Exotifying Other Cultures Because You Think It's a "Compliment". An apologetic Kenai leaves to reach the mountain. Here are 18 moments in Disney movies that haven't aged well. The first disc contained the widescreen version (1.66:1 aspect ratio) and the second disc featured the original theatrical widescreen version (1.66:1 and 2.35:1 aspect ratio). Kendrick Lamar performing at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. The last brother, thinking the bear had killed his second brother, attempts to kill the newly transformed bear to avenge both of his brother's deaths. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. It is set approximately 2000 years ago. "Brother Bear" is only the beginning of a soon-to-be growing revival of our interest in American Indians. Was Elvis the 'king of cultural appropriation' or a tireless . "Sleeping Beauty" is actually derived from a darker Italian fairytale by Giambattista Basile called "Sun, Moon, and Talia," which is based on a folk tale dating back to the 14th century. In fact, when the streaming service Disney Plus (which includes almost every Disney movie) launched in late 2019, a message was included ahead of classic movies like "Dumbo," and "Peter Pan," warning that the movies "may include outdated cultural depictions.". Authenticity comes from being original, which can include everyone, as no one individual shares the same unique experiences as another. People are belittling and mocking my spirituality with their faux feather headdresses.". Cultural appropriation involves pillaging, especially for profit or cool cred, without respect or reverence, like non-Black kids who talk and dress in the hip-hop style because it's trendy but . [21] On July 15, 2003, Disney announced that the release date would be moved up by one weekend from its previously scheduled slot of November 7, 2003. "Lumping all American Indians together as one monolithic caricature is grossly offensive, because these are real people, with many, many different cultures," wrote Elizabeth Broadbent for The Huffington Post. [3] In order to be human again, Kenai must travel to a mountain where the Northern lights touch the earth. Native American War Bonnet. Definitely a winning combination. The Lion King is a story inspired by Hamlet, but with animals from the Serengeti national park in northern Tanzania. In order to wake Princess Aurora from the eternal sleeping curse that the villainous Maleficent's spinning wheel has placed her under, Prince Phillip gives Princess Aurora "true love's kiss.". Meanwhile, Rutt and Tuke, having had a falling-out, reconcile in front of Koda, prompting him to forgive Kenai. But Mulan is such an inspiring story, its fair to say it at least depicts the Chinese hero in a positive light. What Chuck Berry Taught Us About Cultural Appropriation. "To characterize an entire region with this sort of tongue-in-cheek bigotry, especially in a movie aimed at children, borders on barbaric," The New York Times said of the song in 1993. "In an effort neither to offend audiences in the North or South, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery ['Song of the South'] unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship, which is a distortion of the facts," the NAACP said in a 1946 statement. However, since Snow White is unconscious and essentially dead during the scene, this kiss could be viewed as non-consensual and an act of assault. "Brother Bear" reflects this reality of real-life American Indian shamanism. This begins to official process of consideration to change your local mascot from a racist depiction to something more culturally appropriate. [8], After the project was green-lit, Blaise, Walker, and the story artists embarked on a research trip in August 1999 to visit Alaska where they traveled on the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and Kodiak Island. Since "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was released in 1938, the fantastical worlds of Disney's children's films have captivated generations and become a mainstay in many people's childhoods. In his print review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert wrote the film "doesn't have the zowie factor of The Lion King or Finding Nemo, but is sweet rather than exciting. Add a Comment. When Tahana calls for him, Kenai's childish dream is to get a power stronger than either of them. Unless there's a personal connection to the culture, these tattoos could be seen as cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation affects the soul of people, a sense of their inherent value, and it also affects their pockets, their capacity to rise above their circumstances through the fair rewarding . Other schools have since opted in, including the University of Colorado Boulder, the University . Mostly, people view cultural appropriation as simply the adoption of some particular cultural aspects of another culture. So we turned Grizz into a cub named Koda",[7] who was voiced by Jeremy Suarez. Matt Sayles/Invision, via Associated Press. [41] The film grossed $85.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $165.1 million in international territories, bringing its worldwide total to $250.4 million.[2]. It is based on the famous Arabic tale set in Arabic China. "Animals have sustained our people for thousands of years . The movie got a tiny bit of criticism for its portrayal of Kristoff as a blond Sami. After Kenai transforms into a bear twenty-four minutes into the picture, the film itself transforms as well: to an anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and towards brighter, more fanciful colors and slightly more caricatured art direction. That being said, I would really like to know if the movie is at all offensive. 19 comments. The Emperors New Groove does for pre-Colombian Peru what Hercules did for Ancient Greece. Saludos Amigos (1942) & The Three Caballeros (1944). "I've struggled with Disney's 'Pocahontas' as a source of pain and stereotype," Kenzie Allen, a descendant of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, told The Atlantic. Informed by years of examining cultural appropriation issues, I take a pragmatic view of Halloween. The two hyenas who speak are voiced by actors of color (Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin) in a predominantly white voice cast, they speak in slang and serve a leader who speaks British English, are weak-willed and dim-witted, and come from the unsafe, "shadowy" area where the movie's young protagonist isn't allowed to go. Only then will we be close to a world that is more equal and respectful of others. She then married an Englishman named John Rolfe and visited England, but she died at the young age of 21. "Because of the photo-real nature of the film, having too broad of a comedic take on the hyenas felt inconsistent with what we were doing.". Some even argue that Belle is showing signs of Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostage victims develop feelings of trust or affection toward their captors. The voice actors were American and African-American. The morning after Pinocchio is brought to life, two strangers convince him to skip school and sell him to Stromboli, a puppet master who threatens to chop the boy into firewood if he doesn't perform for him in a life of servitude. I will go over the movies that either take place outside the United-States or focus on minorities of the United-States (but I will skip Songs of the South!). Pocahontas rewrites history and kind of falls into the noble savage trope, wherein the good indigenous character has not yet been corrupted by the evil of civilization. "I wasn't just a fan, I was his brother." Brown - born dirt-poor in Barnwell, South Carolina, on the other side of the . After Sitka's funeral, an enraged Kenai blames the bear for Sitka's death. Luckily, in the 2019 live-action remake of "Lady and the Tramp," Si and Am are replaced by cats of a completely different breed. Words: 2401 Pages: 8 5490. This type of cultural appropriation is a form of dehumanization. The DVD also included a documentary on the production of the film, an audio commentary track by Rutt and Tuke with an option for visual mode, an artwork gallery narrated by the artists, three deleted scenes, two games called "Find Your Totem" and "Bone Puzzle", and two music videos with Phil Collins. Contrary to speculation, news writer Jim Hill stated the release date switch was not because Home on the Range was suffering from story rewrites, but to promote Brother Bear on the Platinum Edition release of The Lion King. This is important to bear in mind. As a result, it effectively erases their historical actions and paints a whitewashed picture of some of the darkest moments in American history. The film begins at a standard widescreen aspect ratio of 1.75:1 (similar to the 1.85:1 ratio common in U.S. cinema or the 1.78:1 ratio of HDTV), while Kenai is a human; in addition, the film's art direction and color scheme are grounded in realism. Disney added the idea of the sky lanterns released on the princess birthday, which led to some of the most beautiful visuals in the film. I don't care about that. Ohio University launched a poster campaign in 2011 called "We're a Culture, Not a Costume.". Cultural Appropriation, by some it's seen as an adoption culture being stolen away from a dominant group. [14] Byron Howard, supervising animator for Kenai in bear form, said that earlier in production a bear named Grizz (who resembles Tug in the film and is voiced by the same actor) was supposed to have the role of Kenai's mentor. I think cultural appropriation is a load of baloney, based on the most persistent errors in political/social thought: abstraction errors - misunderstanding the relationship between people and labels, between aggregates and concretes. (This is a linguistic score for Disney--the Kenai people belong to the Tanaina tribe, and her name symbolizes that Tahana is the essence of her people.) The year 2020 put the issue of race front and center of political and societal debate. I loved the live-action Disney film Queen of Katwe, which was set in Uganda. But . It wasnt that well-received in China because they changed the legend too much. The depiction of Native American culture is homogenous and stereotypical: The characters speak in gibberish instead of an actual indigenous language, smoke excessive amounts of pipe tobacco (which they even offer to the children), and sing an offensive song called "What Made the Red Man Red.". Mulan takes a famous Chinese legend and turns it into the most awesome Disney movie ever. In the 2019 remake of "The Lion King," the hyenas are much shrewder and more threatening. This helps the message reach a wider audience and helps get the . They tried. Unfortunately, this plot sends young girls the message that they can "fix" men who exhibit frightening and even abusive behavior towards them, and that it's up to them to fix those men in the first place a message that isn't altered in the 2017 live-action remake. Another thing Id like to see is a movie set in Africa, also with human characters. Brother Bear follows an Alaska native boy named Kenai as he pursues a bear and kills it, but the Spirits, incensed by this unnecessary death, change Kenai into a bear himself as punishment. Brother Bear: Directed by Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker. In the 1937 film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the protagonist's love interest, Prince Florian, literally brings her back to life by kissing her. The Princess and the Frog is inspired by a European fairy tale called The Frog Prince. It is adapted from a story set in India and written by a British-Indian author. Brother Bear (2003) Tarzan takes place in Africa, but it features no black character. "Under this reading, when Beauty at last tells the Beast that she loves him, it doesn't feel like a genuine romantic decision made by a fully empowered woman under her own free will," wrote Constance Grady for Vox. February 21, 2022. CULTURAL APPROPIATION IN ROYALE HIGH!! As the concept of cultural appropriation is used in this essay, it does not necessarily carry with it any moral baggage. On the mountain, Kenai is cornered by Denahi, but their battle is interrupted by Koda, who steals Denahi's spear. The wizened elder Tahana is the tribe's leading medicine person, but the other characters also wield a particular medicine power through an animal spirit helper. [24][25] By January 2005, the film had earned $169 million in home video sales and rentals. [15], Following the success of the Tarzan soundtrack, Phil Collins was offered the opportunity to compose songs for Brother Bear, as well as let him "co-write the score". "[] Yes, there is visibility in telling their stories, but it is a tainted visibility, a false reality rendered through the dominant culture, which seeks to ameliorate, always, the horrific methods by which they came to occupy an entire nation's worth of landmass.". As we meet Kenai, his two elder brothers have already received their totem spirit helpers from Tahana. Yes, powerful shamans who could cure were rare, but the use of medicine powers was not. This blending of two cultures is a timely concept and a nice love letter to immigrants. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear, but a fight ends on top of a glacier, during which Sitka gives his life to save his brothers by dislodging the glacier, although the bear survives the fall. The performance was then arranged by score co-composers Collins and Mark Mancina, and vocal arranger Eddie Jobson. He gets caught in a trap, but is freed by an outgoing bear cub named Koda. "[33] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a playful movie that celebrates nature and the spirit world with striking imagery and a smooth blend of drama and comedy. "She loves singing more than anything but she won't be able to do that anymore because she has to make things work with the first dude she sets her eyes on. My first memory of Chuck Berry came from the movie "Back to the Future.". Tahana reveals that his spirit helper is the bear. The score builds at just the right times and knows when to lead the audience to a more somber feeling. It is the 44th film in the Disney Animated Canon, and the last film in the canon to be released by the studio under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. . Many critics and audiences also noted the use of the film's aspect ratio as a storytelling device. The actress playing Lilo is from Oregon. Kenai quickly discovers that the wildlife can now speak to him, meeting a pair of moose brothers named Rutt and Tuke. Collins's lyrics for the song were first translated into Iupiaq. Take the characters in Walt Disney Pictures' new animated feature. Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player. It's all about what Halloween costume you wear, or who's cooking biryani. The Evolution of Anthropomorphism in Animated Movies. The film, which was released in the United States on November 1, 2003, received mixed reviews from critics and received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards, losing to Pixar's Finding Nemo. But the overuse of the term obscures offenses that might actually deserve more censure . A trio of brothers, Kenai, the youngest; Denahi, the middle; and Sitka, the eldest, return to their tribe in order for Kenai to receive his totem, necklaces in the shapes of different animals. [40] On its second wide weekend, the film continued its strong showing grossing $18.6 million against new competing films such as Elf and The Matrix Revolutions, collecting $44.1 million in three weeks. The voice cast is entirely American and white, but Disney hired a Sami musician to write the opening song. These teepees are not only the perfect place for a child's imagination to run wild, but also add a whimsical design touch to the room . Last year, Disney showcased ancient Polynesian culture in Moana, and this year, Pixar will explore Mexican culture with Coco. I am content! Frozen features Norwegian traditions ranging from rosemaling on walls and dresses to trolls, Fjord horses and saunas. We have over 500 surviving tribes over here in the Americas, and they all speak different languages and have different cultures and religions. It was beautiful and moving. killed in an altercation with a bear, another brother kills the bear to avenge his brother's death. I must go to fetch the water / Till the day that I am grown / Then I will have a handsome husband / And a daughter of my own / And Ill send her to fetch the water / Ill be cooking in the home. That's exactly the way it works in the reality where humans and animal spirits walk through life in unison. Once Pinocchio escapes, he's almost immediately carted off to Pleasure Island, where badly behaved boys drink, smoke, and generally wreak havoc. It may have come from some sort of New Age spirituality, but the problem comes when the concept is misused in a way that trivializes generations of deep Indigenous belief from a host of different cultures. Cultural appropriation is a seriously hot-button topic. Even though the US is made up of many different cultures, "exotic" is a . Sweeney. Disney wisely avoided recreating this scene in the "Dumbo" remake, but they cheekily reference it. It also includes the unauthorized use of parts of their culture (their dress, dance, etc.) of cultural appropriation while eschewing the identification of cultural outsiders in individual cases. without permission. While the pilot tested well, it was not picked up as Disney Channel executives felt that adapting the film as a series was "counterproductive" to their goal of trying to reach a tween audience, combined with the fact that the movie performed below expectations.[42]. The central question posed at the beginning of "Beauty and the Beast's" opening monologue is, "Who could ever learn to love a beast?". Tangled marked a return to classic European fairy tales. In the novel, there is a tribe of black people, but they are Tarzans enemies. Now imagine if they did an animated movie like Moana, but with a black African Disney princess. The rest of the songs are Elvis Presley songs. My reading of the historical records is that at least half of the people had spirit helpers. With Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Suarez, Jason Raize, Rick Moranis. The Japanese influences are reflected in the architecture mostly, but also in the design of the robot and tech. Horrified of what he has done, Kenai runs away in a fit of guilt, but Koda soon follows him. If you show love and appreciation for parts of a culture, such as clothing, hairstyles, or accessories, but remain prejudiced against its people, that's appropriation. Three Cheers for Cultural Appropriation. The film opened second behind Scary Movie 3 grossing $18.5 million at the box office. A Beautiful Girl I Knew Became a High-Class Escort And Paid a Terrible Price. In the halls of academia, discourse regarding cultural appropriation arose in the late 1970s, sparked by the publication of Edward Said 's famous book "Orientalism.". [12], The film is traditionally animated but includes some CG elements such as "a salmon run and a caribou stampede". The cats' entrance is even marked by the sound of a gong. ", Disney replaced the first half of those lyrics in all future versions of the movie after facing backlash from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, but refused to cut, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.". The film was the third and final Disney animated feature produced primarily by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida; the studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this film in favor of computer animated features. Contact local newspapers, radio and TV stations. On the other hand, if you learn, explore, and understand a . With the recent news of a "Pinocchio" live-action remake moving forward, it's likely that these two plot points will be modernized. Its a cool concept, and they cast African-American actors to voice the African-American characters, but I thought it was a bit weird to make Tiana the pseudo-servant of a rich white girl. 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