Last night as I watched Lion King with a friend I realized that most classic/animated Disney movie that I could think of told a story with a autocratic government. Now a lot of this has to do with the fact that Disney tends to set its stories in the "olden" days as fairy tales, and most fairy tales have kings and princesses and the like. But nearly every Disney movie that had any sort of government involved in the plot that I could think of was about doing away with an evil leader to restore a good leader...but always its restoring a king or queen (generally with that king/queen being the "rightful" leader).
For example:
Lion King: Scar= evil dictator Mufasa/Simba= benevolent (and rightful) king--> land transforms under each leader with Scar's being a wasted dead land.
Anastasia: Czar= benevolent and kind leader People= angry mob (ok that part might be sorta true...) --> but it paints the picture as if the Czar being taken out of power was a bad (and arbitrary) thing that left Russia poor and in chaos
Sleeping Beauty: Evil Witch= dictator Princess/Prince= rightful leaders
Mulan: emperor= kindly old man and beloved leader Hun= Evil invader who brings unnecessary violence wherever he goes (ie kills innocent people, especially children, by burning villages to the ground)
Aladdin: Jafar=evil dictator Jasmine's father=bumbly old man who does a good job running the country (albeit Aladdin is one of the few movies where a "commoner" rises to power)
Snow White: stepmother= evil queen, snow white= rightful heir
Little Mermaid: Ariel's Father= "rightful" leader and the sea is at peace under him Ursula= evil dictator and in the brief moments of her reign everything is chaotic and in darkness
I'm sure there are other Disney movies that I have forgotten that deal with politics of some kind, however my point is that Disney often paints autocracies as being able to have selfless leaders who are the type of "guardian" leaders that were discussed in the last class as knowing what is best for the community. These leaders have to be the "rightful" monarchs. The dictators tend to be selfish leaders who profit at the expense of the people (Scar from the Lion King is the perfect example of this) and are individuals who unethically steal the throne. It is interesting however that as kids we are led to believe that Kings and Queens are good answers to the question of governance.
Interesting post, it gives me a good excuse to go and watch Aladdin again.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of 'guardians' and 'selfless' autocratic leaders is quite utopian (at least in my opinion), so it does not surprise me to find such leaders in a Disney film.
It is interesting to see how people's ideas on the ideal, or as Amir said, 'utopian' government have changed, considering Disney stories were written quite a while ago.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I am a fan of Disney also- I think many children are now replacing disney with Finding Nemo etc. But anyway I just wanted to add the fact- which is as far as I am aware is quiet commonly known- Walt Disney was actaully Pro Nazi. I am led to believe that Pinocchio is in fact a Pro Nazi animation (the characters embody features that Nazism believed in). However I was told of this by a Media Studies major student at Vic (they apparently studied this film and its Pro Nazism). Anyway maybe just consider this as a side thought
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I never gave that any thought until now and it seems to be the general trend in most classical Disney films. I guess Kings and Queens are generally associated with fanatasies and fairytales which Disney films often portray. One argument I often used to stumble upon, which isn't really related to dictators, was that Disney films really only featured white princesses. A sign of the times or just purely an accident?
ReplyDeleteBeauty and The Beast: Belle (Caucasian, Borwny-red hair, hazel eyes) Prince (one changes into a human (Blonde hair, blue eyes)
ReplyDeleteLittle Mermaid: Ariel (Caucasian, red hair, blue eyes) King Triton (looks like the Norse god Odin) Sebastian (Royal advisor, role to look after Ariel...sounds Jamaican) Prince Eric (Caucasian, blue eyes)
Cinderella: Cinderella (Caucasian, blonde hair, blue eyes) Prince Charming (Caucasian, light brown hair, brown eyes)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: ...self explanatory.
Aladdin: odd one out I guess.
Pinocchio: Papa Carlo and Pinocchio (Caucasian and obviously of Italian descent...Mussolini was Italian too) Stromboli (the bad-guy of the story. Look him up on Google. Appears as a stereotyped image of a Jewish male)
All Dogs Go to Heaven: lead character, Charlie is a German shepherd.
I love Walt Disney cartoons, however it is somewhat on the sinister side.
I think you have to be too careful to "read" to much into things...Although i agree somewhat withsome of it a great deal of disney is based on legends and very old stories...also a few smirnosofi missed...
ReplyDeleteJungle Story...Pocahontas...Tarzan and a few more...
But yea getting back to the original post I think you were trying to make this point but im not always sure Disney paints aristocracy as a positive thing quite the contrary in most cases.
Wow that is so true ... I never thought to look at Disney movies that way, good call!
ReplyDelete