Essay on 'Lady and the Tramp' Stereotypes

Racism has always been part of our society in recent decades, people have been getting more to value than before. Same with animations and cartoons, people get more and more sensitive to what message the animation delivers to the audiences. Back in 1900 animation was published for entertainment only, Compared to animations published nowadays they are indeed for entertainment but at the same time audience cares more about what the story delivers than just visual satisfaction. I have revealed old animations and comparing to the recent ones and see the difference in terms of how the characters were playing their role in the animation.

Disney has always been making famous and remarkable animations, yet there are a lot of people saying that animation back in the 1930s contained quite some stereotypical content. In the new version of the content warning notice, Disney pointed out that 'this program contains negative descriptions andor treats people or culture harshly', 'these stereotypes were wrong at the time, and now they are wrong'. Compared to removing the program, 'we have to admit that it is harmful Influence, learn from it, initiate dialogue, and create a more inclusive future together. “Disney also attached a website at the end to explain to the audience the plots of classic movies such as The Adventures of Cats, Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Swiss Family Robinson (Swiss Family Robinson) that offend people of color. Let's take Lady and the Tramp (1955) and The Song of the South as stereotypical examples.

Save your time!
We can take care of your essay

• Proper editing and formatting
• Free revision, title page, and bibliography
• Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

Place an order

Disney has had a long relationship with racism in their feature films, including but not limited to stereotypes. We can see this in a film called The Song of the South. Explain what racism is in the film.

This TV show takes place in the 1800s in Georgia where African Americans and Caucasians had peaceful relationships. It looks like there are no conflicts or arguments at all on Grandma’s plantation, yet that’s exactly where the problem is. Similar to the song ‘’Zip-a-dee-doo-dah’’, the song of the South is so straightforward, and it takes away any thoughts and opinions on politics, history, or even ideology that would be portrayed at that period. Although it is never directly revealed when this movie was exactly set, it gives an impression of a plantation full of slaves who are more than pleased to work for their masters. For example, when Uncle Remus explains why he likes the song ’’Zip-a-dee-doo-dah days’’ he said’’Dat That's the kinda day when you can't open yo mouth without a song jumpin' right out of it.' That’s why the movie has reheated the old rumor on how slaves’ lives can't be sad. Another example is straightforward at the start of the movie we can see that Johnny’s gramma’s house where full of African-American helpers and workers, which makes them labeled as ‘’they are the kind of race who works for the white people’’, just like slavery. A Cinema Blend article adds: 'Beyond that, Song of the South deals with the use of racist dialects, as well as the use of the trope that would later become known as the 'magical negro.' Even the animated sequences aren't free of controversy. One of Br'er Fox's plans to capture Br'er Rabbit involves the use of a golem made of black tar which the fox refers to as a ...tar baby.' ( https:www.newsweek.comsong-south-not-Disney-plus-racist-streaming-1471186 ) More importantly, the film was released after the Civil War, and the Africans become sharecroppers, and yet the film leaves this unclear. By the time this film was released, audiences may have felt that the characters in the film were not that offensive, some people even thought this film was a warm-hearted salute to America’s ‘’colored’’, unlike modern society, people find that characters in the film contain racism. Sadly Disney tried so hard to cover the fact that this TV show was ever released even though slavery and racism are no longer tolerated in modern society. However, both are still present across the globe. Disney portrays a false reality of Georgina's plantation in the 1800s and celebrates the time in the same way that the Western world celebrates the end of slavery. Both descriptions are not true, and both left out really important information that affects the lives of millions of people.

Explain why the timing of its premiere was terrible. Explain that Disney's decision for the timing of the film's release was due to monetary gain.

On the other hand, the animation ‘Lady and the Tramp’ is another controversial movie people claim that it has stereotype content. This film is set on Christmas, the main character’s master, Jim gives a pet dog 'Lady' to his wife. The clever and well-behaved 'lady' is favored by the hostess and has been living a carefree and happy life. However, with the birth of a small life to this family, the status of 'lady' began to decline. The neglected 'lady' ran away from home, but the 'lady' who had never had to worry about food and clothes suddenly fell into trouble. Fortunately, she met a kind stray dog, Chap. Chap and 'Lady' quickly became good friends. After experiencing various adventures, they wiped out the spark of love. 'Lady' also returned home safely and lived together carefree ever since. Lady and the Tramp is a cartoon that about how to take a break and make changes and face problems with its family-friendly content, yet there are still scenes labeling some of the stereotypes in real life such as a scene where two Siamese cats Si and Am are coming out of the basket, with Asian appearances like small eyes broken teeth and broken accent, meanwhile, the background music is with Chinese traditional songs which portraits the cats are Asians, which, such stereotypical depiction has reinforced a negative impression on how Asians look like. Also, the song ‘We are Siamese if you please’’ sung by the Siamese cats uses a cracking and high-pitched voice that gives the audience an impression of what Asians sound like in real life. Moreover, the habit of the cats in the animation is being naughty and making a mess around the house rather than pointing fingers at the Lady. And they are outright villains. This behavior has reflected the reason why the community sees Asians in such a way in the 90s since the bombing of Perl Harbour, which shows the nature and personality of the Siamese cats in the film. The way that Lady and the Tramp depicted and portrayed the characters has made us know how the world looked at certain races in the 1950s. in recent times, people talked about how this animation has labeled certain races and they want a remake. According to Variety, Monae was asked to reinvent the “Siamese Cat Song”, which is notorious for its racist depiction of Siamese cats, and eventually the recent remake life action movie ’Lady and the Tramp’, has taken away a lot of controversial content, such as the Siamese cat song ‘’We are Siamese if you please’ has completely changed and it called ‘What a Shame’ which has a brand new track. Moreover, the cats are no longer Siamese cats anymore, instead, they are cats with grey and black stripes and they changed the accent of the cats. Disney also updated a new scene with no fish for the cats to pester and not vase they will push over to the piano. As we can tell society now has changed the way they look and handle different races.

Among many offensive and controversial Disney animations, the Song of the South and Lady and the Tramp are a few of my most memorable animations, in terms of the way they make metaphors for society through animation and the time they released these movies. Both movies were published after World War in the 1950s, even though society has been peaceful and the way different races treat one another more modern than more racist. Yet there are still a lot of stereotypes towards Asians and African Americans. Both Song of the South and Lady and the Tramp were meant to be family-friendly and wholesome animated shows. However, Disney has put some stereotypical content in animations like The Song of the South having African Americans willingly work for their masters and Siamese cats acting like Asians in Lady and the Tramp. These scenes looked normal at that period since people were labeling other races in such a way. There are still people labelling other races in modern society but as I had mentioned, people are getting more and more sensitive to stereotypes and are willing to change their views of other people. Personally, Disney is overreacting to the fact that they had made offensive content in the past and tried to cover it up seems like they have not published such animation before. I think even a lot of audience would think that that animation has racist or offensive content, Disney should’ve left that content to the public, there is still the majority of people enjoying watching those masterpieces again, or even making those pieces as educational usage, telling the history by it animation at that period.