With Change Comes Critics

As I've come to learn, Disney critics are a tough crowd. No matter what Disney does, somebody is always upset or offended by their decisions. However, I suppose this is the case with anything that has such a substantial impact on our popular culture.

In one of my earlier posts, A Mickey Mouse Monopoly, I explored the common idea among critics that Disney is racist. One of the main reasons behind this point was that the overwhelming majority of Disney princesses were caucasian and attractive, while the only characters portraying black traits were monkeys. According to them, this leads young girls to believe that only white women can be beautiful.

To satisfy its audience, and to keep up with the progressive times, Disney came out with The Princess and the Frog in 2009. This was the first Disney film to feature a black princess as the main character, after nearly 80 years of animation. After decades of flack from the African American community, you would think this would be cause for celebration.

Think again.

The first complaints came years before the movie even hit theaters, with critics challenging the lead character's announced name and occupation -- She would be a maid for a white family named Maddy. When her name and occupation were labeled demeaning (people felt her name bared close resemblance to the ethnic slur "Mammy"), Disney was quick to respond, renaming the heroine Tiana and recasting her as a chef.

While Disney was able to avert that particular crisis, they should have known it would not be the end of their problems. When it was revealed that the groundbreaking African-American princess would not be falling in love with an African-American prince, outrage ensued.

 "We can have a black president in office, but not a black Disney prince?" was a common cry heard among critics.

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On the other hand, Disney is doing exactly what most parents and teachers believe it should do -- promote racial tolerance. We should credit Disney for diversifying their portfolio and promoting interracial relationships. Moreover, this is an animated movie for kids about people who transform into frogs; the main characters even spend most of their screen time as amphibians, with their race being imperceptible.

When asked her opinion on the situation, Oprah Winfrey (who plays the voice of Tiana's mother) said, "You have to applaud [Disney] for finally having their first African-American princess. Sadly, though, given all the complaining folks are doing without even seeing the movie, Tiana will probably be Disney's last black princess."

It's a Disney World After All

Nothing can ever be considered "small" when it has to do with Disney, the largest media conglomerate in the world.

Renovations of Disney's most well known amusement park ride, Small World, sparked huge controversy with Disney fans everywhere. Created over 40 years ago, this ride was originally intended to promote world peace and acceptance of all cultures throughout the world. 

The "Small World" ride debuted at the 1964 World's Fair in New York as a benefit to the United Nations Children's Fund, and moved to Disneyland two years later. When Walt Disney dedicated the ride in 1966, he invited children from around the world to pour water from their homelands into the ride's stream in a gesture of unity (Flaccus, 2009). 

Two years ago, the original ride was remodeled, adding figures of Disney characters, such as Aladdin, Nemo, and Ariel, throughout the journey. In addition to the dozens of cartoon characters, Disney also incorporated some of its hit soundtracks into the classic "Small World" melody and added a completely new section depicting the "spirit of America", which includes a replica of LA's Hollywood Bowl.

                                                     www.themeparks.about.com


In our ever-changing world, all companies are forced to continuously modify and improve their products to give them a new twist and keep consumers around. Disney said that they added their cartoon characters among the other human dolls in the ride for this very reason; they wanted to keep it appealing to younger audiences.

However, some fans were angered by the reconstruction of the ride because they viewed it as a marketing ploy that essentially ruined the pure message that was originally intended by the ride. Others were upset that Disney would insert fantasy worlds into a ride that is supposed to be dedicated to cross-cultural understanding.

"Disney wants to brand the diversity of the entire world and somehow say that it's Disney derived," said Leo Braudy, a cultural historian at the University of Southern California. "It seems a bit crass to put this brand on something that was meant to be a sort of United Nations for Children."

Even the son of the ride's original designer, Mary Blair, was outraged by the changes made to "Small World", calling the new characters featured in the ride "a gross desecration of the ride's original theme."

"The Disney characters themselves are positive company icons, but they do NOT fit in with the original theme of the ride," wrote Kevin Blair, in a letter to Disney executives. "They will do nothing except marginalize the rightful stars of the ride, 'the children of the world.'"

Disney designers, who spent over a year working on the ride's renovations, countered their critics' concerns. They said that routine repairs gave them an opportunity to add another dimension to the message of cross-cultural understanding by working in references to Disney movies that are based on foreign fairy tales  or set in faraway lands, such as Aladdin (Flaccus, 2009).

The designers try to put peoples' concerns at ease by insisting that the changes made to the ride are subtle and conform to Walt Disney's original philosophy and style, while keeping the attraction from becoming "like a museum," said Kim Irvine, director of concept design for Walt Disney Imagineering.

"It's what Walt always wanted," she said. "He always said the park would always be changing as long as there was imagination in the world."