Supplementary Post: My End-of-Semester Thoughts

I made a post with my mid-semester thoughts, so it only seems right that I make one with my end-of-semester thoughts.

Mid-semester, I talked about how, although I'd seen some problems with Disney before taking this class, this really opened my eyes to some of the movies' more controversial moments.  Of course, I also insisted that I continued to support the company and would always be a Disney fan.

Now it's been another half semester, and I can't say my opinions have changed all that much.  As I highlighted in my original post, Disney has been making great strides towards progressive films with movies like Moana and Zootopia.  Yes, there are still some issues—the Maui Halloween costume is an example of one—but Disney is making progress.

After reading a bevy of academic articles about various places Disney has gone wrong (I've made a number of blog posts responding to several of them individually), I've come to what's probably not a very popular conclusion: someone, somewhere, is always going to have a problem with something Disney does.

That's not to say Disney hasn't been rightfully accused sometimes.  We've been examining examples like these all semester.  But sometimes, I believe people take things a little too far.  At the end of the day, Disney movies are entertainment for children, and some things academics conclude (like that Maui's fishhook reinforces the patriarchy by being a phallic symbol??) are a little too farfetched.

If Disney comes out with a movie with a POC princess (hooray!), people are going to have problems with how that is portrayed.  However, if Disney creates movies with only white main characters, there's a clamor of protests of underrepresentation. Both sides are right: Disney ought to make tasteful, forward-thinking movies, with PLENTY of minority representation.  But attacking the company for making its very, very best effort (as was the case in Moana and Zootopia) only undermines the progressive nature of the film.  Yes, movies in which Disney makes no attempt to accurately represent culture (yes, Pocahontas) deserve to be put down.  And if someone has an issue with Moana or Zootopia, by all means speak about it—but don't make every discussion of the movie about that.

My thoughts about this topic are hard for me to sort out and even harder for me to put on paper, but if nothing else this class has gotten me thinking, and for that I'm grateful.  I'm going to watch all movies—not just Disney films—with a fresh set of eyes from now on, and I'm so glad.