By Avani
The Walt Disney Company, which started in 1923, has dominated media production in the United States. Disney’s audience has always been children (under the age of 15). However, because it does a great job of making its movies interesting for all audiences it is widely consumed by the American public, regardless of age. Recently, Disney has faced a lot of criticism in its portrayals of women, people of color, and differently-abled people. And based on Disney’s first movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to one of it’s more recent popular films, Onward, it’s safe to say it has made some improvements. But as some Disney films such as Aladdin (the 2019 remake) or Coco are applauded for being inclusive, racially sensitive and culturally accurate (compared to other Disney films or TV shows) other Disney movies such as Frozen 1 and 2, Beauty and the Beast ( the 2017 remake) still seem to have a ways to go. Films such as those contain sexist and racist ideas. A common theme among Disney movies still, is the depiction of women to be of a certain body type and to be subservient to men, as well as the lack of diversity and or the stereotyping of the characters of color.
As Disney Plus has gained popularity, Disney added a disclaimer to some of its movies that contained “racist stereotypes” such as Dumbo, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, and Swiss Family Robinson. Some other movies have been erased all together such as a movie made in 1946 called The Song of the South which was banned for its racist depictions of plantation workers. Although this may seem like progress, many people are asking for more from Disney. A quote from Williams-Forson, chairwoman of American studies at the University of Maryland at College Park shows us insight into what Disney could improve on regarding its racist past. The company “needs to follow through in making a more robust statement that this was wrong, and these depictions were wrong…” She continued to say that instead of taking movies down Disney should be acknowledging the racism and sexism in those movies so that the public and facilitating the conversation that parents should have with their children about America’s history of sexism and racism. As Disney is trying to move forward, apologize for, and acknowledge its racist past it is important that we all push for Disney to go more than as a small piece of writing on some movies that says: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”