Ideologies within Disney Films

As previously expressed in the  blog-post Implicit and Explicit Ideology this is a expansion on the points raised in regards to the ideologies found within Disney films and animations. It is fair to suggest that on watching a Disney film, it is easy to watch it as it is being portrayed to you, however in some cases all is not what you think as Turner (1988) suggest: “Although audiences might recognize the preferred reading as one of that was implicit in the text’s formal properties, they could still refuse that reading for an alternative” (Turner, 1988: pp. 143)

Walt Disney is renowned for his entertainment during the last century. Disney’s animation production company Walt Disney Productions which he set up with his brother is the most recognized motion picture Company in the world, with their films predominantly fantasy, designed for children. However, as you grow up with Disney films, you are likely to still love at least one Disney film.

Disney films work on “that magical notion of “seeing is understanding” ideology goes on display to prevent itself from being shown up for what it really is, contemplates itself but does not criticize itself” (Comolli and Narboni, 1969: pp. 28) As seen in the previous blog, the racist ideologies were made evident in the use of the “bad” characters having strong Arabic accents and a darker skin tone. Walt Disney also used ethnicity as a way of implicitly describing “bad” characters in his early works “Three Little Pigs” (1933). During the plot of the story the Wolf appears dressed as a Jewish Peddler, with all the stereotypical features imaged with someone who is Jewish. It was not till 14 years later and the introduction of the Hays code that it was recognized that the characterisation was in bad taste and the film was reanimated. “Even when the wolf no longer appeared Jewish, he spoke with a Yiddish accent, thus maintaining the underlying message based in anti-Semitism and fear of the other: a link between the evil intentions of the wolf and things Jewish.” (Rosini, 1997: pp.79-80)

One of the reasons that it is not easy to recognize the ideologies within Disney films is due to the way they are portrayed to the viewer. According to Duncum one of the reasons is “Ideologies are interwoven with such naturalness and with such aesthetic features that most viewers most of the times are unaware of them” (Duncum, 2008: pp. 129). Giroux and Pollock have a different insight regarding this, according to them “innocence serves as primarily as a rhetorical device that cleanses the Disney image of tainting influence of commerce, ideology and power.” (Giroux and Pollock, 2010: pp. 32), in other words, you are not expecting to see the implicit ideologies due to the nature of a Disney film.

Racism is not the only ideology expressed in Disney films, one of the early examples, which has been improved in the last few decades, is the depiction of women, through the princesses. Disney Princesses may be the most popular theme in the Disney film empire; however they draw on unfair stereotypes in their portrayal: “Some have sought to reveal her beauty as stereotype; her good-nature as submissiveness, but still she prevails” (Rozario, 2010: pp. 34). The Princesses tend to be beautiful, young women who have found themselves out of luck and love at home. They normally find themselves on an “adventure” away from the “evil” older women who is supressing them; finally being saved by a handsome prince, and living happily ever after – as the fairy tale would like you to believe. However, this image of a princess, and ultimately women, suggests that all women need, if they are unhappy at home, or in whatever circumstances, is a man, who will ultimately make it all better. This is an unfair image to depict, especially for the young children who are watching it, who are naively lead to believe this is what you need in life.

Many different academics have argued over the way in which women are portrayed in Disney films. Older women, who have married into the family, as “step-parent” are readily portrayed as being “evil”. This is many examples of this, such as Cinderella, Snow White and even more recently, The Little Mermaid. The older women are portrayed as being jealous of the young princesses, and ultimately wanting what they have and also the image which is characterised on this older women is that she is “ugly”, bringing back the hidden ideology of ugly being bad and beauty being good. It was not until more recently, perhaps to keep up with modern times, that the older, evil women, appear to be heavily made up, and beautiful for their age, such as “Mother Gothel” in the film “Tangled” (2010). The only way an older women can be good is in the case of the “Fairy God Mother”, she is often seen in white, is very beautiful and is ultimately looking out for princess.

Colour plays a key part in the implicit ideologies within Disney films, are previously brought up in regards to racism and ethnicity. The colours black, for evil, and white for good are heavily used. Evil characters, such as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid” (1989) is portrayed as being very dark, using  a lot of dark shades and having a dark skin tone. In contrast to this, Ariel is very pale with striking red hair, as is her father with pale skin and white hair and beard. This use of colour, to suggest good and evil still prevails today to some extent. Towbin and associates suggest that “Non-dominant cultures are represented negatively” (Towbin et al, 2004: pp. 32) they found that this could be seen in up to 10 different films, such as the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp (1955) having slanted eyes, buck teeth and speaking with poor grammar – suggesting they are dangerous; Arabs in Aladdin (1992) being portrayed as dirty, cheap and thieving and Tito in Oliver and Company portrayed as being Hispanic, who chases women, gets into street fights and hot wires car (Towbin et al, 2004). The suggest that these negatively represented characterisations are still happening as recently as 1992 is terrible. Disney do get it right in some films however, with the likes of Pocahontas where, where she lives in accurately described, without introducing any prejudices.  

The final ideology which is going to be discussed is in relation to more recent times. In the 2008 film Wall-e, it appears that the film is about a robot love story. Looking deeper into the film though it can be imagined that it is in fact about the suppression of humanity, due to technological advancements. Humans have to leave earth and travel continuously in space as the earth has become full of rubbish. This could be a suggestion of what may happen due to lack of recycling. The advances in space travel in also apparent with the human race being able to survive without returning to earth. The characters are pictures as fat and lazy, and dependent on technology to survive, and do not appear to understand anything that is going on around them. All these images are important in the depiction of technological advancements. However, true to Disney’s nature there is a happy ending and the characters realise what is happening to their world.

With the innocence of childhood it is easy to imagine these storylines as being as straightforward as they are being portrayed. However looking at them now you can see that cleverly Disney has incorporated many different ideologies into them. Perhaps this is what makes them appealing to people of all ages.

References

Towbin, M et al. (2004). Images of Gender, Race, Age, and Sexual Orientation in Disney Feature-Length AnimatedFilms. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy. 5 (4), pp. 19-44.

Turner, G. (1988). Film, Culture and Ideology. In: Taylor and Francis Film as Social Practice. London: Routledge. pp. 151-187.

Comolli, J.M and Narboni, P.. (1971). Cinema/Ideology/Criticism. Screen. 12 (1), p. 27-38.

Rosini, L. G, (1997). English with an accent: language, ideology and discrimination in the united states. London: Routledge. pp. 79-80.

Duncum, P. (2008). Holding a esthetics and Ideology in Tension. Journal of Issues and Research. 49 (2), 122-135.

Rozario, R.A. (2004). The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess. Women's studies in communication. 27 (1), 34-59.


http://www.imdb.com/

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Review

Directed by Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows the third in the Lord of the Rings sequel (The Return of the King) in the form a prequel to the first The Fellowship of the Ring... Confused yet?

Peter Jackson introduces the viewer to a lot of familiar faces in this prequel, as well as some new ones, such as the main character, played by Martin Freeman – Bilbo Baggins. Freeman’s character is at first appearance your stereotypical hobbit, (for those that don’t know what a Hobbit is, it is a small imaginary creature, thought to be related to man, with rather hairy feet) who is partial to drinking tea, eating cakes and keeping out of other people’s business. This changed however, for Bilbo Baggins, who plays Elijah Wood’s uncle, from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Peter Jackson, adapting J. R. R. Tolkien’s into this movie spectacular thrashed Martin Freeman’s character into the forefront of the action.

  

As familiar as the characters within the film are, there is also some characters recognizable for previous work with Peter Jackson such as Andy Serkis who plays Gollum has also starred in films such as Tintin, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. Jed Brophy, who plays the dwarf Nori, has also appeared in King Kong and the Lord of the Rings triology, as well as District 9 which was produced by Peter Jackson.

The new characters which are introduced within the film fit in perfectly. Such as the twelve dwarfs, although some of the actors have appeared previously in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as different characters and you are also introduced to Gandalf the Grey’s brother, Radagast the Brown who comes to the aid of his brother and the 13 other team members.

The special effects were as to be expected by Jackson, breath taking and realistic (well – as realistic as a small man getting a lift on the back of a giant bird can be). Compiled with the classical music which is so recognizable with the film the viewer is brought firmly into the fold of the story, through the adventure, the danger and the victory. The way in which the characters spoke was what to be expected, first through previous viewing of the Lord of the Rings trilogy but also through utilizing the way in which Tolkien described the characters and portrayed them within his novels.

As to be recognized with Peter Jackson’s style, the film was epically long, running at 169 minutes. There were times when the film, particularly towards the end, felt rather drawn out.  After the 14 strong pack, travel over, and through the Lonely Mountain, you’d imagine this would be a good time for the film to draw to a conclusion, however this was not to be and it went on for what roughly felt, another 30 minutes.  This, in my opinion was the only negative in regards to the film, towards the end it started to feel that you were wondering when it was going to stop.

It was delightful to be reacquainted with a recognizable character from the previous films, in the form of Gollum, who was originally a Stoor Hobbit (one of the three types of Hobbit), now resided in the mist mountains with the “one ring”. In the film, you witness Bilbo and Gollum exchanging quips with each other and partaking in a game of “riddles”. Ultimately, Bilbo finds the ring and wins the game of riddles, much to Gollum’s disgust who then goes back on his word on how to show Bilbo to get out of the Lonely Mountain but Bilbo is saved when he puts the ring on and goes invisible and manages to get past Gollum. Gollum’s character appears a lot more witty within the forth of Jackson’s adaptions of Tolkien’s novels which came as quite a surprise on viewing it for the first time, however on further watching it does suit the little creature.

With the anticipation of two more sequels in The Hobbit trilogy, it would be wrong to second guess what Peter Jackson will do next. With his originality and unique creativeness being relinquished in this cinematic master piece it is with great excitement I await the next instalment due out in December 2013. If you do have a spare three hours, it would thoroughly recommended to be spent watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure. (And even if you don’t have a spare three hours, make some – it is well worth the watch).

Implicit and Explicit Ideology

On first watch it would easy to assume that Disney bases it's films on happy, easy to follow children's stories. However, after growing up with them and watching them as an adult it is easy to see that they're not just happy little stories of princesses finding prince charming, they contain a deeper meaning, or ideology if you like.

"Because every film is part of the economic system it is also a part of the ideological system, for
'cinema' and 'art' are branches of ideology." (Comolli and Narboni 1971 p. 29-30)

In the case of Disney films, the ideologies tend to be implicit, they are not obvious; and the ideologies are not what the film appears to be at the start.

Implicit Ideology: Aladdin (1992)

Aladdin (1992), at first appearance, appears to be the story of a young street seller who while working discovers a Princess who he, eventually, falls in love with. Although, throughout the film, the use of "race" refers to the villains within the film, to an extant becoming racist. An example of this would be the villain's within the film having a more "Arabic" accent, compared the Americanized accents that Aladdin and Princess Jasmine have. "... Aladdin portrays the “bad” Arabs with thick foreign accents while the Anglicized Jasmine and Aladdin speak in Standard American English." (Giroux, 1996, p.107)

The use of accents is also apparent in The Lion King (1994), in that the good pride of lions, of which Simba is a member is played by American English speaking actors, where as the hyenas for example are played by ethnic actors in the form of Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin who speak with an accent.

The use of coat colour within The Lion King (1994) also reaffirms the racist ideology present within the film. Simba, who is a good lion, has a light coloured coat compared to Scar, who is a bad lion who has a dark coloured coat.

Explicit Ideology: Rampart (2011)

From the start of Oren Moverman's "Rampart" the ideology of the film is clear. Based in Los Angeles in 1999 the film is about a cop, played by Woody Harrelson who is finds himself embroiled in the "Rampart Scandal" of the 1990s when the LAPD were awash with corruption. The film features heavily examples of occurrences which were said to have happened during this period.For example Harrelson's character earns the name "Data-Rape-Dave" after killing a man who was in the cells on suspicion of date-raping young women. Due to the "Rampart Scandal" the situation surround a hold-up at a grocery store, police officer Dave Brown is left wondering who he can trust within the force himself.


 Sources:
Giroux, H.A (1996). Fugitive cultures: Race, violence and youth. New York: Routledge. 106.

Anjali Pandey . (2001). “Scatterbrained Apes” and “Mangy Fools”: Lexicalizations of Ideology in Children's Animated Movies. SIMILE: Studies In Media & Information Literacy Education. 1 (3), p1-14.

Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/

Comolli, J.M and Narboni, P.. (1971). Cinema/Ideology/Criticism. Screen. 12 (1), p. 27-38.