Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Disability

315 Pages·2013·1.75 MB·english

by  Johnson Cheu

Diversity in Disney Films
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Diversity
in Disney Films
Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity,
Gender, Sexuality and Disability
EDITED BY JOHNSON CHEU
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Diversity in Disney films : critical essays on race, ethnicity,
gender, sexuality and disability / edited by Johnson Cheu.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4601-8
softcover : acid free paper
¡. Walt Disney Productions. 2. Pixar (Firm) 3. Motion
pictures—United States—History and criticism. 4. Animated
films—United States—History and criticism. 5. Race in
motion pictures. 6. Ethnicity in motion pictures. 7. Sex
role in motion pictures. 8. Disabilities in motion pictures.
9. People with disabilities in motion pictures. I. Cheu,
Johnson, 1969–
PN1999.W27D58 2013
791.43'6552—dc23 2012044136
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2013 Cheu Johnson. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover image © 2013 Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For May and Anne
and everyone who was young once
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to all of my contributors who took this journey with me and
who believed in the importance of the work. My colleagues at Michigan State,
present and former, for their support and encouragement; in particular John
Bratzel, who said, “If you can’t find the book you need, then you need to make
one.” Also Cheryl Caesar and Deborah Carmichael who lent their ears without
fail, along with Jeff Charnley, Kitty Geissler, Gary Hoppenstand, Douglas
Noverr, Richard Manderfield and Benjamin Urish. A very special thanks to
John A. Dowell, Michigan State’s Technology Literacy Specialist, for his
friendship and his invaluable expertise and contributions in manuscript prepa-
ration. Christine Levecq of Kettering University gave of her time and wisdom.
My thanks to Randall W. Scott, indexer extraordinaire, Michael Rodriguez,
and all the librarians at Michigan State. Further thanks to Diana Shank and
Marsha Edington for their administrative support. My thanks to all my stu-
dents at Michigan State, particularly those who took my Disney course.
This project had its beginnings back when I was a graduate student doing
work on disability and Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. My thanks to
the good people there who worked with me on my early musings: Brenda
Brueggemann, Kay Halasek, Valerie Lee (for the Doll Theory articles), Linda
Mizjewski, Debra Moddelmog, Jim Phelan, and Thomas Piontek.
Good friends and family gave of their time and support. The Barbosa-
Topetes, and the Collins- Sullivan clan for the trip to the Disney Family
Museum in San Francisco and friendship beyond measure. For their love,
advice, and support: John McCombe, Edna Poore, and Carolyn Tyjewski.
Thanks to my family: my parents, my sister and b rother- in- law, and my nieces,
May and Anne, who were so good when uncle needed to watch something by
Disney yet again, but who also knew enough to distract him when he didn’t.
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction: Re- casting and Diversifying Disney in the Age
of Globalization (JOHNSON CHEU) 1
Section I—Beyond the Fairest: Essays on Race and Ethnicity
Cannibals and Coons: Blackness in the Early Days
of Walt Disney (KHELI R. WILLETTS) 9
Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros: The Representation
of Latin America in Disney’s “Good Neighbor” Films
(KAREN S. GOLDMAN) 23
Mapping the Imaginary: The Neverland of Disney Indians
(PRAJNA PARASHER) 38
A “Vexing Implication”: Siamese Cats and Orientalist
Mischief-M aking (KIMIKO AKITA and RICK KENNEY) 50
White Man’s Best Friend: Race and Privilege in Oliver
and Company (NATCHEE BLU BARND) 67
Blackness, Bayous and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding
Race in a Colorblind World (SARAH E. TURNER) 83
Section II—Traditions and Transformations: Essays on
Gender and Sexuality
Fighting the Cold War with Pinocchio, Bambi and Dumbo
(DANIELLE GLASSMEYER) 99
“You the Man, Well, Sorta”: Gender Binaries and Liminality
in Mulan (GWENDOLYN LIMBACH) 115
vii
viii Table of Contents
“What Do You Want Me to Do? Dress in Drag and
Do the Hula?”: Timon and Pumbaa’s Alternative
Lifestyle Dilemma in The Lion King (GAEL SWEENEY) 129
Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films
(AMANDA PUTNAM) 147
Section III—Of Beasts and Innocents: Essays on Disability
“You’re a Surprise from Every Angle”: Disability, Identity
and Otherness in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(MARTIN F. NORDEN) 163
Dopey’s Legacy: Stereotypical Portrayals of Intellectual
Disability in the Classic Animated Films (KAREN SCHWARTZ,
ZANA MARIE LUTFIYYA and NANCY HANSEN) 179
A Place at the Table: On Being Human in the Beauty and
the Beast Tradition (TAMMY BERBERI and VIKTOR BERBERI) 195
Section IV—Up and Out: Essays on Reimaginings and
New Visions
Is Disney Avant-G arde? A Comparative Analysis of Alice
in Wonderland (1951) and Jan Svankmajer’s Alice (1989)
(WILLIAM VERRONE) 209
(Indivi)duality in Return to Oz: Reflection and Revision
(ANA SALZBERG) 224
Securing the Virtual Frontier for Whiteness in Tron
(MICHAEL GREEN) 238
A Womb with a Phew! Post- Humanist Theory and Pixar’s
Wall- E (WALTER C. METZ) 253
Home Is Where the Heart Is: Pixar’s Up (DENNIS TYLER) 268
Filmography 285
About the Contributors 293
Index 297
Introduction: Re- casting
and Diversifying Disney
in the Age of Globalization
JOHNSON CHEU
In 2011, Disney unveiled Annie Liebowitz photos from their Disney
Dreams campaign featuring celebrities in “classic” Disney film poses such as
Roger Federer as King Arthur from The Sword in the Stone (1963), Scarlett
Johansson as Cinderella (1950) running away from the ball, Penelope Cruz
and Jeff Bridges as Belle and the Beast, Mark Anthony and Jennifer Lopez as
Jasmine and Aladdin, Whoopi Goldberg as the Genie from Aladdin (1992),
and Queen Latifah as Ursula from The Little Mermaid(1989).1The inclusion
of international as well as ethnic celebrities perhaps signifies very little in our
multicultural and global world at present. Yet, it’s hard to believe that Disney,
one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, was not aware of such
shrewd marketing, for the r e- casting of Disney characters largely identified as
Caucasian (Aladdin [1992] notwithstanding) with mostly celebrities of color
can clearly be seen as a nod toward a more inclusive pluralistic society.
Whether or not Disney intendedfrom the start a more muticultural out-
look and representation in its films and ads is debatable (and depends perhaps
on how well the Dreams campaign is ultimately received), but there can be no
doubt that with such characters and films as the Asian American boy Russell
in Up (2009)—a film that also contains an explicit reference to divorce—
Princess Tiana, the first African American princess introduced in The Princess
and the Frog (2009), Pocahontas(1995), Mulan(1998), and Aladdin, Disney is,
in fact, becoming more multicultural in its filmic fare and its image. The latest
Toy Story installment, Toy Story 3 (2010), contains “ Spanish–mode” Buzz
Lightyear, a futuristic Latin-L over- type- Tim Allen/Antonio Banderas hybrid,
meant to assuage Woody’s fears of leaving Annie, as Annie gushes to Woody,
1