Looking Past the Wonderful World of Disney

Disney does have skeletons in it’s closet. It is truly remarkable how many things I overlooked when I was a child. When I was growing up, my family revolved around Disney. It was at the point where my bedroom was even themed after The Lion King. I am beginning to wonder how much, if any, change has occurred in more recent films that disney has produced. I even go further to wonder how much of this is potentially done by the filmmakers.

In the article, Are Disney Movies Good for Your Kids by Henry A. Giroux, Giroux discusses the lack of political correctness that occurs in popular Disney movies (such as Aladdin and the Little Mermaid). He only briefly mentions the fact that there was a large amount of racism that occurred in the early days of Disney, such as in motion pictures as The Jungle Book and Songs of the South. Giroux also makes it known that racism and Disney has been ongoing for years(173). 

I would like to say that Disney films were not the only place where this was apparent. When Mickey Mouse was first introduced to the world through newspaper clippings in the early 1930s, he was not the innocent figure that today’s consumers know and love. In the late 1980s, a comic book was released call The Uncensored 

Mouse. This comic book was the sold in sealed packaging and had a black cover(see above) and not mentioning that it contained

 images of Mickey Mouse. Below is an actual clipping from the comic book and it was actually very difficult to find anything other than the front cover’s image (I found the picture on an ebay ad). This clip shows Mickey Mouse as the stereotypical African American commonly depicted in the media at that time. For instance, the was he is displayed when the lights go out in the room and only his face is visible. Also the way he speaks in not particularly good english. Disney was actually pretty successful in stopping the distribution of the comic book and was able to stop the series by the second installment.

Sources: Are Disney Movies

Good for Your Kids by Henry A. Giroux

http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/Home_Rare_Books__T___Z_162.html