Annalee R. Ward takes notice on racism, sexism, and homophobia in Disney’s The Lion King. The author brings light to parts of the film are not immediately noticed. She explains the main villain, Scar, has darker colors than his protagonist Mufasa and Simba. The author identifies Mufasa as a gay stereotype and expresses its negative perception on the LGBT community. She also takes note of patriarchy with the lions. The male lions are destined to be leaders, although the females are meant to be housewifes. With all the criticisms she gathered up, she has taken light to the film as well. Ward has complimented the film’s successes and explains that there are moral values that family audience can
Native Americans have been mistreated and taken advantage of as time went on in United States history. I remember when I was a kid sitting down eating my Cheetos watching Peter Pan and Pocahontas singing along to all of the songs in the movie. Since taking diversity classes in high school, I rewatched those movies and realized how awful they make Native Americans look and act. It’s been throughout the whole United States history that we have treated them unfairly from the Dawes act, stealing their land, and the way we use them in movies. We have falsely portrayed their views for our entertainment, which is wrong. The Native population are an important part of United States history that has been misrepresented due to pop culture being shown
The Lion King is a story based around the betrayal of a king by his brother. The brother’s ambition of becoming the king leads to him killing the true and current king. In The Lion King, Scar betrays his brother by killing him to gain the throne for himself. Through Psychoanalytic Theory, it is clear that Scar feels shame because he is not the king and the next in line for the throne is his nephew. This shame eventually leads to Scar betraying his brother because of his ambition.
What do stereotypes add to a film? Are they for the best? Are they different than archetypes? Disney Pixar’s film Cars (John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, 2006) plays with both stereotypes and architypes. Though, this film has no humans it instills human ideals of gender, love, race, and even class into these characters. Lasseter and Ranft specifically make use of stereotyping and archetypes to bring these characters to life. Not only does the use of archetypes provide a personality within each of these characters but the stereotypes also connote negative traits as well.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (The Holy Bible, Matthew 5:5). This quote is the third Beatitude in “The Bible” which means that any person who exhibits self-control and modesty will be rewarded with peace, prosperity and eternal life. There are many stories in the bible, as well as novels, plays, and motion pictures that help display the consequences of not leading a humble life. Macbeth (from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”) and Scar (from Rob Minkoff and Roger Aller’s “The Lion King”) are two characters that fail to portray the virtues of the third Beatitude. In both adaptations, there are many parallels between both characters as they possess selfish qualities and murder for their own benefits. Although Scar and Macbeth both commit regicide out of their own desire for power and create chaos among the land, Macbeth presents moral qualities while Scar is corrupt and dishonest throughout the “Lion King”. The main characters of both adaptations bring attention to the
(4) Conventional is easy. Whenever an idea is generally perceived by society as standard or traditional it becomes very easy to display to the public without the raise of an eyebrow. This is the basis on which stereotypes appear in films. You’d think in the 21st century where what once were radical notions like same sex marriage and recreational drug use are being legalized that something uncalled for like the constant portrayal of character stereotyping would come to an end. Alas, stereotypical characters continue to emerge in film and unfortunately have become a staple of Hollywood because they’re simple and straightforward, requiring little effort on the part of the writers or thinking from the audience.
...aves Princess Jasmine multiple times and falling in love at first sight. They also live happily ever-after together, just as every other Disney prince and princess in every other Disney movie. Parents should be aware of the subliminal messages that their children view in the Disney movies they are watching, and grow up to believe that is how life goes. The children that are growing up watching Disney movies with such strong gender stereotypes are learning things they may factor into their own futures, and think that acting the way of the Disney roles is the only way for them to live their life in a happy manner. The way Disney animated films assign gender roles to their characters effect young children’s views of right and wrong in society. It is wrong, and they should not be exposed to such material growing up because it is harmful to their future expectations.
A cautionary tale is a story that warns the reader that something dangerous is going to occur. The importance of reading cautionary tales is to warn us to be careful and pay close attention to signs of danger. Their purpose is to teach us to always be cautious. The three stories studied in class are all examples of cautionary tales. This can be viewed as Bruno’s lack of good parents in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the keeping of secrets in Romeo and Juliet, and the consequences of using stereotypes in Chanda’s Secrets.
The Lion King is a well-known children’s movie that was produced by Disney. The movie begins with a small cub being presented to the kingdom by his parents, Mufasa and Sarabi (Hahn, Minkoff, & Allers, 1994). The small cub is named Simba and he will one day become the king of his father’s kingdom. Mufasa’s brother, Scar, does not like that Mufasa’s son will one day take over, and plots to kill Mufasa and Simba (Hahn, Minkoff, & Allers, 1994). The movie continues on, and Mufasa saves Simba from a stampede, but Scar will not save Mufasa (Hahn, Minkoff, & Allers, 1994).
It is amazing how a seemingly educated woman that has won Oscar awards for her documentaries, could possibly be so far off base in her review of the Disney movie “The Lion King”. Margaret Lazarus has taken a movie made for the entertainment of children and turned it into something that is racist, sexist and stereotypes gender roles. She uses many personal arguments to review the movie but offers few solutions. The author is well organized but she lacks alternate points of view and does not use adequate sources. Lazarus utilizes the statement at the end of her review that “the Disney Magic entranced her children, but they and millions of other children were given hidden messages that could only do them and us harm” (118). She makes her point by saying that “the Disney Magic reinforces and reproduces bigoted and stereotyped views of minorities and women in our society” (Lazarus 117). She makes comparisons such as elephant graveyards are like ghettos (Lazarus 118). Other lines of reasoning Lazarus gives us are about Whoopie Goldberg using inner city dialect, the villain Scar being gay, and only those born to privilege can bring about change (118).
In the book Of Mice and Men, the author,John Steinbeck, uses stereotype characters to convey his message. He wants to empathize with his characters as human beings. He uses stereotype characters such as Lennie, George, Curly, Slim, Candy, Crooks, and Curly's wife. Steinbeck's goal is to inform people how life was like for a migrant worker in the 1920's to 1930's.
Transformation is necessary to adapt to any situation. The main characters in American Born Chinese transform their identities in order to deal with and fit into the society they live in. Jin Wang desperately wants to transform from Chinese background to an American. The Monkey King wishes to transform from “just a monkey” to a God. Danny transforms in order to deal with cultural criticism. These characters use these transformations in order to deal with the life they live in and understand who they are.
Scar finally reveals that he killed his brother Mufasa, when he was understood to have successfully hid this fact for so long, only then does he truly become a threat that fails in the end (The Lion King). The movie chooses to portray Scar as a character who is inequivalent to Mufasa as his tinier body has the viewer see Scar as"physically inferior to his larger and stronger brother” thus allowing him to be animated in a black thinner less vibrant mane than his brother's richer illuminating mane in comparison (Haerne). Despite the fact that Scar is a lion, he is not Mufasa and Simba's equal, rather he is a being that can only be tolerated and never respected causing him to seek the power of being superior with the aid of the hyenas. Although ultimately leading him to kill Mufasa,the scene emphasizes Scar's inferiority, for the movie has a preference for brawn over brains. This is displayed through Scar's color arrangement and animation, as he is envisioned with a dark mane, a thin body, and green envious eyes.
The Lion King is a movie created by Disney and was released in the summer of 1994. It is about a pride of lions that uphold the cycle of nature, or as they call it “the circle of life” (The Lion King, 1994). The lion pride is considered royalty within the “Pride Lands” and are just and fair when it comes to hunting only what they need. A young prince named Simba is introduced and he is next in line to be the future king. However, Simba’s uncle Scar had other plans. He believed that it was his right all along to be named future king and wanted all of the glory to himself. Eventually, Scar comes up with an elaborate plan to rid the Pride Lands of Simba and the current King, Mufasa and take the throne for himself.
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.
My childhood was just like every other kid growing up in the 20th century. It revolved around the Disney story’s that were filled with magic and dreams. From Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, my beloved children 's stories seem to stereotype women and be controlled by male characters. At a young age, this showed me that women are not as useful as men are. These stories set the foundation of what it means to be a boy or a girl. The ratio of men to women as main characters was so outstanding it led me to question how these stories affected how I view males and females.