Final Assignment Blog Post – Joy Lim

My topic explores the plethora of problematic issues within popular Disney films. I chose this topic because the Walt Disney company is a successful multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is considered a producer of many classic films. Many questionable and controversial representations of women, people of color, and masculinity are prevalent throughout these classic children’s films. These issues go predominantly unnoticed by the public, while the influence that Disney holds on the international level is alarming. The pieces of media that I am using are clips from the Disney movies The Little Mermaid; Aladdin; Dumbo; Pocahontas; Snow White; Sleeping Beauty; Peter Pan; The Jungle Book. I will be applying the keywords Stereotype, Representation, and Race in order to appropriately analyze the films. Mass media is the platform in which Disney is able to spread such influence across the world. The representations of people groups, the stereotypes that are created and portrayed throughout the classic children movies, and the manipulation of race seen throughout both the representations and stereotypes of these films hold power. The class readings that I plan to cite are:

• Teen Vogue “Digital Blackface”
• Keyword Readings for Stereotype, Representation, and Race
• Media and Ideology (Chp. 5)
• Comparing Media Content and the “Real” World
• Race, Ethnicity, and Media Content
• Movies, The Military, and Masculinity
• Gender, Race, and Class in Media