context please, or is that too much to ask? The entire sentence is: “Disneys move to incorporate other than its normal western-style princesses”, i.e. disneys normal western style princesses, which yes, is white supermodels look-alikes, even Pocahontas…
Seriously, are you alluding my comment is somehow racist, or is it just a normal R&P gut-reaction to stir the pot?
Mulan definitely qualifies; I remember people making a big deal out of how the way her eyes were used to signify beauty was incredibly groundbreaking for Western animation. I even wrote about it in sociology class when I was 16.
Unless you’re wondering about the term ‘princess’. I think ‘princess’ is just the equivalent of ‘Bond girl’ in Disney movies, though really, I can’t even think of a single minor character of African descent in any of them, unless you count the Lion King.
No-one would disagree that Disney probably should have some positive black characters in its pictures, but it seems that people only object to it when it’s a conscious decision. Whatever, it’s a good move.
DEFINITELY the second one. Your explanation makes sense, though I fail to see how Pocahontas fits the mold (or Jasmin or Mulan or Nala). But she still looks like a supermodel, just not a white one, so it’s really not much of a stretch for them.
Wait, so they should only unconsciously create black characters?
“We just started drawing, and we animated it all, and finally someone was like, ‘oh hey, the protaganists are black!’ And we were all like, ‘Wow, we didn’t notice until now!’”
Also Ariel.
We’re considering gingers to be non-western?
No, but merfolk are a definite minority.
So basically we have damp danish barbie, pantalooned persian barbie, action asian barbie, witched white barbie, indigenous indian barbie, and puny pixie barbie?
That is…quite the link.
That’s what people crying “PC!” seem to be implying, yeah.
Yeah. It’s like, if a movie or TV show features a white character, it just fell into place that way naturally. If it features a minority character, obviously someone compromised on their integrity or is trying to teach a lesson or caved in to pressure groups, because that’s the only reason why anyone would choose not to just do the “normal” thing and go with a white protagonist.
It’s actually a Leftist/Marxist term that became co-opted by the Right in the early 90’s post-university speech code controversies. What’s bullsh*t is the thought-control ideology behind it.
Man, fuck that PC labeler.
Can we change the label to “console”?
This is accurate. “PC” described an absolute, explicit intolerance on the academic left that flared up in the early 90s and then faded slowly but not entirely.
This is an accurate description of the term’s use today.
Yep. Both are correct, depending on what time frame you’re talking about. That’s why my snark above was “12 years ago” rather than “20.”
Anyway, as for Disney…
I think the main point here is that these stories they’re animating are Western. European, specifically. Thus the original tales are largely staffed by… you guessed it, European girls. So when you take a traditional European story (the Frog Prince) and make all the major characters black, or hispanic, or purple with orange polka dots, it causes one to raise one’s eyebrow. Even Aladdin and Jasmine are caucasian.
(If you wanna complain about PC, complain about the way they mucked with the story of Pocahantas. Hint: She didn’t stay with her people in the end. She went back to England, was miserable and died of the flu.)
Jasmine looks like she could be Arab or Persian or something. It’s a little vague, but she doesn’t look like the bulk of Disney’s characters. Aladdin does, though, skin tone and huge eyebrows aside, and even those are strange concessions that make him look farther from the ethnicity he’s supposed to be (ten points if you know what that is without looking it up).
Persians and Arabs are Caucasian.
THREAD OVER