the mouse & progression

The thing that struck me when we watched Mickey Mouse Monopoly was the 'Beauty and the Best' revelation of Belle staying with the beast despite abuse and excusing it away in order to change him. I have never thought of it like that, and I have heard of many other racist and sexist allegations against Disney, but this one escaped my attention. I was telling someone about it that night and in response to my statement of never thinking about it like that he said something to the effect of how many people don't think of it like that when they watch it. And as true as that is we have to consider the fact that subconsciously we see that. It affected the answers of the young girls asked if they were Belle's friend what would they do. So even if we don't think of it like that we are still consuming that portrayal of a relationship and with a happy ending even. The fact that we are unaware of this consumption may be worse because I can look at that relationship model and think, that's not just behavior that she should be nice to change and it will work, I can look and see it's abusive and shifting the blame and responsibility on the woman. If she doesn't stay and make excuses and change him she is giving up, or so it argues. However, young girls aren't aware of this kind of thinking to dispel the image, they are simply watching a fairytale and modeling after it. Very dangerous. The most disturbing, and rather chilling part of that film was the excerpt from the internal memo that said the only responsibility and purpose Disney has is to make money. Oh my. With power comes responsibility. Whether they want to or don't want to, they are making a statement with every move they make. But I know they know that at Disney, and it's sad to think with all the potential and impact for change and progression this company has, they choose to feign ignorance.

After yesterday's discussion the lingering thoughts, as with most people I am sure, is the question of handout or opportunity. I really like the explanation Gillian gave about fair versus just. Because everyone knows the world is not fair, I'm sure we have all heard that multiple times! I like switching it to just because so many more positive outcomes can come from thinking about justice rather than the elusive ideal of fairness for all at one time. I can see where Justin is coming from, and would love to see a world where the shift from inequality comes naturally. However, I also believe that if we didn't institute those steps to change people may never be ready, as sad as that is. What comes to my mind is integration. If students and civil rights leaders had waited until white schools were 'ready' to accept all students regardless of race then who knows what are school systems would look like even today. It was forced at the time because of the mass resistance. But if it had not started there then change would not have come. So if we have to start with 'forcing', I say we do. Because even if it looks like 'handouts' that 'reverse discriminate' to some, I would rather have people thinking that than no steps to change and equality. People are always going to have bias, disagree with change, misunderstand and be misinformed. Not everybody will be happy and resistance will be met in the form of degradation, demeaning comments and trying to spin a positive action or situation into a negative. However, we can't let that limit where we can go because of our human imperfection.