Enough of this Mickey Mouse Bull Crap

Franklin Taveras

Media 384

Final Project

12/7/09
Silly Rabbit, cartoons are for kids. Even though many of us adults may find ourselves

watching Little Mermaid on a rainy day, cartoons are mainly intended for young

audiences. The thing that bothers me a lot is that many of these cartoons in modern days

are rated G for children, which, in reality should be really rated PG-13 and in even some

cases should be rated R. Many cartoons we see are shoved into children’s faces by their

parents who see a cartoon and automatically think it’s innocent because it’s a cartoon.

Many adults have a twisted view point on this and really need to re-educate themselves

on this. Thank God I am here, to inform you about how huge corporations like Disney are

trying to buy our children.

The focus of my paper will be on the most well known creator of animation for

children: Disney. We have all seen Disney movies, we’ve memorized the songs in the

movies, we all want to go to Disney World, and we still love what Disney creates. The

reason I am choosing to focus on Disney for this essay is because Disney movies are so

well known throughout the world and they continue to be popular: just think of how

many ‘Cinderella’ movies and made-for-TV show remakes there have been in the past

few years, and Cinderella was made in the 50’s. Disney continues to create its signature

brand of animated movies, take a look at “The Princess and The Frog” out December 11,

2009. Disney does not only consist of animated movies, the ‘wonderful world of Disney’

includes many other Disney movies that are children and teen oriented, Disney stores,

two TV channels (Disney and ABC), baseball teams and Disney amusement parks around

the world. This is a company with a massive global reach and a great talent for

marketing. The immense success of Disney outside of its core field of animated movies is

proof of the impact the Disney brand has created around the world.
 This topic is important to me because I am a feminist and I am religious. Disney is

the main culprit for brainwashing young women and even men with their twisted fantasy

stories. They want their fantasies to become a reality. They want young women to reenact

their princesses and beautiful women; they want men to be tough, and learn to be seduced

by women with ease. Disney is a criminal; it has been killing society and culture. I am in

hope that people would read my article and tell others about it. We must warn against evil

and stand for justice. As a feminist I feel that Disney mocks and creates this image of

women as a sex tool and without their body they are useless. As a Muslim, I feel that

Disney encourages young women to disobey their parents, and run away with a prince or

someone who has money or status. Disney also teaches women how they can get what

ever they want just by giving a man just what they want. And Disney trains men to

receive women, and how to get them. My wish is that Disney will stop producing these

same ‘Mickey Mouse’ fantasy stories and create moral stories, where for example when a

girl listens to her parents she gains success in life; or when a young boy who is nice to

women ends up with a good wife. Why can’t Disney give a good and positive message to

our children?

Across all Disney movies one can see several common themes such as the battle

between good and evil, love, being excluded then accepted. “Most Disney movies

revolve around a heterosexual relationship between a hero and heroins, feminist have

studied what these relationships tell young girls about themselves, it’s just as important to
view how this message is affect towards boys about how real men reenact and

think about women. They end up seeing women objects of pleasure or servants to please

them” (Newton, 2007). I hope to cover seven main points throughout my essay, they are:

body image and body language of men and women, gender roles, temptresses, and

sexuality in Disney. I hope to prove through these points that Disney is a global story

teller for children, and is actually a stepping stone in our society for children to adjust to

real life as an adult, they are shaping our children’s imaginations the way they want to.

We all see Disney cartoons always have the same build for all male and female

characters. Everyone without that ideal body image is worthless or insignificant. In many

of these cartoons men and women always look the same. Everyone else is just an outcast.

In real life we all look different, but Disney disagrees, because they live in a land of

fantasy where birds speak, where white men live in Africa, and elephants can fly.

“Disney movies glorify one particular body type over others, chiseled abs, a

barreled chest, and massive arms,” (Newton, 2007). One of the best examples of this is

Gaston, from the classic Disney cartoon Beauty and the Beast. Gaston is a strong man

from this film who is very handsome and strong, he is what defines a man, in fact they

created a song of what a man is, honoring Gaston in a pub. One lower class character
named Lefou honors Gaston and takes all his punches and carries all of his baggage. He

is has a big nose, fat lips, and is short; while Gaston is tall, muscular and well

proportioned, and when he walks he hear him stomp. Even Lafou name represents who

he is, “La Fool” or “the Fool.” Gaston and Lefou sing a song about how Gaston is the

best, because he can shoot well, he is physically powerful, and he doesn’t like games like

chess. There is one scene during the song where Gaston is playing chess, and he can’t

figure it out so he smashes the game. He defines what a man is, a man doesn’t play chess,

and man has to be physical, must spit hard, and have hair on his chest. This gives the

message to young boys who read books, or play chess or checkers that what they are

doing isn’t manly, and they should really join a football team or something.

What about the boys who don’t have a big build, but a small one like Lefou? In the

word of Disney they are deemed worthless, they have no value what so ever, they are

there to serve the beautiful and handsome. This also gives men who are handsome a

reason to abuse weaker men then them, because this happens oh so often in Disney

cartoons where the strong punishes the weak, and no penalty comes to the bully. Because

of this, we continue to see this trend in school where nerds who are fat, skinny or ugly are

outcast, and the strong jocks bully them. The nerds are taught to submit to the
more powerful and accept this fate because of the way they look; this is what Disney is

teaching our children.

In another Disney film called Mulan, a young woman named Mulan tries to pass

off as a man as she quickly learns that what makes a man is strength and that’s it, and for

her to be like a man she must become strong. Another part of the film Beauty and the

Beast, Belle falls in love with the Beast which is seemingly going against the Disney

stereotype. But when Beast turns back into a man, and Belle, he wonderfully turns out to

be handsome with his big shoulders, even more handsome than Gaston himself. You

would think Disney was trying to make a point about falling in love with regardless of

how they look, but no, when the Beast transformed, he became the classic hero, chiseled

abs and all.

For female characters in Disney films, it’s always the same image of women with

big breasts, tiny waists, big eyes, long, thick eyelashes and full lips. For the female

characters it’s an even greater emphasis on their characters then it is on men. Dr. Gail

Dines of Wheelock College explains how in the film "The Little Mermaid," Ariel meets a

man, and her father warns her, that men are all the same, and he tells her never to see him

again. Ariel eventually defies her father and goes to Arsella, the evil octopus women, she

makes a deal with her that if she gives up her voice she will give her legs for she can look

like other human beings. Its funny, but she mentions “Its all about the Body!” as she

explains to Ariel shaking her hips. Ariel then sacrifices her voice to get the man, and

without her voice, for she can’t communicate with him, how on earth will she be able to

get him? Oh yeah, her body! The only thing she has left to get him is her body.
 We see this same common theme in all Disney movies: for a woman to get a man

she must use her body, because that, and only that, is her tool for success. I use the same

example of children in school, the girls with the best body and tightest cloths are the ones

everyone likes because they show it all and are considered sexy. This is why young girls

are going out and having sex and losing their virginity at such a young age, because

Disney is teaching young girls that they must learn how to use their bodies to get stuff

done, and no amount of education or money will get you this unless you use your body

and give men what they want. Doctor Robyn Silverman mentions in her article about the

sexual events of cartoons today that, “The companies are trying to appeal to the kids

without going too far—attempting to stay away from the hyper sexualized and

increasingly violent media landscape ever-present today. Even Mickey Mouse will be

getting into the action” (Silverman, 2006).

Young girls are also taught how to become a good wife or girl friend in the eyes of

Disney. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, Beast speaks at Belle, imprisons her,

throws her father out the door, and cuts her from her father. He basically enslaves her. He

is extremely abusive; he is like how people live today in domestic violence situations.

Later in the end, he becomes handsome, and she loves him, because he is no longer an

ugly beast, but an incredibly handsome prince, more handsome then his male counterpart
Gaston, who he defeats as a Beast, and his reward for his victory is no other then Belle.

This teaches young girls so what if he has bad temper, he will change, and maybe he will

even change into a handsome prince. Looks and images shouldn’t be the moral reason

why she stays with him, he is still incredibly abusive, I can bet 50 bucks that after she got

married to him, if they created a part two of the film she would have had a black eye,

perhaps this is why there isn’t a part two to this film. “And this is a move that says to our

children overlook the abuse and violence; underneath the violence there is a prince, this is

a dangerous message" (Mickey Mouse Monopoly, 2001).

One of the best examples I seen in a Disney film that openly expresses the role of

women is the film Mulan. It’s funny that this film is considered one of the most feminist

Disney movies out there because the hero in this movie is actually a heroin, named

Mulan. There is one scene which I recall describes what a real man wants in a wife. The

song starts with one of three soldiers expressing how he wants his girl. “A girl worth

fighting for, I want her paler then the moon, with eyes that shine like stars.” The image

actually shows the woman very white dressed up very well. The song continues with the

second character, “My girl will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars.” He wants a

woman to adore him, and do as he wills. In the image the women is actually sitting on a

plate, similar to that of a plate of food, with her butt sticking in the air, like she wants to

be conquered. She seems like a helpless woman who will do whatever her husband says.

And finally the third character continues “I couldn’t care less what she’ll wear or what

she looks like, it only matters what she cooks like. Beef! Pork! Chicken!” This character

is of heavy set, and wants the wife that can cook like Emeral Lagasse. The soldiers all

have in common that they want a women to do what they bid and these three different
view points of women all fall under what a good woman should be, and what she should

do to be a good wife.

One trend I have seen in movies such as "Cinderella", "Snow White," and

"Sleeping Beauty", was that they all contained a women who was often very beautiful,

very helpless and that always seems to get into some type of trouble where they need a

man to rescue them. They are always helpless until Prince Charming comes along, who is

obviously very handsome and strong. She immediately falls in love with him, and he

sometimes falls in love with her, or sometimes it takes him some time. For example in

Cinderella, the prince didn’t realize Cinderella until she was dressed well and beautiful.

What these three films have in common is that they all have a helpless woman

who can’t do anything until some prince with his olive oil hair comes and rescues her and

sweeps her off her feet. This is another key element in Disney films. This gives young

girls the idea if they get into trouble they should go to a man; surely he will have the

solution to her problem.

No matter what year, no matter what kind of Disney cartoon there is always

going to be a temptress and a dog. What I mean by this is there is always going to be a

woman trying to seduce a male character. It doesn’t matter if the male character is evil or

good, he is no Yusuf or Joseph in the Qur’an or Bible who escaped temptation. One of

Disney’s most famous movies, "Fantasia" which was made in the 1940’s, gives a good

example of how male and females should behave. It starts out with a female centaur
walking by men, brushing her hair, and moving her hips trying to tempt the male

centaurs. The men quickly look at her and show their desire for her. She heedlessly

smiles back, and walks away moving her hips and the males soon follow her. She

pretends she doesn’t want them to follow her, but she really wants it, it seems she wants

to be ganged raped, and even if she says stop, she will really mean keep going. The

centaurs seem to resemble real men, having the same skin ton as a white male, the female

centaur on the other hand seems to be an object, and she is actually blue with exotic hair.

We see the example above repeat itself in the late 90’s Disney classic "Hercules",

where Megan, the main female character in the film which Hercules saves, uses the same

exact body movements as the female centaur to tempt Hercules to make him do what she

wants. We see another example of this in the film "Beauty and the Beast," where a

talking candle named Lumiare returns to his original human form and is immediately

tempted by a maid with her sexual walk, and her awing smile. She quickly tempts him

and he follows her. The "Hunchback of Notre Dame" has a scene where the girl tries to

temp the priest and she sits on his lap and the man almost falls into a spell. We see the

same thing in animal forms, in "Bambi," a female rabbit sings to a male rabbit; the girl

sings to him, she pushes up her breast (or rabbit breast) and he falls for her and follows.

“When children are growing up they ask themselves what is a woman, what can I do to

be more like a woman, so they go to cartoons and they learn this” (Mickey Mouse

Monopoly, 2001).

Dr. Elizabeth Hadley of Simmons College says how in the film "Aladdin" Jasmine

turns into a seductress and she eventually gets what she wants. This is how young girls

learn if they want something they can do this to a guy by giving this to him etc. We see
this same example in "Beauty and the Beast" where Lumiare is trying to kiss the broom

stick and she says “no, no, no,” but in reality she is saying “yes, yes, yes,” and she is

enjoying him touching her and kissing her. This tricks guys and makes them believe

when a girl is saying no they mean yes. This could probably be a reason why so many

women get raped globally. Why can’t the male characters in Disney cartoons reject a

temptress rather then fall for her? Wouldn’t this be a good example for children that

through sexuality you can never get your own way?

All Disney movies are revolved around sexuality. According to Jamie Rosier, who

has written an article on the hidden agenda of Disney says “Pixar, DreamWorks and

Disney use a vividly apparent strategy of sex appeal in order to raise their ratings.

However, Disney is pushing the envelope and is willing to subject the innocent public to

such images for higher ratings” (Mickey Mouse Monopoly, 2001). There are numerous

examples of sexuality in Disney, but the one that stands out of all of them is one scene in

"The Lion King." Who would have thought cute little Simba would have turned into a

sexual, love-making machine. The scene starts out when Nalah, Simba’s old female

friend meets Simba. When they were young they used to have fun and mount each other,

but in reality, this was just a stepping stone for what they’ll be doing in the future. Simba

and Nalah first encounter each other and fight, Nalah wins and she goes on top of him.

Then she realizes who he is, and they start to walk in the woods all alone getting to know

each other again. They begin with foreplay. Simba throws her in the water, she then later

licks him. Then the scene goes into coreplay, where Nalah and Simba go into some

physical activity, and they fall down a hill and Simba ends up on top of Nalah. Then she

licks his face, and smiles at him in a sexual way. Already this scene seems very
disturbing, and immediately you know this is a scene not meant for children. Even the

song is sexual, “Can’t you feel the love tonight!” This is pornography, not a children’s

cartoon, this is teaching children about sex, not lions, zebras and hyenas.

We see another example of this as Tinkerbell, from movie "Peter Pan." Tinkerbell

looks at her reflection in a pond, she then puts her hands on her hips and measures to see

if her hips are too wide, not to mention, you can see her full butt and figure in the

reflection. She has a shock on her face, and suddenly gets scared, thinking she is too fat.

As I mentioned before, Disney says what’s sexy, it defines it to the T! After watching a

Disney movie, you can tell almost immediately who the ugly and worthless characters are

and who are the beautiful and important ones. Disney has created a class system where

the beautiful prevail and the weak honor and adores the beautiful, and if you don’t fit in

the category of the beautiful then you are an outcast. You are that kid in school that sits

alone who is a nerd, and nobody likes you, everyone wishes you were dead; this is the

message Disney is giving to our children.

"Disney has made a spectacle of innocents, it hides in innocents –we treat Disney

has a form of fantasy, that doesn’t need to be questioned," (Mickey Mouse Monopoly,

2001). The pure fact is, Disney has so much power, and everyone knows them. We have

seen how Disney influences the roles of men and women, and how it has created the ideal
body image for us. Because of the power Disney has, it has a greater responsibility, and if

they don’t care about our children, then we should boycott their movies. We should save

our children from their gripping hands. We should influence our children with good

moral cartoons. Why can’t Disney make a film about a heavy set girl, of how she meets a

man, or why can’t Disney have a film about a real man, who takes care of his family, and

actually lives with the woman he marries, or why can’t Disney have a film about a real

woman, who raises her children. Far too often we see Disney showing so many

bachelors, when will people start getting married and really living happily ever after.

They should educate children about the world they live in, not just give fantasy views of

life. This is a statement from the CEO of Disney and you are the judge if he really cares

about our children: “We have no obligation to make history, we have no obligation to

make art, and we have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only

objective” (Internal Memo, Michael Eisner, CEO, the Walt Disney, Co). I rest my case

and hope that we altogether can open our eyes and stay away from Disney films. (Mickey

Mouse Monopoly, 2001).

Bibliography

1) Sexism, Strength and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films, Sanjay Newton, 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWMCt35oFY&feature=player_embedded

2) www.DrRobynSilverman.com, 2006

http://www.drrobynsilverman.com/body-image/makeover-madness-for-childrens-

cartoons-less-belly-fat-more-muscles-and-a-cell-phone/

3) Mickey Mouse Monopoly (Documentary) Chyng Feng Sun, 2001

http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=112

4) Hidden Sexual Messages Found in Disney Movies, Jami Rosier, PDF

5) "Are Disney Movies Good for Your Kids", Giroux Henry, 2000

6) "www.cinemaroll.com" http://cinemaroll.com/animation/6-subliminal-messages-you-

never-noticed-in-your-favorite-disney-films/2006