Key Takeaways

• Historically, as well as more recently, Disney has been criticized for racist stereotypes, cultural appropriation, exploiting foreign cultures for profit, and presenting white people as superior.
• Disney films disproportionately represent men as more active, providing them with more speaking roles than women.
• Disney has been accused of plagiarizing Japanese animations, and artist's designs for its merchandise and film content.

Introduction

Racism at Disney

• Disney has been criticized for racist stereotypes in many of its films, particularly older ones, and also for cultural appropriation more recently - such as in the film Moana (2016). The company has also been accused of exploiting foreign cultures for profit. For example, after Lion King came out in 1994, it registered "Hakuna matata" — Swahili for "no worries, as a brand. Disney has also been criticized for repeatedly portraying fair-skinned people as superior. It's content praises Snow White for how “fair” her skin is, and Pocahontas for her assimilation into white culture.
• Movies where Disney includes warnings and acknowledges their racist content include The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp, and Swiss Family Robinson. In Peter Pan, Indigenous people are called "redskins."
• In Dumbo, one of the crows is called Jim Crow, and he is voiced by a white actor. He sings a song that pays "homage to racist minstrel shows," Disney acknowledges. At the same time, faceless Black people work to offensive lyrics like "When we get our pay, we throw our money all away."
• The Aristocats (1970) portrays a cat with stereotypical East Asian features. It plays the piano with chopsticks and is voiced by a white person using a badly-accented voice.
• From 2020, Disney is including warnings on older content that it recognizes as including racist material. The company began issuing disclaimers in 2019, but in 2020 directly used the word "racist."

 

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• Last year, Disney produced the film Encanto, set in Colombia. This time, filmmakers worked with representatives of the Indigenous Zenu people that they were portraying. However, while the move is seen as a step forward, oppressed activists say it is not enough. Native Hawaiian filmmaker Keala Kelly said important context was being left out. "In Colombia so many Indigenous people are murdered because they are standing up for their rights. Do you think this is going to be seen in 'Encanto' as they depict spiritual and cultural pieces of their Indigeneity? We call what Disney and Hollywood do whitewashing ... Everything is changed and rearranged so they can tell the fairy tale. That's the American narrative of Indigenous peoples. Falsified, watered down, guilt-free cultural entertainment," she said.
• Statements: "We can't change the past, but we can acknowledge it, learn from it and move forward together," Disney stated on its website.

Sexism at Disney

• Critiques: Disney is particularly well-known for, and criticized for its princesses. Their portrayal of what girls and women should aspire to has often involved boring lives, elaborate dresses, a graceful manner, and a pert nose. The princesses also represent unobtainable beauty standards, with impossibly thin waists, unnaturally large eyes, and "perfect" hair.
• Men have had, and continue to have, more speaking roles in Disney movies, including so-called princess movies. Men speak 71% of the time in Beauty and the Beast (1991); 90% in Aladdin (1992), and 76% of the time in Pocahontas (1995), the Washington Post found. In Mulan, her male protector dragon has 50% more dialogue than she does.

• Examples: In Snow White, her looks are the most important thing for characters. Cinderella doesn't have any hobbies or talents, and in Sleeping Beauty, the female character just waits around to be rescued. Also, parents have complained about the inappropriate messaging in Sleeping Beauty, where the prince kisses the woman while she is unconscious.
• In Beauty and the Beast, Belle falls in love with the Beast. He uses violence such as yelling and threats to lock her in a cell, but she responds by feeling trust and affection towards him. Hence, the film promotes unhealthy ideas about what behavior is acceptable for men and should be tolerated by women, and about power imbalances in romantic relationships.
• Actions: Disney is making some changes in its newer releases. In the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast, the main female is an inventor. Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009) works hard and achieves her dream of opening up her own restaurant. The company is slowly changing its portrayal of love. Where previously it was about women attracting men's attention, now it shows sisterly love in Frozen and motherly affection in Maleficent. In Frozen 1 and 2 (2013 and 2019), women, rather than men, save the day, and Disney audiences finally get some strong female leads.
• Sean Bailey, head of Disney’s live-action features, said, "Inclusivity is not only a priority but an imperative for us, and it's top of my mind on every single project.”

 

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Plagiarism at Disney

• People have accused Disney of plagiarizing several of its animated films, particularly from Japanese cartoons. The company has also been accused of stealing an artist's work for its merchandise.

• The Lion King was allegedly very similar to a Japanese cartoon of the 1960s. In Japan, 50 cartoonists signed a letter to Disney denouncing the similarities between Simba in the Lion King, and Kimba in the popular, but older Japanese cartoon that also featured African wildlife.
• Allegedly, Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), was also based far too heavily on a Japanese series, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, with similar characters, setting, and storyline. Japanese directors considered suing but were ultimately too scared. Director Hiroyuki Yamaga said, "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers.”
• In 2014, animator Kelly Wilson sued Disney for plagiarism, saying the teaser trailer for Frozen was comparable to her film, The Snowman. The judge ruled in Wilson's favor, having found evidence that Disney was aware of The Snowman and "the sequence of both works, from start to finish, is too parallel to conclude that no reasonable juror could find the works substantially similar."
• In 2020, artist Sweet Cecily Daniher sued Disney and Pixar for copying her van in the animated cartoon Onward. Pixar used her van, with a unicorn design on it, as a showpiece during a festival, then an identical van appeared in the film.
• In some cases, Disney has denied the accusations, or not responded, while in others - such as with its merchandise - it has reached out and given the original artist credit for the stolen design. The director of the Disney+ series Behind the Attraction officially apologized to a video creator after using his artwork for the series without permission and promised to give him credit.

 

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Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

• Over a period of time, the content published by Disney has transformed to portray more positive gender roles and showcase women in much modern light. A research article submitted to and published by Indiana University highlights that in the past years, there has been a visible shift in how Disney portrays its female characters; for instance, the renowned female characters such as Snow White or Cinderella were shown as fragile, domestic and as damsels in distress, but as time passed by, characters like Rapunzel and Mulan emerged, who were portrayed as ambitious and rebellious, and the modern age characters like Anna and Elsa from Frozen or Merida showcase what women are today free-spirited and independent.  
• From the very start, Disney has projected disability as weak, from Snow White's seven dwarfs to Scar from the Lion King; Walt Disney has a huge list of instances where the creator has leveraged disability and projected it as a possible obstruction to the storyline and then later changed it to stand true to "happily ever after."
• High pro-social behavior in children has been linked to increased exposure to Disney content. Children are very much inspired by the lifestyle and the persona of the princesses, how they stand for what's right, the way they care about others, and how keen they are to help others; all of this is really inspiring to young children.

Introduction

Prosocial Behavior

• High pro-social behavior in children has been linked to increased exposure to Disney content. Children are very much inspired by the lifestyle and the persona of the princesses, how they stand for what's right, the way they care about others, and how keen they are to help others; all of this is really inspiring to young children.
• A 2017 study conducted in the Netherlands offers additional insights into how Disney influences young children to be more pro-social. "The study found that kids who watched a pro-social clip from Disney featuring the lead character Lightning McQueen helping a friend were more likely to help their friend than children who did not watch the prosocial clip."

• A Brigham Young University study conducted in 2013 found that children who are more indoctrinated into the lifestyle and the whole princess world exhibit more prosocial behavior. 
• The way princess characters are created and portrayed on screen is the reason behind the pro social element in viewers because children act upon what they see in these movies, the kindness of these characters, and how they help everyone around and stand for what's right. The study found that higher levels of exposure to Disney princess content exhibited higher levels of pro-social behavior in preschoolers.
• A study by the University of Houston (2022) found that 73% of the content they analyzed from Disney promoted the message of loving themselves and others, and about 27% focused on morality and social values. More updated research on the topic is unavailable in the public domain.
• Another study conducted at BYU titled "Pretty as a Princess: Longitudinal Effects of Engagement" (2016) found that longitudinal effects of engagement with the Disney princess world predict higher levels of pro-social behavior in children.  

Disability and Pain Perceptions

• Disney has been promoting a distorted perception of disability and pain. From the very start, Disney has projected disability as weak, from Snow White's seven dwarfs to Scar from the Lion King, Walt Disney has a huge list of instances where the creator has leveraged disability and projected it as a possible obstruction to the storyline and then later changed it to stand true to "happily ever after."

• Disney has also tried to change this by making more progressive movies that depict characters with a disability as multifaceted; for instance, in Brave (2012), the king lost his leg, but that has been used as a storytelling tool in the later part of the story.
• Portraying characters with a disability as those who should be pitied and ridiculed negatively affects the whole society's perception of disabled people. A research briefing paper analyzed 15 Disney animated films and found that nearly 46% of them portrayed disability in a bad light or in a negative sense.  
• aleXsandro Palombo, a partially paralyzed Italian artist, created a series of images with Disney positive female characters as disabled people to bring attention to the issue. He said, "I think that disabled people don't match Disney's standards of beauty. So my message is very simple: Disabled people have rights and are part of the world."

 

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• Furthermore, researchers from the University of Calgary believe that Disney sends the wrong message about pain, including dealing with it and reacting to other people's physical distress. They consider it particularly harmful given that early childhood is when fears related to pain typically develop.
• At the same time, since around 20% of kids will likely experience chronic pain in their youth, distorted views and copying methods can have further negative consequences, such as mental health issues or addictions.
• Their study showed that children content from Disney, Pixar, and Netflix mirrors and further reinforces stigma and stereotypes around pain. Only 10% of characters who were in pain either asked for help or reacted to it. Also, even though 75% of scenes in which a character was experiencing pain involved witnesses, they usually didn't acknowledge it or responded without empathy and concern.

More Progressive Attitudes on Gender

• Over a period of time, the content published by Disney has transformed to portray more positive gender roles and showcase women in much modern light. A research article submitted to and published by Indiana University highlights that in the past years, there has been a visible shift in how Disney portrays its female characters; for instance, the renowned female characters such as Snow White or Cinderella were shown as fragile, domestic and as damsels in distress, but as time passed by, characters like Rapunzel and Mulan emerged, who were portrayed as ambitious and rebellious, and the modern age characters like Anna and Elsa from Frozen or Merida showcase what women are today free-spirited and independent.  

• A study conducted by Brigham Young University concluded that the princess culture promoted by Disney is associated with developing a positive body perception over time. The study also found that children who have been more involved in the princess culture are more likely later to have more progressive perceptions about women and their identity. They are also more likely to not subscribe to toxic masculinity attitudes.
• The lead author of the psychological study, professor Sarah Coyne, is of the opinion that modern Disney movies foster a culture of interpersonal growth, creative imagination, and storylines that allow children to believe that they can be the hero of their own stories and can achieve anything in life. She also cites that princesses such as Moana and Elsa are showcased as independent women who do not subscribe to stereotypical gender roles (the stereotypical fragile lady-like creature who knows nothing but to invite trouble and then to be saved by the man of her dreams).

 

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Research Strategy