Since I was a little girl, Disney surrounded me. I had all of the Disney movies in VHS at my grandparent's home, I loved going to the original Disney store at Plaza las Américas (the one that had the big mountain of plush toys), and I celebrated my Quinceañero with my family and my then best friend at Disney World. I was also addicted to Disney Channel, watching all of its "Original Movies" and series. During high school a colleague even named me "The Disney Girl". The point is Disney has defined my childhood and the childhood of many like myself. So after watching the documentary "Mickey Mouse Monopoly" I questioned myself what were the original intentions of Walt Disney? Were they to bring happiness to children or were they solely to capitalize?
There were things that the documentary mentioned that i did know, such as how Disney teaches little children their gender roles such as how to act like a girl and how to act like a boy. However, what i had never realized was the racial roles Disney sets. This came to me as a shock because children since they are months old, are learning and absorbing everything around them. So when they watch a Disney film they are unconsciously learning the stereotypes that come with each race. These stereotypes become encrypted in the minds of little ones and then its hard to teach them other wise. The documentary portrayed various examples when talking about the Disney characters that are used as racial stereotypes such as the representation of Hispanics as chiwawas that steel cars, African Americans as gorillas that do the jive and articulate poorly, and Asians as Siamese cats with buck teeth
.This was what mostly impacted me from the documentary because I thought that we lived in a modern world where children are taught not to discriminate or judge other because of the color of their skin or where they are from. I cannot deny that Disney's cartoons are fun and entertaining, but the creators of such cartoons should be careful with what they make for children.
.This was what mostly impacted me from the documentary because I thought that we lived in a modern world where children are taught not to discriminate or judge other because of the color of their skin or where they are from. I cannot deny that Disney's cartoons are fun and entertaining, but the creators of such cartoons should be careful with what they make for children.
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