Disney needs to stop representing people of color as animals
Disney needs to do a better job at keeping its characters of color human for the entire movie.
Disney never falls short in creating great children’s movies. However, time and time again Disney always seems to represent every character of color as animals.
Most people who have watched “The Princess and the Frog,” “Brother Bears,” “Soul,” and “The Emperor’s New Groove” would agree that these films are all great. But the only problem with these movies is throughout most of the film these characters of colors are seen as animals.
The way that these main characters are represented affects children of color who watch these movies. They need to see people of color in their natural states so they are able to relate to them and be inspired by their favorite characters.
“My opinion on having people of color represented as animals in the majority of movies is ‘a disappointment.’ Like what I said in my previous answer, not seeing ‘a representation’ for yourself can be sad and can bring a child down because their only representation is an animal. I feel like it can also sprout some ‘self-esteem issues,” said Jiapsi Aldaco, a junior at Segerstrom high school.
For example, in “The Princess and the Frog” Tiana is a frog for 60% of the movie and only human for 40% of the movie. She is also the only black princess in the movie.
Disney also tried to be slick with the movie “Soul.” “Joe Garden,” is a soul and a cat. He gets trapped in the body of a cat and the soul he is mentoring gets trapped into his body.
The films Disney makes aren’t terrible but Disney needs to fix this problem of always showing people of color as animals.
“I think that it’s important that Disney keeps characters of color human throughout the entire movie so that we normalize them being actual human beings and not animals. Because when we think about it, why is it that Disney makes certain races animals? Isn’t that like a racist stereotype? It just doesn’t seem right. You never see white people represented as animals,” said Mariana Garcia, a junior at Segerstrom high school.
Jazmin Rayo • May 5, 2021 at 1:54 pm
I completely agree with everything said in this article. Disney should definitely fix this problem that they have. I actually hadn’t even realized until now how much of a problem this really was.
Zeke Walker • Feb 26, 2021 at 1:23 pm
Honestly, I’ve thought about this and conversated about it with a few of my close friends. It really is a big problem in Disney’s films. And it doesn’t just relate to race either. In Disney’s short film “Out” (I think that’s what it’s called), the main character, who is a gay man, switches bodies with his dog. So Disney really just does this to minorities in general, which is… really bad. So basically, I really like this article 🙂
Jose Regalado • Feb 26, 2021 at 11:30 am
yes, disney does have a serious tendency to have much of their character cast become either anthropomorphic animals, or full on animals, and in recent years it’s mostly for characters of color. Maybe it’s for marketing, so kids see people and color and still marvel at the cool animals, but I believe there might be a chance that disney has too many furries working over there. with how many employees they have there’s a decent chance, and with what we see, it kind of shows
Gil Lopez • Feb 26, 2021 at 11:10 am
I wholeheartedly agree! Many people of color, especially women of color, get underrepresented or misrepresented too often in films. We need to start having movies and shows that incorporate people of color as the main characters and that doesn’t focus on the tragedies of being a certain race. I think you did an amazing job bringing this topic to light!
Jazmin Chavira • Feb 26, 2021 at 9:36 am
Very Insightful!! I didn’t even realize Disney had a tendency of doing this until you pointed it out. Awesome job, Justin!