The Politics of Animated Disney Movies

a remark you'll sometimes see nowadays

that Disney movies are too political now

and to be honest this always makes me

roll my eyes because like a lot of

movies the political views of the

filmmakers have always found their way

into the films produced by Disney so

this is not a recent phenomenon you

might say that Disney was more subtle

back then however while Disney films and

many things subtle is not one of them

focusing specifically on the animated

films political themes have been

ingrained in them since the days of Walt

Disney a great example this is with

Dumbo which has a clearer theme on

discrimination the lead protagonist

Dumbo is marginalized even among other

elephants simply for being different

among the few characters who support him

and sympathize with him are a group of

crows most whom are voiced by

African-Americans even though they're

certainly aspects of Dumbo that have not

aged well the film is otherwise making a

statement about how society looks down

on and poorly treats those seen as

different this is not the only political

theme in dumbo which was made during the

Disney animator strike of 1941. there's

a scene where a bunch of drunken clowns

announced they're going to try and get a

raise from the circus ring Master let's

go

now which famously anti-union producer

do you think approved that line as much

as people have this image of Walt Disney

as a figure who made sweet and innocent

family pictures his political stances

nonetheless showed up in the movies he

produced One of Walt Disney's

personality traits was his affection for

animals and Wildlife he had a genuine

love for the animal kingdom and that's

why so many of his films sought to make

them endearing to the audience a Disney

movie that particularly highlighted this

was Bambi the film portrays the ammo

habitat is mostly peaceful until humans

come into the woods without guns

shooting everything in that path there's

a clear anti-hunting message and actual

Hunters did not take kindly to this

depiction of them accusing bamboo being

false propaganda interesting enough

Disney immediately allowed use of the

characters from bambian public service

announcements produced by the United

States Forest Service after this

partnership ended Smokey Bear was

created to serve as their official

mascot one of my personal favorite

Disney characters was created for

primarily political reasons that was

Jose cariako who debuted in the film

solo Dos Amigos as part of Franklin

Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy to

strengthen ties with Latin America

during World War II he asked Walt Disney

to go down there knowing his characters

were popular in those countries he

brought some artists along with him and

the trip inspired so ludos Amigos and

the three caviaros without the support

of the American government and this idea

Jose probably would not exist of course

a core element of several Disney

animated films is that the good

character triumphing over those who wish

to do harm to others that is an

inherently political concept no matter

what stance you have in Snow White for

instance the film rejects the Queen's

cold ruling of the Kingdom in favor of

Snow White's kindness towards animals

and other beings like the dwarves The

Sword in the Stone implies that Arthur

became a great king later in life

because of Merlin's scientific and

forward-thinking teachings rather than

the overly masculine brute ideologies of

his family and the trickery of Madame

men an interesting aspect of Walt

Disney's personality is that while he

was very much in support of innovation

and technical advancements to help human

trying to achieve creative Feats there

was a nostalgic aspect of the films

produced under his watch for example the

setting of Lady and the was

inspired by the town of Marceline

Missouri where he spent a couple of

years as a child he wanted people to

move forward in several ways but also

longed for certain aspects of his

childhood years even after Walt Disney

died the political subtext of the

animated films remained Robin Hood is an

obviously political work in more ways

than one after all it's about an outlaw

who steals from the wealthy and the

royalty and gives that money to the poor

being heavily taxed in this version of

The Legend Prince John is portrayed as a

whiny temperamental figure who resorts

to sucking his thumb when he doesn't get

his way and then you have the song the

phony King of England which borrows its

Melody and some lyrics from a satirical

song about the sexual exploits of kings

and queens in Robin Hood it's changed

into a tune that openly mocks Prince

John and calls him out for being a false

King there's a reason the phony King of

England is often used as an Anthem

against political figures whose policies

only seek to harm the public appear that

certain viewers often point to as a Time

when Disney was not political was the

animation Renaissance of the late 80s

and 90s which is funny considering the

kinds of films being made and the people

who worked on them a perfect example is

with Beauty and the Beast that was one

of the last films worked on by Howard

Ashman who put a lot of his own fears

into the songs and story he was a gay

man who was dying of AIDS during the

production of that film and his feelings

about the rampant homophobia and the

response to the AIDS epidemic is evident

in The Mob Song in particular the entire

song has Gaston fear-mongering The

Village into joining him to kill the

Beast Gaston rallies them by portraying

him as this vicious monster and getting

them into a frenzy it's no coincidence

that at one point the villagers saying

that we don't like what we don't

understand in fact it scares us and this

monster is mysterious at least Ashman

also related a lot to the Beast a curse

being who sits in his home Angry what

has happened to him and was instrumental

in him being given more screen time in

later drafts probably the most popular

film the Disney Renaissance is certainly

one of its most political and that's the

Lion King that movie told the story of a

king's brother who decides to take

control of the throne by killing him

under his regime the lamb becomes

desolate and it takes his nephew coming

back defeating him and taking his place

to the rightful King to restore the

kingdom to its previous state that is

the basic premise of the film without

even going into the deeper subtext and

yet the political themes are still clear

it's very much a story about how the

wrong leader can destroy something that

was once prosperous and the necessity of

having the right person in charge the

way scar is portrayed also highlights

the political views of the filmmakers

when York and clubian started

storyboarding with be prepared sequence

he cannot help but notice similarities

between Scar and Hitler with his thirst

for power and convincing the hyenas that

I overthrow Mufasa he will be a better

leader for the pride lands so he looked

at the famous Nazi propaganda film The

Tribe of the will as a visual

inspiration and that's why you have scar

watching hyenas from above and the

Hyena's Goose stepping just to make

scarra look that much more threatening

The Lion King is not the only Disney

animated film to draw from horrific

historical events to shape its villain a

hunchback of Notre Dame did the same

thing When developing the character

frollo now when Victor Hugo's original

book frollo was an archdeacon however

Disney Executives requested that he'd be

changed for the movie out of concerned

her offending religious sensibilities

they instead made him the Minister of

Justice which Wanda making the story

even more political frollo's evil plan

involves wanting to get rid of the

Romani people in Paris out of his own

hatred and Prejudice towards them and to

make sure they made him as realistic as

possible the filmmakers researched

historical genocides and much like scar

was partly based on Hitler they looked

at Ray Fine's portrayal the ruthless

Nazi amangoth in Schindler's List to

help write the character of frollo

what's particularly interesting is the

way Hunchback resonated with French

viewers about a year before the film's

release police officers broke down the

doors of a church in Paris to capture

immigrants who are hiding in there that

was a national story and French

moviegoers were mutually reminded of it

when watching the film a local newspaper

also compared frollo to the leader of

the national front political party who

would received a lot of attention first

anti-immigration views it's an example

of how the political themes in Disney

films can resonate with many even if

others might not pick up on them another

Disney movie that's resonated with a

particular group of people is Lilo and

Stitch the film is very popular in

Hawaii for respecting the Hawaiian

culture and for its depiction of two

indigenous Hawaiians who deal with child

services the social scene where Nani

sings Aloha oi a song of a lot of

emotional and political resonance to

Hawaii meanwhile scene that was deleted

from the movie depicted Taurus treating

Lilo in a condescending way including

one who assumes Lilo does not speak

English in addition to mocking the sorts

of people who treat Hawaii as just some

tropical vacation spot the scene also

explains why Lilo photographs Taurus

it's not just a funny Quirk it's her

thinking well they think I'm a sideshow

attraction I'll treat them the same way

I focus on the films produced by Walt

Disney Animation Studios but Pixar's

also tackle political themes in their

work A Bug's Life is about how the

Grasshoppers exploit the ants do that

bidding using fear and other tactics and

in one pivotal scene Hopper explains

that they cannot let the ants find out

they're strong or more powerful than the

Grasshoppers when United Monsters Inc is

about how corporations and not above

choosing unethical practices if it means

it will help their profits The

Incredibles films might be the Studio's

most political with them depicting an

entire group of people forced into

hiding when they are deemed dangerous to

the public and need I mention Wally

which shows the environmental

destruction of Earth caused by bad

corporate decisions and how the

discovery of a plant is what starts to

set things right again over the past

number of years Disney Animation has

continued to tackle more political

themes The Princess and the Frog shows

how the racism in the 1920s affects

Tiana's dreams of starting her own

restaurant Tiana's drive to work even

harder to achieve that dream likely

stems from how those in power look down

on her because she's black meanwhile

zootopia tackled how racial stereotypes

have passed down Frozen to explored

learning and not making the same

mistakes as your ancestors and Ryan The

Last Dragon was about the stupidity of

neighboring Nations fighting each other

some people have taken Disney to Tas for

addressing these sorts of political

themes in that work and feeling their

alienating audiences but this is not the

first time these accusations have been

thrown at the studio I found a Los

Angeles Times article from 1997 that

tried to figure out why Hercules did

less than many of the Disney animated

films that preceded it at one point in

the article former time vaccine film

critic Richard shigl says people

reacting not against Disney but to

changes in the movies it makes Little

Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were

jaunty unpretentious light on their feet

Pocahontas Hercules and Hunchback are

Whittier Tales however the next two

Disney movies Mulan and Tarzan ended

about grossing Hercules and I'll

consider them way during their tone and

themes than Hercules Mulan was even a

war movie that addressed gender role so

no I don't think audiences are opposed

to political themes in Disney films

zootopia was very overt in its political

messaging and that movie made over a

billion dollars however zootopia really

lucked out that it opened before you had

this industry of YouTubers who post

attention grabbing thumbnails about how

Disney is political now or their

favorite new buzzword woke it should be

mentioned the term woke was coined by

African Americans describing aware of

social injustices it's just

unfortunately been twisted around in the

past few years meanwhile last year

Disney animation's Strange World at

Pixar's light year got flacked from

certain people for including gay

characters gay people just existing and

living their lives which is all those

films showed should not be considered a

political issue and Disney should not be

raked over the calls for including them

in their films they even act the same

way heterosexual couples have for years

in their Productions to conclude I'm

going to politely disagree with anyone

who says Disney films have only just

become political those themes have

always been there as a filmmaker's

Viewpoint and ideologies will often make

their way into the art even something as

simple as a prince and a princess

falling in love it does not matter if

you're making all the presents men or

101 Dalmatians all movies are political

in some way

see you next time

foreign

[Music]