Concluding Post: Evil in Disney

This course has completely changed the way I think of Disney, and villains as a whole. I could have gone my whole life not realizing the racism and stereotyping present in Disney films, or in other movies if it is not obvious. In this way, most people who are ignorant to this watch the movies similarly to children because it goes right over their heads. While I am somewhat sad that opening my eyes to the criticisms of some of my favorite movies ruins them for me, I feel even more uneasy that other people do not know about them. Giroux was the first person to introduce me to the world of Disney criticism. I was too skeptical of Disney criticism at the time to really give him a chance, so I am interested to find out my opinions on his article after completing this course. I wonder if I would agree more with his ideas.

Through our analysis of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, I learned about how the villains are shown as gender divergent. Both woman villains are masculine in some ways, like Ursula's deep voice and seemingly transgender character, while Lady Tremaine has sharp, man-like features. After watching Pocahontas and Aladdin, the racial problems with the Disney movies becomes quite clear. Disney's white washing also is apparent after learning that the character Aladdin is based on Tom Cruise. Tarzan and Wall-E which present humans as villains are less problematic than the older films Disney created. In the beginning of the course, I did not see any similarities between the films that were paired together for watching. Now it is clear how they connect with one another, and I am interested to see what kind of villain we will discuss for Wreck-It Ralph. I believe the villain in that movie is society and I am better able to identify and think about types of villains after having taken the majority of this course.

I really enjoyed reading Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent. I think after reading that I book was the first time I really started to believe that Disney is in fact corrupt. I will always still love Disney and Pixar movies, but Disney as a company is slightly tainted to me. I do not worry as much about the content of the movies and controversy with that because watching movies in chronological order shows how Disney is only improving and becoming more progressive. The closer the movies were released to today, the harder they are to critique; however, there will always be critics out there, like the ones who are pressing for a gay Disney princess. As society evolves, the newer movies may become less progressive and possibly offensive in ways we had not anticipated. When Cinderella was released, the ideas about woman's role were very different than they are today so no one blinked an eye at the line that said sewing is for the women. The future may evolve to have different gender roles once again, but movie writers cannot account for these unknowns. At any rate, I will continue to use my skills from this class, which have made me more observant, to look out for the stereotyping present in villains in other movies I watch.