Who would have thought that racism, the War on Drugs and governmental corruption would have any correlation with a PG movie produced by Disney? The words Disney, drugs, racism and corruption typically are not put under the same category. But, as oxymoronic as this unrelated quartet may seem, its constituents do have a relationship with one another. The link can be found in a fictitious animal city known as Zootopia. Although it is an animated children’s movie, Zootopia is intended for people of all ages, not just children. This film production is unique because it engages two vastly different audiences and keeps them both involved and entertained. Within Zootopia’s script, there is a hoard of events and comparisons that allow serious adults …show more content…
In the movie, the bunny detective and the fox discover that there is a drug going around that causes animals to act wild and irrational. The antagonist (unknown till the end of the movie), the mayor’s assistant (a sheep) is purposefully giving the predators this drug to make it appear as if the predators are transforming into berserk savages. This aspect of the movie is comparable to the late seventies when U.S. government officials gave minorities crack cocaine. By doing this, the minorities were looked down upon, and many politicians were able to dismiss those minorities and their communities because they were “crazy low life individuals.” In the movie, the sheep had the same objective, to diminish the reputation of all predators. Luckily, the bunny police stopped the malicious sheep and her assistants. Once again, children have a difficult time making the significant connections between real life and cartoon, whereas adults can recognize the big …show more content…
Eric Goldman from IGN news addressed the brilliance of Zootopia in a well written review. The article discusses several aspects of the film, but primarily focuses on how “heady” Zootopia truly is. Goldman supports this claim with the following statement “…this Disney movie reflects our current landscape and how political figures can push alarmist buttons and turn people against each other in the process.” In addition, the review concludes with this declaration: “…and also in its themes, which are meaningful and fascinatingly topical. It’s one of those movies that truly is able to entertain audiences of all ages, in different ways, and another big accomplishment in the Disney oeuvre.” Goldman’s statements just reiterate the idea that Zootopia is a one of a kind motion picture for parents just as much as it is for
In the movie “Akeelah and the Bee”, Akeelah challenges herself through entering a spelling contest to win the nationals. Over thousands or of words in the dictionary, she memorizes them with the help of Mr. George, her family, and friends.
Presently, Disney known for its mass media entertainment and amusement parks technically bring warm feelings to many children and some adults. Personally, Disney elicits magical fantasies that children enjoy and further encourages imagination and creativity. For decades Disney has exist as an unavoidable entity with its famous global sensation and reach. Furthermore, Disney is a multibillion dollar empire with an unlimited grasp on individuals and territories. An empire per se, since they own many media outlets, markets, shops, etc., you name it they got it. However, the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly presents an entirely new perspective on the presumed innocence projected in Disney films. This film exposes certain traits Disney employs and exclusively portrays through its media productions, specifically cartoons for directing and nurturing influence beginning with children. Mickey Mouse Monopoly points out camouflaged messages of class, race, and gender issues in Disney films that occur behind the scenes intended to sway viewers towards adopting Disney values.
Poor Kids is a documentary that highlights a major issue the United States is suffering from. This issue is known as poverty, more specifically, childhood poverty. This documentary views the world through the eyes of children that are subjected to lives of poverty due to the poor financial state that their parents are in. Life is very rough for these children and they must live their everyday lives with little to none of the luxuries most people take for granted. Poor Kids sheds light on the painful fact that there are children that starve every day in the United States.
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
When we typically think of racial tropes in popular culture, we often don’t look towards animated G-rated movies. The film The Princess and the Frog released by Walt Disney Animated Classics in 2009 created by John Musker, Ron Clements and Rob Edwards is a perfect contemporary example of a film that shows images of pre-constructed racial tropes. Though Disney has produced multiple films based on past fairy tales, The Princess and the Frog was the first animated Disney princess film that featured an African American woman in a leading role. Often times regarded as a turning point in Disney’s movie production career, the film’s representation of African Americans proves to be regressive of racist politics surrounding the 21st century. The design
The philosophy of parenting is a concept that all parents try to understand. When they realize what a parent needs to do to be successful, they employ their parenting strategy on their children. The ultimate goal is to raise their children to become successful and autonomous away from the security of home, wherever that might be. The reason why parenting styles differ is that each parent has a different definition of success. For some, success means going to an Ivy league college, while for others it just means to be happy in life no matter what lifestyle their child leads. The type of person produced is largely dependent on what parenting style that was used on them.
I found “Someday My Prince Will Come” to be a very interesting and enlightening article, sometimes when watching Disney movies at face value, it is easy to miss just how heterosexually driven these movies are. Many of the Disney movi...
For my final essay, I have chosen the movie “Fatal Attraction”, and I will focus on Alex Forrest and her mental disorder. Borderline Personality was displayed in the movie and Alex had almost every symptom of this disorder. Throughout this essay, I will be discussing Alex’s characteristics, intelligence, motivation, stress, social influences and/ or personality theories, treatment, and if the depiction of the disorder and treatment is consistent with what was discussed and read in the course.
Rabison, Rebecca. “Representations of Crime in Disney Films: A Qualitative Analysis.” Wesleyan University Honors College. April 2008. Retrieved 18 Dec 2013 from .
I chose to analyze Despicable Me, an animated film geared towards a younger audience, because I was interested in examining underlying theories and messages that this film would be relaying to its viewers. Often times, when watching animated films, children are not aware of these messages, as they are absorbed by the characters, special effects, and humor. But as we have learned throughout this semester, our brains are subconsciously primed by the various surroundings we are exposed to. Since we also studied the impacts of entertainment, such as television and video games, on children, I wanted to see how a popular children’s film might also affect them.
For decades Disney has been the source of happy endings, fairytales, and family friendly stories for children of all ages. These stories range from realistic and familiar, to the eye-catching magical fairytale. The key to each of these stories are the happy endings brought about by each of the characters unique personalities and dreams. Disney’s films are attempted to provide children with the basic understanding of wrong versus right, but instead influences our society’s beliefs and awareness. Although Disney’s efforts to provide the basic morals to our children are misleading and affect our society strongly, they also contain the use of racism in a form which shows the major differences between characters. The once admired and well-known characters are seemed to be recognized by their species, ethnicity and even their social class. Disney films have taken out of context and have persuaded their viewers understanding of racial stereotyping, which is thoroughly explained in Henry Giroux and Grace Pollock’s novel, The Mouse that Roared. They bring awareness to the underlying racial stereotyping in Disney films, which deeply affect our societies understanding today. Giroux and Pollock bring into perception these admired and regularly watched films through precise examples and racist rendering of the specific characters species and ethnicities which strongly influence our society and lead children to intake these negative influences.
According to Jeffords, Disney changes the fairy tale in its film version of Beauty and the Beast. This film has had countless number of changes since this fairy tale first came out. One major change was inanimate objects came to life. This is a difference because in the older versions of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is isolated in his castle and he fulfilled all of Beauty's need by enchanted magic. I believe that this change is significant in this film. This is because it takes away from the Beasts power. In the older versions this shows that the Beast really cares about Beauty and will do anything to help her fulfill her needs. In Disney's version they took this out. They made it so the Beast was less powerful, making him come off as week.
Critics have warned the public audience about Disney programming’s affect on the “invasion and control of children’s imagination” (Ross 5). These movies express the typical gender roles “such as males being physically strong, assertive, and athletic, and females being prone to overt emotion, inc...
Toy Story is the groundbreaking 1995 motion picture developed by Disney and Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The film was so revolutionary not only because it was the first feature length animation to be created completely by CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) but also, also the film was more rounded in all respects. The characters not only looked more sophisticated and three-dimensional but their personalities were also more human and fewer cartoons like. The film uses a constructed text in order to put across a theme of two very different characters learning to work together beyond their rivalries to rise above a common enemy and work towards a common goal. The film uses characters and imagery very cleverly to portray this theme. The music used in the film is also different to other Disney features. Rather than the characters bursting into song themselves as in Aladdin or Hercules, the songs are played and sung by an outside person (Randy Newman) and reflect the mood and emotions of the characters in a particular scene. For example, the title sequence song “Friend in Me”, when Woody and Andy are playing together, and the scene where Andy’s room has been made over to a Buzz Lightyear theme, “Strange Things” where the song reflects Woody’s confusion and fear not only about the change in his surroundings but also the change in his friends and his own character and self-confidence. The attention to the smallest detail for example the reflections in Buzz’s visor give the film even more realism and depth. The use of unusual and imaginative camera angles, made possible by the use of CGI, also adds to the texture and pace of the film.
Nowadays, the media has a greater influence than ever on what the public believes and accepts. Research shows that the amount and realism of violence and sex in movies has skyrocketed, influencing the views of our generation. However, little to no attention is placed on the effects of movies on our views of racism, sexism, classism, and heteronormativity. Before watching a movie, you can get a general idea of how much sex and violence it will contain, in order to decide if it is appropriate for you. However, how can one tell if a movie is too racist, sexist, classist, or heteronormative for his/her viewing pleasure? What makes a movie racist, sexist, classist, or heteronormative for certain audiences, and not others? My take on the Motion Picture Association of America’s rating system serves to tackle these questions and bring light to the media’s influence on our views on racism, sexism, classism, and heternormativity. My audience for this rating system is primarily parents, who are easily offended by the racism, sexism, classism, and heteronormativity present in the media. They would likely care the most about the presentation of these ideologies in a movie, since they would not want their children to be influenced by the views portrayed in the films they watch.