” once the film was distributed on VHS and DVD. However, the line “It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home,” remained (ADC). Due to this misstep by Disney, the New York Times released an article in 1993 titled “It’s Racist, But Hey, It’s Disney.” (New York Times, get source). As the article pointed out, it’s ridiculous to stereotype an entire race, especially when the main audience is children. By doing so, the stereotype is only being perpetuated into future

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