Challenging Media

I just watched the First Disney video. This video opened my eyes to a side of Disney I had never been quite so aware of. My gut reaction was anger when Disney’s president was quoted at the end “ its only about money”. I felt extremely upset that Disney would say something like that. They do inherently have the obligation to stand for more than just money due to their large scale of influence. It is crucial that Disney realizes their impact and takes it cautiously serious. If Disney is solely concerned about money what is that teaching all those who know Disney, that life is all about money alone? The part about how Disney has portrayed women in a certain particular way over its many years was proven shockingly true through their incriminating clips pulled from a number of Disney films spanning the years. All the clips showed women with curvy hips, which they swung around, big boobs often barely covered, and the classic damsel in distress eye bat. This image subconsciously makes girls believe that is how they should look and act. Also the example about Tarzan being in Africa yet having no Africans in the movie subtly promotes white supremacy I found a little extreme but upon further thought slightly agreed with, why aren’t there any Africans in the African movie? The clip went further into many separate interviews some even interviewed children. These children had clearly been prompted by an off-screen question but none-the-less gave similar answers: they had not seen blacks portrayed as a good character, if portrayed at all, in Disney films. Now the rationale behind that is clearly unknown but suspicions are raised and offenses are taken. If Disney is all about the money than that must be the primary role behind all these images they are deciding to portray. Maybe they think portraying women that way will get them more money or maybe they thing whites are richer and will come see a white movie. Whatever the case maybe this video brought up many valid points that has changed my view of media as a whole. Media clearly needs to be challenged so that we are not all stuck in our own little bubbles of whatever media dictators decide to expose us to. We need to be challenging where the information came from and what it is trying to say. We need to be always asking for the other side to the story and recognizing Disney’s particular power in regards to media and questioning its purity and motives. If no one challenges media then we will be controlled by it.