Re: Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood & Corporate Power

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[peacelf]

@sympthylost Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. I may not teach professionally anymore, but I still like to engage in a dialectic dialogue.

[peacelf]

@sympthylost I've met many blacks who don't understand my criticisms, either. White supremacy has that much power over people. Disney may need diversity, but they are in the culture biz, making and preserving existing structures, so they can profit from the system. Nothing secret about that. Until we all take a good hard look at what we find entertaining and popular, subtle and not so subtle racism will continue. Some tell me I suffer from "white guilt." I suffer from accute empathy.

[peacelf]

@sympthylost I've met many people who defend Disney as if it were family because the corporation has so penetrated our lives and culture. Disney is not interested in anything resembling a middle ground. They seek to entertain and also preserve a culture, values and pov that benefits Disney's bottom line. It's all about the Benjamins.

[sympthylost]

@sympthylost Btw, I am black and I am by no means being an apologist for Disney. But what I'm trying to say is the people making Disney aren't Arab/Muslim and I am not expecting them to project any other race/cultue accurately. What I do hope for and expect is respect and nothing overly stereotypical/blatantly offensive. It's either you're represented or you're not. Perhaps what Disney needed is a more diverse group of animators/story writers.

[sympthylost]

@peacelf I see a bit more of your point. No, they didn't attribute the mannerisms of actual Muslims from the Middle East at the time and gave them a white American personality. What I'm trying to say is it is often better they don't try "too hard". The reality is, Muslims/Arabs didn't write this movie, and Arab didn't even write the legend Aladdin is based on. When they to be "accurate" it ends up like, say, Mulan. Exaggerated and still offensive. The middle ground is hard to find.

[peacelf]

@sympthylost and the swords, dark countenances and "evil" intentions, etc.

[peacelf]

@peacelf Cont. I might not have noticed so much if it wasn't for listening to voices of Others, people who are different from me.

[peacelf]

@sympthylost I understand Paula Abdul is Arabic, but the Princess looks and acts like an American teenager, and plays the part of the "Good Guys." It's easy to think that I'm reaching in my criticisms, but subtle racism is our worst enemy, because it works to mask wrongs by being slight enough for someone to possibly argue that the characterization is not a stereotype or racist. As a former teacher in an all black central city school, my students notice those stereotypes.

[sympthylost]

@TomPreston6 That's because Harry Potter is awesome.

[sympthylost]

@sympthylost Funny that the exagerated characteristics are always saved for the villians....