Diversity in Children’s Animations and the Problems with the Lack Thereof
Caleb Rose, Carson Blackwood, Mike Daly (Big Hero 3)
English 400
Dr. Guler
Introduction
With just a few notes from the major theme of any movie, most people who have been experienced to those movies recall the details and characters of the film, as well as the words to the tune. While it is neat to see the the movies remembered by just a few notes, it is equally interesting, if not moreso, to see how the morals and lessons gained from those movies in childhood. The entertainment media the children consume is a large part of their developmental process, as it is ever present in the advertising targeted at children, the books children read, and even in their food and nutrition choices. However, thinking back to past movies and even some current, it seems more often than not that women and racial minorities tend to get disincluded from major story lines. It is for the Common good that the past of children’s animation movies be examined in regards to racial diversity and women, and the production industry be addressed so that all children can be better shown in their media.
This inquiry looks into high grossing family and children’s movies from different time periods and the common representations of minority characters. Family or Children’s animated movies are movies that are focused on the audience being kids and the point of them is to teach lessons through the film for younger audiences, while still having some gags here and there for the adults. The three common things these movies all usually follow is they have friendly comedy for children, giving life lessons and examples of people by developing characters for the children, and still being playful. Movies explored are those animated films that had large box office values throughout time. As a grounds for testing, the movies must have been memorable to the viewing audience and be created for family audiences.
“Audience can mean any person who hears, reads, or sees a symbolic action; the group targeted by a message, even if it is not present; or the group capable of acting in response to the message. Multiple audiences ma exist for any given symbolic action” (201,Palczewski)
The audience for children’s animations are not only for children, but for entire families. The children see these movies and reflect on the message of the story as well as the characters themselves, while the parent’s use these movies as a teaching tool. These movies are also enjoyable for the parent’s as well, with their subtle more adult references. These are needed to keep the interest in the different age range of all family members.
The primary inquiry was the role of women in children’s animation films. The Bechdel test, created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, is the base test for women being featured in film. To pass, a film must have two named characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. (Bechdel) While test has been criticized for not being stringent enough, allowing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to pass, and criticized for being too stringents, not allowing Stranger Things to pass, the test does have proven reviewed merits that allow for a purely baseline reading for feminism in the films.
Next, the role of racial diversity was examined. Created by film critic Manohla Dargis, the DuVernay Test, named after film producer Ava DuVernay, tests a film’s racial diversity. The test states that the film must feature non white characters who have fully realized lives, and do not just serve as scenery to white storylines. (Dargis) While new and still showing some developmental problems, like the test fails to mention that the test must show the non white characters in a non-stereotypical light, the test still serves as a great line for base involvements.
From 1930 to 1980
Walt Disney’s first major film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, premiering in 1937. The film features a young woman, named Snow White, who is cast out of the castle she resided in by the “Evil Queen”. The “Evil Queen” attempts to have Snow White killed, but Snow White escaped and lived among seven dwarves. Attempting again to kill Snow White, the evil queen dresses as an old woman and attempts to feed Snow White a poison apple. When Snow White eats the apple, she falls asleep until she is awoken by the kiss of a character named “The Prince”. (Disney) While Snow White and the Seven Dwarves technically passes the Bechdel test according to the bechdel database, it does so with hesitance, as the woman to woman conversation happens between Snow White and the “Evil Queen”, and it is argued over whether the evil queen is appropriate for a named character. (Bechdel Test Movie List) It also features harmful stereotypes of women that make the passing Bechdel test a little worrisome. Furthermore, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fails the DuVernay test, as it does not feature any characters of a racial minority.
In 1940, Walt Disney released another major film about a wooden marionette becoming a real boy, titled Pinocchio. In the film, Mister Gepetto creates a wooden marionette who is brought to life by the blue fairy. The blue fairy appoints a sentient cricket to be the boy’s conscious, and claims that she will only turn Pinocchio into a real boy once he has learned to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” (Pinocchio) After attempting to go to school, Pinocchio is corrupted by Honest John and led away from his home to the sinful ‘Pleasure Island’. After escaping, Pinocchio gives his life to save his father and friends while attempting to escape from a tremendous whale named Monstro. The blue fairy then revives Pinocchio and turns him into a real boy. While the movie does happen to feature two named character, Cleo the Cat and the Blue Fairy, both characters never talk to each other, nor are there any other female characters present. (Bechdel Test Movie List) Also, while presenting some startlingly harmful italian stereotypes, the film still fails the DuVernay test, as it fails to feature racial minorities.
Cinderella, a film released by Walt Disney in 1950, retells the classic story of a young women, Cinderella, being unable to go to prince’s ball as it is against the wishes of her stepmother and two stepsisters. Luckily, Cinderella is granted a new dress, shoes, and carriage by her ‘Fairy Godmother’ permitted that she is back by midnight. At the dance, Cinderella dances with, and begins to fall for, Prince Charming. She stays until a few minutes before midnight when all of her possessions granted by the Fairy Godmother disappear, with the exception of the crystal shoe that fell off at the ball. Prince Charming then searches the land for the owner of the shoe, finds Cinderella, and marries her. While Cinderella does pass the Bechdel test, Cinderella is overall a poor example for women, as Cinderella magically has everything handed to her via crying, and seems to possess little agency in her life, having everything either dictated by her step mother or, in the end, the prince she is marrying. (Bechdel Test Movie List) The movie also features no minority characters, thus failing the DuVernay test.
In 1953, Disney released Peter Pan, starring; Peter, the magical flying boy who refused to grow up; Tinkerbell, a magical flying fairy; and the Darling children (Mary, John, and Michael), British children that follow Peter to Neverland. In neverland, the children meet the Lost Boys, mermaids, Native Americans, and pirates. After a fight with the Notorious Captain Hook, the children return to their home in England. Peter Pan hesitantly passes the Bechdel test due to the limited female interaction and the little agency shown by the female characters; however, it does pass. (Bechdel Test Movie List) Peter Pan, also, hesitantly passes the DuVernay test, as the Native Americans, though displayed in a horribly stereotypical and racist fashion, are indeed central to the storyline.
Then in 1959, Walt Disney released his next animated princess movie, Sleeping Beauty. The movie follows the Princess Sleeping Beauty after she is cursed at birth by the evil antagonist to fall asleep at age 16 and only be awoken by a true love’s kiss. After battling Maleficent, Prince Phillip, kisses Sleeping Beauty, bringing her back to life. Unfortunately, despite the troubling concerns this movie rises about consent and women’s agency, and the coding of strong capable women as the evil antagonist, this movie still passes the Bechdel test. (Bechdel Test Movie List) This movie also fails to feature any non white characters, thus failing the DuVernay Test as well.
The final movie in the classic period, The Jungle Book, was released in 1967. The film features an Indian child, Mowgli, who is raised by and interacts with the animals of the forest. After a grueling fight with a lion named Shere Khan, Mowgli is prompted to live in the village close to the forest by his friends Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black panther. The movie outright fails the Bechdel test, as the film only features three women, the mother wolf, who doesn’t speak; the little girl at the end; who doesn’t speak, and a mother elephant, who does have some dialogue but only around men. (Bechdel Test Movie Listl) The Jungle Book though does make an excellent step in providing a non white protagonist, as Mowgli is Indian; however the movie provides cruel and racist stereotypes of African Americans in their displayal of King Louie and his monkey companions.
For feminism, the strongest two movies were Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and Disney’s Cinderella, for the the sole express reason that they expressed the Bechdel test. There was an effort made on the Walt Disney and his animation studio placed women in protagonist film roles. By including women, Disney mad the first steps in creating movies that were strong for women.
To look at the shortfalls, we can look to Pinocchio and Cinderella. Pinocchio’s major failure was that the film in total featured two named women; a fish named Cleo and The Blue Fairy. Cleo has no lines, and Blue Fairy seems to only serve and cater to Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket. As for Cinderella, the movie features a serial lack agency in female characters. The only female characters who seem to have any agency are portrayed as vile and evil. This practice became incredibly prevalent in the 80s and 90s with LGBT villains, called Queer Coding, The hope was for children to associate the traits of evil characters that weren’t evil, like gayness and women with agency, as being evil and unacceptable in society.
As for Racial Diversity in this era, most movies simply did not pass the DuVernay test because they didn’t feature any minority characters. It was in this time that there was an uprise in Civil Rights movements and the call for equality in places like interracial marriage; however, when Black people looked to the animation industries they were met with another whites only storyline. One of the exceptions to this was The Jungle Book, whose main character was an Indian boy named Mowgli. Mowgli is not white washed, nor are there any negative Indian slang used at him. At a bare glance, Mowgli is an acceptable baseline for films to build off of. Also, even though movies, like Sleeping Beauty, did not feature any non white characters, at the very least they did not include any racist remarks about other characters, which is a strength.
To look at what not to do in regards to the portrayal of racially diverse characters, the only thing that needs to be investigated in the song “What makes the Red Man red?” from Peter Pan. The song features a large circle of Native Americans passing a pipe around and singing about their heritage to young British kids. By attempting to characterize a race of people as exoctic and savage, while failing to give them any other characteristic is reprehensible. Furthermore, even in The Jungle Book, which gave a decent portrayal of Mowgli being Indian, failed Black people as one of their worst stereotypes, black people being compared to apes, was put for all to see on the big screen. While the comparison were strictly in appearance and mannerisms, the studio did originally want Louis Armstrong to play the role, but he turned it down. It is unneeded to condemn racist remarks towards other cultures, and is not acceptable in any age of children’s film.
1980 to 2000
The story of a family of Russian mice immigrating to America, the 1986 “An American Tale”, features Fievel, a mouse that gets separated from his family, as well as Tonya, Fievel’s sister who helps leads the efforts in rescuing Fievel. After working to defeat the cats attempting to destroy their lifestyles, Fievel is reunited with his family. While the film does feature a good amount of strong female protagonists, “An American Tale” only dubiously passes the Bechdel test, for the only dialogue that does not concern a man between two women is when Tonya talks to Mama Mousekewitz about a Hanukkah gift in the beginning of the film. (Bechdel Test Movie List) The film is a triumph in regards to racial representation, for while the does feature animal protagonists, they are written to represent different cultures that were immigrating to America in the 1900’s
After discovering a magic lamp, poor protagonist Aladdin can finally attempt to marry the girl he has fallen in love with, Jasmine - the princess of the fictional middle eastern kingdom of Agrubah. Disney’s 1992 film “Aladdin”, pits Aladdin and his magic genie against the evil powers of Jafar the Grand Vizier. After Jafar is defeated, the genie is freed and Jasmine agrees to marry Jasmine. Since Jasmine is the only named female character in the film, “Aladdin” fails the Bechdel test. (Bechdel Test Movie List). Aladdin does solely feature middle eastern characters, and thus passes the DuVernay Test, the film features some problematic stereotypes of middle eastern cultures that set back the empowerment via diversity in the film.
Next, from the works of Studio Ghibli and acclaimed producer Hayao Miyazaki, is the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, also originally known by it’s Japanese name Tonari no Totoro. The movie features Satsuki and Mei, sisters who move with their father to be closer to their ailing mother, and the forest spirits they befriend names totoros. The film follows the sister and their adventures with the totoros. The movie keeps consistent excellent dialogue between Mei and Satsuki, thus passing the Bechdel test, but furthermore makes sure that they are the expressed main characters. (Bechdel Test Movie List). Furthermore, as all the characters are of Asian descent, the film passes the DuVernay test.
Though a highly inaccurate view of history, Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas, takes a reimagined look at the life of the Algonquin Indian Pocahontas, and her tribe as Englishmen land on their shores and begin to invade in search of Gold. Pocahontas begins to fall in love with Englishman John Smith, and tries to convince him to change his ways. When the attacks worsen, Pocahontas saves John Smith from death, who in return uses his body to shield Chief Powhatan from attack. The story concludes with an injured John smith being sent back to England to receive medical treatment. Pocahontas has multiple conversations with Nakoma and Grandmother Willow, thus passing the Bechdel test. Also, since the characters featured in the film are primarily Native Americans, the film passes the Du Vernay test.
In Disney’s 1996 film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a physically deformed bellringer, Quasimodo, must attempt to save his friend Esmeralda from a lust driven government minister. After escaping from Claude Frollo’s care, Quaismodo gets a look at the House of Miracles, the home of Romani worship in France. Quasimodo and his new friends Phoebus, a soldier from the kingdom, and Esmerelda, a kind Romani, are on a quest to defeat Frollo from destroying the House of Miracles. The film fails women, having only one strong female character, and while Esmerelda’s role is excellent, it alone is not enough to pass the Bechdel Test. (Bechdel Test Movie List) Furthermore, the movie does pass the DuVernay test, after an excellent display of the Romani people, with one exception. The movie consistently calls the Romani civilization members “Gypsies” which many Romani people insist is a slur against their culture.