Princess and the frog

Princess and the frog has been a newly developed idea with disney Promoting black characters in a positive light. Over many years black characters with in Animation especially in disney have always been based on a racist stereotypes created by the west. e.g. coal black and de sebben dwafs is a racist spin of from Snow white and the seven dwafs made with black characters to mock both their appearance and behaviour making them seem idiotic and dimwitted. Princess follows this animation on the lines of having the main protagonist as a female character and the rest being male.

Princess takes an old fairy tale and uses it to recreate a version on the story using black characters.

"The conversation about race in this new Disney movie is incredibly diverse. Some are considering this movie to still be a racist Disney movie, while others are saying because this is Disney’s first black Princess, the movie is not racist. "

The features of the characters are all correct in their representation of black people and no longer involve stereotypes in princes and the frog, although some of the features still look slightly white.

Princess and the frog: Another racist Disney movie? (with image) · must64ahk (2012) Available at: https://storify.com/must64ahk/princess-and-the-frog-still-racist (Accessed: 23 February 2016).

Disney Being racist

Most people argue that disney is racist based on walt disney himself being racist based on the way he liked represent people of colour or who were considered to be non western.

"For many years the controversy concerning racism in Disney movies has been happening. Many argue that Walt Disney himself was without a doubt a racist individual, therefore the movies he created were filled with racist remarks. Walt Disney Productions released their first movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1938, and have since then released over 200 movies. Many of those movies have been and still are considered to be racist. The movie Peter Pan uses racial remarks by showing the Indians skin to be extremely red"

Princess and the frog: Another racist Disney movie? (with image) · must64ahk (2012) Available at: https://storify.com/must64ahk/princess-and-the-frog-still-racist (Accessed: 23 February 2016). 

complexion and change of looks in characters

Mulan

Pocahontas

Juri

Karin

Chun-Li

all of these characters are of Japanese and chinese heritage, the only positive to say about these characters is that they are all voiced by asian actors but their complexion is all wrong, they are all made to look very light in skin tone and their features are close to the features of a white person.

These characters are all designed by white people, these features are based on their idea of what asian people look like which is not true in its depiction in comparison to living asain people. The only character that is not asian would be Pocahontas being a Native Indian and even she is made to look lighter compared to an actual native Indian.

Considering some of these characters are from a video game, they have all been animated in some shape or form, Pocahontes and Mulan are both animation which feature two main characters both of a race thats non white.

As identified in the new street fight based on a Brazilian character called laura is said to be too light in skin colour for a brazillian woman.

Sometimes this could be unintentional because sometime its down

“Our problem isn’t that Laura is light skin, our problem is that dark skin representation for women of colour is non-existent,”


Should ‘street fighter’s’ new Brazilian character have darker skin? (2015) Available at: http://fusion.net/story/209274/laura-street-fighter-brazilian-colorism/ (Accessed: 3 February 2016).

http://fusion.net/story/209274/laura-street-fighter-brazilian-colorism/

        

Bafta awards and animations

There has been recent controversy over the Bafta movie awards based on the awarding given to actors. Only white actors were nomiated back to back, which was considered by black actors as racist because the awards have appeared to have singled out only the people of colour. The leader of the awards was said to have made a statement which applied to everyone, so it seemed.

"The British film industry’s glittering gala – the Bafta movie awards – will strive to reflect the makeup of the country it represents."

"This is the pledge of the woman who has run the organisation for 17 years. Amanda Berry, who is still smarting from accusations that Bafta has snubbed black actor David Oyelowo’s new film, Selma, told the Observer this weekend that the ceremony next Sunday will make every attempt to pay tribute to a diverse range of talent. “It is essential that the industry is open to all,” she said. “The industry we work in has to reflect the society we live in. That is really important.”

 Thorpe, V. (2015) ‘We’re not elitist – or racist’ says Bafta boss after Selma snub claim. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/31/bafta-not-elitist-racist-selma-snub-amanda-berry (Accessed: 3 February 2016). 

Even though Amanda Berry has made the statment of the film industry strving to reflect the make up of the country it represents, the baftas act of awarding only white actors has contridicted this previous satment because it is going against its beleifs of awarding and the depiction of todays society because The british or American society is not all white, niether is the film industry. By doing what they have done has made the film industry look all white.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/31/bafta-not-elitist-racist-selma-snub-amanda-berry

The same could be said for animations in disney or pixar, you will never find many black animation with positive main characters over a period of time or even a fully black cast. When black characters have been involved in any film or animated film the have been painted in a negative light e.g. criminals. many other stereotypes are given to other races other than white as a way of saying that white people are never troubled or considered criminal in any shape or form.

"The film also offers troubling representations of race that specifically construct Latinos as emotionally charged, criminal foreigners, African American as violent urban thugs, and European Americans as unmarked, normative, and singularly important figures."

Cheu, J. (ed.) (2013) Diversity in Disney films: Critical essays on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability. United States: McFarland Publishing (Accessed: 3 February 2016).