Debunking "evil Disney" accusations

BuddyThomas

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Meryl Streep had some choice words about Walt Disney at the recent National Board of Review dinner. Details can be found at variety.com, and the article is titled Meryl Streep Blasts Disney at NBR Dinner.
 
pluto77

pluto77

Well-Known Member
BuddyThomas said:
Meryl Streep had some choice words about Walt Disney at the recent National Board of Review dinner. Details can be found at variety.com, and the article is titled Meryl Streep Blasts Disney at NBR Dinner.
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Here is a pretty good blog from Floyd Norman, who is an African American story artist and animator who actually worked with Walt for years, where he responds to Meryl Streep's remarks.

http://floydnormancom.squarespace.com/blog/2014/1/8/sophies-poor-choice
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Matt_Black said:
Except that it takes place during the Reconstruction Era. As has been noted several times in the thread.

I'm white, so I'm not going to comment on any implications about Princess and the Frog, other than that I liked it, and the movie DID show that there was an unfair discrepancy during that time between whites and blacks. They didn't beat you over the head with it, but they didn't hide it either.

Regarding Fantasia, I've heard some people complain about the zebra centaurs that accompany Bacchus, which is mystifying to me, as I think they're kinda hot for fantasy creatures.

While during the Walt era, there were stereotypes, he seemed to avoid the really bad ones. For instance, I'm trying to think of an instance of a "Yellow Peril" type character showing up in any of the cartoons and can't think of one, with the possible exception of the Siamese Cats from Lady and the Tramp (and Disney films at that point had a history of portraying cats as jerks).
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Yes but as a human slave to several generations of Siamese cats, Si and Am are not too far off the mark in feeling the universe is their litter box...

And it's absolutely amazing how Disney captured the essence of how Siamese cats move which is like no other creature on earth. Did you also notice that any Disney movie with animals generally has at least ONE Siamese? I think Walt really liked Siamese.
 
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ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
draybook said:
After page 4 I quit reading. I'm so sick of hearing about racism. I'm equally sick of hearing about racism and only hearing black and white involved in the conversation. Every race has been victim to racism get over it. I'm also tired of hearing about slavery. Slavery affects today's "African American" about as much as the Trail of Tears and the Alamo affects me.

Let's try looking past skin color and just continue our love for Disney as a human race.
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Yes lets concentrate on 'Contents of their Character' instead of skin color.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
Weather_Lady said:
I was waiting for someone to bring this up, too.

The fact is that our nation is still struggling with racism. Much progress has been made, and much remains to be done. Looking at a retrospective of Disney movies demonstrates this as well as any other medium, and I would venture to say that in some ways, Disney was more gentle in his portrayal of stereotypical characters than many other filmmakers of his time. It doesn't excuse the fact that stereotypes were used and perpetuated, and many of those scenes are offensive to modern eyes, but these works shouldn't be judged without some appreciation of their historical context.

My children have seen "Peter Pan" and other "oldies," and I try to take advantage of the teachable moment to discuss with them why certain depictions and terms are not acceptable, something they seem to understand readily. My parents did the same for me when I saw "Song of the South" as a youngster.

I'm also surprised to hear the complaint about Tiana as a frog. Not that I don't see where the comments are coming from now that it is pointed out, but frankly, I thought her "froggy-ness" only emphasized the theme that love and virtue exist in all persons of any color (or species). I think that Tiana is the best-developed, most intelligent, and most interesting Princess to date.
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I would have to agree on this.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
steamboat wil said:
The monkey scene is no doubt not racist. Louis Prima and his band played and danced the same way as the monkeys did on the movie. I think it had more to do with monkeys being able to mimic Prima's band movements better than other animals in the movie. If Italians don't think it is racist, why should African-Americans? Louis Prima was brilliant though, "Angelina Angelina"!

I do kind of agree with the PaTF. African-Americans got cheated out of screen time for their first black princess because she was a frog most of the movie. I thought the lightning bug was equally offensive and seemed to make fun of folks with a long New Orleans/Cajun background.
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As to Ray I have relatives like him they also have Masters and Phd's to their name, Country folk are the way they are and tend to be comfortable in their own skin and have no need to 'fit in' and look and sound exactly alike like city folk do.
 
englanddg

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Weather_Lady said:
I was waiting for someone to bring this up, too.

The fact is that our nation is still struggling with racism. Much progress has been made, and much remains to be done. Looking at a retrospective of Disney movies demonstrates this as well as any other medium, and I would venture to say that in some ways, Disney was more gentle in his portrayal of stereotypical characters than many other filmmakers of his time. It doesn't excuse the fact that stereotypes were used and perpetuated, and many of those scenes are offensive to modern eyes, but these works shouldn't be judged without some appreciation of their historical context.

My children have seen "Peter Pan" and other "oldies," and I try to take advantage of the teachable moment to discuss with them why certain depictions and terms are not acceptable, something they seem to understand readily. My parents did the same for me when I saw "Song of the South" as a youngster.

I'm also surprised to hear the complaint about Tiana as a frog. Not that I don't see where the comments are coming from now that it is pointed out, but frankly, I thought her "froggy-ness" only emphasized the theme that love and virtue exist in all persons of any color (or species). I think that Tiana is the best-developed, most intelligent, and most interesting Princess to date.
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Our nation isn't struggling with racism. It's struggling with people who, for either moral superiority, sheer stupidity, or selfish or financial / political gain seek to find racism in everything.
 

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