Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment

by Douglas Brode

In his latest iconoclastic work, Douglas Brode—the only academic author/scholar who dares to defend Disney entertainment—argues that "Uncle Walt's" output of films, television shows, theme parks, and spin-off items promoted diversity decades before such a concept gained popular currency in the 1990s. Fully understood, It's a Small World —one of the most popular attractions at the Disney theme parks—encapsulates Disney's prophetic vision of an appealingly varied world, each race respecting the uniqueness of all the others while simultaneously celebrating a common human core. In this pioneering volume, Brode makes a compelling case that Disney's consistently positive presentation of "difference"—whether it be race, gender, sexual orientation, ideology, or spirituality—provided the key paradigm for an eventual emergence of multiculturalism in our society. Using examples from dozens of films and TV programs, Brode demonstrates that Disney entertainment has consistently portrayed Native Americans, African Americans, women, gays, individual acceptance of one's sexual orientation, and alternatives to Judeo-Christian religious values in a highly positive light. Assuming a contrarian stance, Brode refutes the overwhelming body of "serious" criticism that dismisses Disney entertainment as racist and sexist. Instead, he reveals through close textual analysis how Disney introduced audiences to such politically correct principles as mainstream feminism. In so doing, Brode challenges the popular perception of Disney fare as a bland diet of programming that people around the world either uncritically deem acceptable for their children or angrily revile as reactionary pabulum for the masses. Providing a long overdue and thoroughly detailed alternative, Brode makes a highly convincing argument that with an unwavering commitment to racial diversity and sexual difference, coupled with a vast global popularity, Disney entertainment enabled those successive generations of impressionable youth who experienced it to create today's aura of multiculturalism and our politically correct value system.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gender Studies

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Mazzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brode wants to present a very wide analysis of almost all the Disney movies, he relates the films to the times they came out, including social aspects and non-Disney movies, which is a good effort. But unfortunately he is very unacademic and goes too far. One can find statements like the Black Death was caused by people who buried cats. Very often, as others also criticize, he presents interpretations that don't seem to make any sense. Often he ignores parts of the movie or of a character in order to support his descriptions and interpretations.

[Carly · Rating 1 out of 5]

While it's admirable that Brode is trying to argue against the mainstream (critical) view of Disney and Disney films, his arguments are constructed so poorly that I found it hard to believe after finishing the book that it would actually be possible to construct a defence of Disney.

He argues the importance of context, but then ignores the context when it doesn't suit him. His choice of quotes is poor, and while I appreciate the difficulty of putting film, a visual medium, into textual form his description of film scenes throughout is so heavily biased that I am suspicious of his descriptions of movies that I haven't yet seen. When he is describing movies that I am familiar with, I had to wonder if he had actually seen the same film as me (an example would be his description of the crows in Dumbo, who Brode argues provide him with strong support that enables Dumbo to fly. In actuality, the crows are guilted into helping Dumbo, tell him a white lie, and push him off the cliff in order to force him to fly if he doesn't want to, you know, die. I wouldn't call that strong support.). He makes reference to Disney being progressive (for his time), and that Disney is presenting a "radical" view, but provides no support from the time to illustrate that what Disney was doing was viewed as radical, or even pushing the limits of what is considered "acceptable" at that historical moment. The book relies far too heavily on the reader simply "taking Brode's word" for truth, which is problematic when he is writing a defence of Disney rather than a criticism of him.

In all, I was disappointed, because I think that while Disney is a flawed corporation, it's not completely fair to complete condemn the films, and I had hoped that Brode would provide some compelling arguments in defence of Disney. Unfortunately, in my eyes, he didn't.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ordered this book for my current research project assuming that it would cover more than Walt Disney's lifetime. He focuses on the live action films which was also a problem. Some bits of his argument are valid while most of the book is a stretch. Yes, removing a sequence from the context of the film is not good analysis. But attributing the shift in multicultural attitudes across the United States is not because of Disney live action films and etc. There are too many moving parts to our culture to make that leap.

[Stevie · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's no evidence used to back up his bs claims so no.

Avoid this.

Avoid.

[Doni]

In defense of Disney