Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Disability JohnsonCheu, Editor. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013.

Abstract

Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Disability Johnson Cheu, Editor. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013.In introduction to Diversity in Disney Films, editor Johnson Cheu articulates reason for his book: the necessity for examining diversity and a wider range of it within Disney appears pertinent in our age of globalization (4). How right he is. For better or for worse, Disney films form an important part of cultural landscape, and images in them resonate. As scholarship on Disney has proliferated in recent years, this topic has gained attention, notably in Douglas Brode's Multiculturalism and Mouse (2005), which argues that Disney films were more forward-thinking than most people give them credit for. Cheu's volume, which takes a decidedly more critical approach, contributes to dialogue. The book is divided into four sections: race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, disability, and reimaginings and new visions. It addresses classic films that Walt Disney himself oversaw, as well as The Disney Company's more recent fare.Some of book's sections cover familiar ground. Scholars have frequently criticized Disney for its stereotyped portrayals of blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Italians, and Asians, and this book follows suit. In lead essay in volume's first section on race and ethnicity, Kheli R. Willetts takes a highly personal approach that reflects mindset of many in Disney's audience. Growing up, she writes, I searched for characters who mirrored people in my community and reflected values and aesthetics of Other, in this case, African, Latino, Asian, and First Nations Diasporas. Instead, Disney gave me caricatured representations of diversity of my world (9). Willetts laments that Disney magic did not apply to her but hopes that one day, Disney will make new magic, complete with enough sparkle for everyone, and finally fulfill my wish for images that look, and feel, familiar and beautiful (21). Essays on Disney's representation of Latin Americans in Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros, Indians in Peter Pan, Orientals in Lady and Tramp, and interclass relationships in Oliver and Company argue that Disney narratives perpetuated predictable patterns of privilege and dominance. In last essay in this section, Blackness, Bayous and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding Race in a Colorblind World, Sarah E. Turner refrains from labeling The Princess and Frog, first Disney film with a black princess, as yet another racist Disney production designed to further extend its $4 billion a year Princess line (83). Instead, she contends that film represents a complex moment in a culture steeped in political correctness and an adherence to politics of colorblindness (83). Collectively, essays in this section reflect up-to-date scholarship and thoughtful analysis of Disney Studio's images of race over past several decades.Just as race is a hot topic for Disney research, so too are gender and sexuality. The essays in this section of Cheu's book look at topics such as Cold War representation of masculinity in Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo, gender binaries and liminality in Muian, and alternative lifestyles in The Lion King. …