Media week 2 post 2

THE CROWS in DUMBO... RACIST OR NOT

While surfing through the internet, I found a website devoted to Disney and their racist characters in movies. The website that I found had the top nine racist characters, so I am going to write about number seven, the crows in the movie Dumbo.

The crows (black birds) are playing into the stereotypical African American. Dumbo was made in 1941 (according to the website), which was a prime time for racism in movies. The crows had no jobs. They were depicted as "poor and uneducated". The crows also smoked and the main crow was dressed the way that a pimp would be dressed. To top it off, the lead crow's name was Jim Crow. The way that the crows sing to Dumbo the elephant is reminiscent of a black choir. They are preaching to Dumbo how he can fly, because the crows are "experts at everything 'fly'".

This movie is very true to the time that it was made. A lot of white people gave African Americans this stereotype, so it was expected to see this in a movie. This relates to what we are talking about in class, because it deals with racism of the past, and the stereotypes that Disney likes to subliminally pass to the viewer. Last week we watched a clip from another Disney movie, Peter Pan. During this clip, we witnessed the same stereotypes and racism used in Dumbo, but they were aimed at the Native Americans. I understand that extreme racism was an issue at the time these movies were made, but it is amazing to me that racist stereotypes were used in children's movies.

I love Disney movies, but I have also never thought about all of the racist things that were placed in these movies. While looking at the website, I was not too shocked to realize that there were so many though. The time that a lot of classic Disney movies were made was between the 40s and the 60s. However, there were some Disney movies and television shows that showed stereotypes in the 80s and the early 90s. How could this pass by children watching the movies? I do not know, but maybe they are too focused on the plot line. Finding this article has lessened the love that I have for Disney, but just because there are racist parts in some of the classic movies, that does not mean that I will stop watching them. They are a part of our past, and we can not change the past. We must embrace it.

(The website that was used was http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_9-most-racist-disney-characters.html)