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1. linkage tunnel « Jasmine D on 24 Nov 2007 at 4:32 pm

   […] The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters [Cracked, via Stereohyped and Racialicious] […]

2. Racially/Ethnically insensitive and offensive Disney characters (and other spokescharacters) « I am curious (blue) on 10 Jan 2008 at 10:23 pm

   […] This one is a little old, but I wanted to capture it.  It’s a little tongue in cheek, but Racialicious linked to a list on Cracked.com of the 9 most racist disney characters.  It led me to wonder if […]

3. Hyacinth Hippo - History, Walt Disney, and Race at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 11 Mar 2008 at 7:01 am

   […] Deal is a body acceptance blog, so they are viewing this from a different perspective. Obviously, some of us have other reasons we remember Disney’s animation studios. We’ve discussed how Disney (among other animation companies) provides a very interesting […]

Comments

1. Jasmine wrote:

   On a similar tip: The Censored Eleven http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censored_Eleven).

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 1:32 pm ¶

2. Kim H. wrote:

   Good list! I’m surprised “Pocahontas” didn’t make it in there somewhere. Remember the English singing “They’re savages/ barely even human/Destroy their evil race until there’s not a trace left.” They do opt not to kill off the tribe at the end, but they still count as probably #10.

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 1:35 pm ¶

3. Vgirl wrote:

   How did Pocahontas get left off the list? She paint’s with all the colors of the wind while singing and talking to a mystical willow tree. She looks like a contestant for America’s Next Top Model in her buckskin miniskirt. And she falls in love with the blond haired blue eyed white man who comes to colonize her people and steal their land. To top off the whole thing, the movie was promoted as racially sensitive. While the Native Americans slurred in Peter Pan are clearly unacceptable in contemporary eyes (one would hope)…people actually think that Pocahontas is an accurate anti-racist representation.

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 1:37 pm ¶

4. Tim wrote:

   What about the horrible Siamese cats from The Aristocats?

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 1:38 pm ¶

5. Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

   > Remember the English singing “They’re savages/ barely even human/Destroy their evil race until there’s not a trace left.”

   Are you serious? That was a real lyric??

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 2:15 pm ¶

6. Lyonside wrote:

   Carmen: Yup - although to be fair it’s being sung by the English as led by the (short, fat, dark) bad guy, before the Big Battle.

   I’m more offended by the way Pocohontas is presented (or as I called her back in the day, Granola-Barbie).

   I’m reminded of a quote from a historian’s LJ: “If a movie claims to be historically accurate, and Mel Gibson is in it, it’s probably wrong.” (Gibson did the voice of Smith, natch!)

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 2:26 pm ¶

7. ciji wrote:

   This is a TOP TEN list, not a comprehensive list. The racism emanating from the “House of Mouse” is as long as your arm. To name a few:

   -the roustabouts from “Dumbo” who happen to have hands that are dark on top and light on the palms (check out the lyrics:
   We work all day, we work all night/We never learned to read or write/we don’t know when we get our pay/ And when we do, we throw our pay away)

   - the maid from “Pluto’s Birthday”, who also has two-tones hands, and she sports a red Aunt Jemima ‘kerchief and sounds like an extra Gone with the Wind.

   -”Lady and the Tramp”; the Siamese cats, the Jack the “Scottish” terrier, the “Italian” pizzeria owners….

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 2:32 pm ¶

8. Bohemian Writer wrote:

   The Siamese cats were from Lady & the Tramp, there was one Siamese cat in the Aristocats though.

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 2:35 pm ¶

9. Kate wrote:

   Re: the Siamese cat in the Aristocats: who can forget the immortal lyrics– sung by the cat with a cymbal on its head so it looked like a coolie hat– “Shanghai, Hong Kong, Egg foo young, fortune cookie always wrong!”

   For real.

   Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 3:23 pm ¶

10. Angel H. wrote:

    Tiger Lily from “Peter Pan”!

    And that stupid dragon from “Mulan”!

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 3:30 pm ¶

11. hypoglycemiagirl wrote:

    My memory is fading, so help me out here, but isn’t there an awful stereotype (the housekeeper) in the Tom & Jerry cartoons?

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 3:44 pm ¶

12. hypoglycemiagirl wrote:

    …but I guess T & J aren’t Disney…sorry I’m European, I have no clue…

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 3:46 pm ¶

13. Orville wrote:

    When I was a kid I remember I found the Crows from the Dumbo movie sounded strange. The Crows are definitely a racist stereotype. I remember when I was kid a thought the black woman actually owned the house. It wasn’t until I was an adult and took a woman’s studies course did I realize she was the servant! The black lady in the Tom and Jerry cartoons is the stereotypical mammy.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 3:53 pm ¶

14. Kara wrote:

    In Pocahontas, the English AND the Native Americans were singing the “Savages” song, the scenes were juxtaposed to highlight the idea that each group saw the “Other” as savage. But yeah, that movie was racist as hell anyway.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 4:35 pm ¶

15. Katie wrote:

    OMG~ was just thinking about the Siamese cats from LatT yesterday!

    I completely missed the racism on that one until years later.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 4:42 pm ¶

16. Mr Mully wrote:

    Wasn’t Walt Disney a closet Nazi? I know I read somewhere that he was extremely racist…

    The candle from “Beaty and the Beast” is a stereotypical French caraciture…

    José Carioca, the cigar-smoking parrot from Saludos Amigos and a Pistol-packing rooster Panchito Pistoles, representing Mexico from “The Three Caballeros”

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 5:05 pm ¶

17. Allen wrote:

    The comments on that link are depressing. People will rationalize anything.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 5:57 pm ¶

18. Freud Pickle wrote:

    Goofy.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 6:18 pm ¶

19. Rob wrote:

    I do remember seeing some version of the evil and wily Siamese cats in Disney’s Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers when I was in preschool.

    Even then, I knew something wasn’t right about them.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 7:17 pm ¶

20. Mireille wrote:

    What makes the red man red indeed.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 7:20 pm ¶

21. rabi wrote:

    wow, I have to say that I never thought of king louie as “jive-talking.” isn’t he just an overt caricature of louis prima (who voiced him, and truly was known as the ‘king of the swingers’)? plus, that clip makes it very clear that there were plenty of “good” characters in the jungle book who spoke american english. I’m not saying a racist read is necessarily wrong, I just don’t think the description in that list makes a lot of sense. (it also blames king louie on kipling, but king louie was invented for the disney movie.)

    dumbo really is racist through and through though, which was a sad realization for me because I loved it as a little kid. ugh, disney.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 7:32 pm ¶

22. dnA wrote:

    Don’t forget that King Louis plays jazz and lives in the ruins….AKA the ghetto

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 7:47 pm ¶

23. Gouw wrote:

    As usual, the comment section is fucking depressing.

    “Mickey Mouse is Disneys biggest character & hes a nigga! So stop moaning u fucking coons.
    Posted on 11/19/2007 9:55:02 AM

    dave

    walt disney loves black cock!
    Posted on 11/19/2007 9:52:16 AM

    hill billy

    i love black people, i think everyone should have 1.
    Posted on 11/19/2007 9:50:57 AM

    LOL

    so what. its nothing. get over it. indians and blacks are the most racist people 2day!
    Posted on 11/19/2007 9:49:32 AM”

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 8:29 pm ¶

24. Gouw wrote:

    I actually feel bad because that I love that song (I Wanna Be Like You) and it’s one reason I got into jazz vocalists.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 8:30 pm ¶

25. Brandon wrote:

    What about the Muses from Hercules? For some reason, that particular depiction never quite sat well with me, but I can never put my finger on why that is.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 8:33 pm ¶

26. Black Strawberry wrote:

    I soooooo glad my parents didn’t impose disney on me.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 8:41 pm ¶

27. S wrote:

    Many white people have MASTERED Sneaky Racism. I mean, mastered it to a “T”. I’m telling you, in my town, every time there is a monkey or ape on a newspaper page, there is also a picture of a black man on that same page. EVERY TIME; it never fails. That way, if some racist guy giggles and says “Hey, Bob, look at that monkey on the front page” it is justified because there actaully is a moneky on the page. They do that kind of sneaky racim all the time. Noose=Halloween decor, Klan sheets= a ghost, a swastika is actually 4 L’s, etc.
    They get away with too often.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 9:05 pm ¶

28. patti wrote:

    Not to even get into Disney’s Pocahontas, but a lyric read of Savages also has the Native Americans singing “They’re savages! Savages! Barely even human” regarding the English settlers. I think the point of the song was the “They’re different from us. Which means they can’t be trusted” part.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 9:20 pm ¶

29. elena wrote:

    the tragic part is that so many children absorb these essentialist and stereotyped notions about race and nationality.

    is there a ‘top 10′ list for inclusive and tolerant fairy tales/children’s movies?

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 11:15 pm ¶

30. Brian wrote:

    Did we mention they desperately want to become “real people?”

    They did in Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’ stories as well. Granted Kipling’s Bander-Log were stand-ins for foolish people in general not any particular race.

    Not that anyone actually reads Kipling these days.

    I remember when I was kid a thought the black woman actually owned the house. It wasn’t until I was an adult and took a woman’s studies course did I realize she was the servant! The black lady in the Tom and Jerry cartoons is the stereotypical mammy.

    iirc (hey it’s been years) there were two different black woman characters in Tom and Jerry, from two different eras. One was clearly a maid. The other was (again iirc) a housewife with her own house - Thomas was her cat.

    Posted 19 Nov 2007 at 11:28 pm ¶

31. Brian wrote:

    More thoughts -

    - Louis Prima - the character of King Louis is as much a caricature of him as anyone - is Italian American by way of New Orleans.

    - If we didn’t have caricature in cartoons they’d … well they wouldn’t be cartoons.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 12:45 am ¶

32. luckyfatima wrote:

    Yep Arab and Muslim American groups complained years and years ago about the lyrics from Aladin…they went unchanged. That whole movie (though I liked it as a kid and still find it enjoyable somehow) is just one big Orientalist fantasy full of racist characatures. I recall reading an analysis once that dismissed the Disney’s argument that Aladin was an Arabian (Arab) hero because he was a good guy, because all of the bad guys are Arabs with accents, but Aladin talks with a voice that would surely be ethnically identifiable as white and sounds like a white American high school student or something…

    Anywayz, here are the lyrics from the theme song at the beginning of the movie:

    Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
    Where the caravan camels roam
    Where it’s flat and immense
    And the heat is intense
    It’s *BARBARIC*, but hey, it’s home

    [Original first verse (1992-93):]
    Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
    Where the caravan camels roam
    *Where they cut off your ear
    If they don’t like your face*
    It’s *BARBARIC,* but hey, it’s home

    When the wind’s from the east
    And the sun’s from the west
    And the sand in the glass is right
    Come on down
    Stop on by
    Hop a carpet and fly
    To another Arabian night

    Arabian nights
    Like Arabian days
    More often than not
    Are hotter than hot
    In a lot of good ways

    Arabian nights
    ‘Neath Arabian moons
    A fool off his guard
    Could fall and fall hard
    Out there on the dunes

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 4:26 am ¶

33. egypt4 wrote:

    What’s really crazy is that a lot of people seem to think I’m crazy because I don’t want my kids to watch Disney.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 7:32 am ¶

34. TheLostGirl wrote:

    I think the Siamese cats from Lady and the tramp and Pocahontas should both get honourable mentions

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 8:39 am ¶

35. Daomadan wrote:

    “Wasn’t Walt Disney a closet Nazi? I know I read somewhere that he was extremely racist… ”

    No, he wasn’t a Nazi or a closet Nazi. It’s an Urban Legend. They discuss it on this page–> http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdisneyfascist.html That isn’t to say that he didn’t hold some of the same racist ideas that others did in his era.

    I don’t deny the racism and sexism inherent in Disney cartoons at all, but I often use them as learning tool with children to explain how what they are seeing (Like the characters on the list above) are in no way real and are characters, stereotypes, and racist portrayals of real groups.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 9:23 am ¶

36. Fiqah wrote:

    I’m so glad Sunflower, Disney’s shameful rendition of a pickaninny, made the list. They’ve been trying to sweep her under the rug for years now.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 9:29 am ¶

37. Mr Mully wrote:

    Daomodan:

    I read that same article before and came out with a much different conclusion. it never says he is NOT a racist. It says the evidence which people use for that argument is circumstantial at best. Circumstantial doesn’t necessarily mean wrong.

    “Their best evidence is a misreading of the short film “Der Fuehrer’s Face” (1943), in which Donald is seen in a Nazi uniform, swastikas and all. In the end we find out it’s all a nightmare, but that doesn’t dissuade the racists. A lesser-known short sometimes cited is 1932’s “The Wayward Canary,” in which Mickey is seen using a cigarette lighter with a swastika painted on the side.”

    Not exactly subtle. You can rationalize it all you want but something wasn’t exactly kosher about Walt Disney.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 3:13 pm ¶

38. Morgan wrote:

    I too thought the black lady in T&J owned the house as a kid.

    I went to a fairly mixed, fairly middle-class elementary school in Virginia, and I remember being about 10 and reading an article about the racism in “Song of the South” and “Dumbo” and being baffled because I could not get how those characters signified just “black”—I assumed they signified “redneck” or just “lower-income Southern person” (but then, I thought the ho in “Boondocks” was a redneck too). I was blown away to find out that people deliberately put race-hate in a children’s movie.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 3:54 pm ¶

39. Hot Tramp wrote:

    Did we mention they desperately want to become “real people?”

    They did in Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’ stories as well. Granted Kipling’s Bander-Log were stand-ins for foolish people in general not any particular race.

    Not that anyone actually reads Kipling these day

    Some of us do, and in the field of postcolonial studies, he’s pretty widely considered a giant, flaming racist.

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 4:16 pm ¶

40. Winn wrote:

    It’s hard being of color and being a fan of classic animation. I can’t even go on animation blogs because whenever the subject of race comes up, the comments degenerate into examples like those listed above. I know I’m going to sound like an apologist, but I think it is problematic to isolate characters out of the context of both the story and the time in which the media was made and draw too many deep conclusions. I’m not excusing the sometimes casual, sometimes flagrant racism and offensiveness of these depictions, but I agree that they can be used as a point of discussion and education, rather than just relegated to the “that’s racist” junkpile.

    Interestingly, I can view most of these Disney films with perspective and still enjoy them to an extent (ok, not Uncle Remus. If you ever want to know how clueless Americans are about race, read the responses of Disney fans to continued efforts to keep Song of the South from being released on DVD, an effort that after years of success, is now pretty much doomed due to the effort of zealous Disney fans with fond memories of that folksy, fuzz-haired storyteller. Wow, there are some scarily ignorant and hateful people out there!). But an old show I used to love that I cannot stand anymore? Jonny Quest. Everyone now talks about the barely suppressed homoerotic subtext of the show, but it wasn’t until I became an adult with some insight and enlightenment that I realized the show was basically an endless parade of ugly ethnic stereotypes. Jonny Quest has them all: superstitious, ignorant “pygmy savages” who mistake a plane for their sky god and and a man whose skin is dyed with berries as their water god, victimized and oppressed South American indigenous people in need of rescue from the kindly and benevolent Dr. Quest, gullible Egyptians and Tibetans susceptible to belief in legends in the face of Dr. Quest’s far superior science, evil voodoo practitioners menacing a heroic white planter in the West Indies, a Native American who actually says things like, “White Feather go now. See again.”, and not one, not two, but three megalomaniacal Asian villains, one the inexhaustible “yellow menace” himself, Dr. Zin. That’s not even counting one episode’s Chinese cook, “Charlie” (groan), who hides on an abandoned ship from what he constantly refers to as a “dragon” but which is clearly a low rent Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s incredible to note that this show only lasted one season, but look at all the racist stereotyping they managed to pack into such a brief time! Sorry, but this weekly indoctrination had to inculcate far more elitist, racist paternalism than 10 showings of The Jungle Book!

    Posted 20 Nov 2007 at 4:28 pm ¶

41. Jaye wrote:

    I know this doesn’t have anything to with Disney, but just to respond to S and his comments about sneaky racism. I think the sneakiest current thing going on is to somehow make black men/rappers responsible for racism, and to get them on TV and have THEM be defensive about their ‘racist’ language. When did that happen? When did racism shift from the shoulders of white people to the VICTIMS of racism? That’s so sneaky it’s brilliant. How do they do that??

    Posted 21 Nov 2007 at 8:07 pm ¶

42. Confused wrote:

    “All animals in the jungle speak in proper British accents. Except, of course, for the jive-talking, gibberish-spouting monkeys. ”

    Huh? Is s/he watching the same Disney version of Jungle Book that I am? I am quite sure that this is untrue. I am quite sure of this because I have a preschooler, which means that I have watched this movie 798 TIMES. I wake up in the middle of the night with “Bare Necessities” or “I Wanna Be Like You” playing in my head. Think Baloo. Think Caa. Do they sound even remotely like they’re from across the pond?

    And, if I may say so, I think the siamese cat in the Aristocats trumps King Louie for the purposes of this list by far. Way far.

    Posted 22 Nov 2007 at 9:24 am ¶

43. Brian wrote:

    When did racism shift from the shoulders of white people to the VICTIMS of racism? That’s so sneaky it’s brilliant. How do they do that??

    When did racism become a ‘whites only’ thing?

    Posted 24 Nov 2007 at 12:04 am ¶

44. Sabrina wrote:

    I am posting the link to the really offensive youtube video I saw entitled are black women the enemy so you can see what we should REALLY be complaining about!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4869S0pL28

    Posted 24 Nov 2007 at 6:28 am ¶

45. Marilla wrote:

    I hate to even say this, but…

    Mulan? Mushu? Her three cohorts? UMM NEED I SAY MORE.

    Posted 28 Nov 2007 at 12:13 am ¶

46. Tony Jerome Stewart wrote:

    Yea these are all racist and Walt Disney himself hated African Americans, Jews, and he has a nazi tattoo on his body. I’m black myself and he use to be one of my favorite 3 people in the world(him Martin Luther King, and Booker T. Washington). But be careful what you watch and what you listen to.

    Posted 20 Jan 2008 at 12:47 pm ¶

47. Tony Jerome Stewart wrote:

    and who ever put that link about black women up there is wrong!! Sabrina show a little class

    Posted 20 Jan 2008 at 12:49 pm ¶

48. Laretta Jackson wrote:

    I have a question. Though it is not a Disney movie, I had the misfortune to watch Thumbelina recently while babysitting. If you have not seen it they racialize frogs as Latinos, who are portrayed as hypersexualized (the female, granted it is voiced by Charo), crooks, filty, etc. (for the males). I was watching in horror as these stereotypes were playing out on the screen and the kids (ages 3, 7, 7, 12) were singing along and came to a consensus at the movie’s end that it was terrific. I did not know what to do, the movie was picked by their parents. Do you explain these things to children, particularly if they are not your own children. I could have turned it off were they my own, but the movie was chosen by their parents. It is especially worrisome because this is an affluent almost entirely white neighborhood, they will not likely have much exposure to diversity until college. How do you explain racial stereotyping to kids?

    Posted 11 Mar 2008 at 6:56 pm ¶

49. James wrote:

    I just wanted to reply to Kim H, there is racism on both sides in Pocahontas, for example in the song “Savages” which you quoted, the Native Americans also sing…
    “This is what we feared the paleface is a demon,the only thing they feel at all is greed, beneath their milky hide theres emptyness inside, I wonder if they even bleed, they’re savages, savages, barely even human, they’re savages, savages, killers at the core, they’re different from us which means they can’t be trusted”
    I find this important to show how both sides overcome this racism in the end and see that we are all the same no matter where we are from or what colour our skin is.

    40. Winn - “I think it is problematic to isolate characters out of the context of both the story and the time in which the media was made and draw too many deep conclusions. I’m not excusing the sometimes casual, sometimes flagrant racism and offensiveness of these depictions, but I agree that they can be used as a point of discussion and education”
    I agree

    Posted 05 Apr 2008 at 4:09 pm ¶

50. Alice wrote:

    Disney has much to answer for, and my children will never see a single one of their ‘classics’, nor will they read enid blyton.

    My biggest problem with pocahontas was it wasn’t even close to the real story!!

    she was taken back to england in the end as an ‘example from the colonies’, forced in to a marriage, went mad with depression and died.

    Posted 10 Apr 2008 at 1:46 pm ¶

51. Anonymous wrote:

    too, bad all disney cartoons are great anyways. they are all way sweet. the songs and animations are absolutely fabulous.

    Posted 09 May 2008 at 2:58 pm ¶

52. Reese wrote:

    soo.. i was oblivious to all this racism until
    just now… I would love to think there’s none
    in my favorite - Mary Poppins. Someone please
    correct me if im wrong. once again, i would like to think im not.

    Posted 06 Jul 2008 at 2:39 pm ¶

53. Lyonside wrote:

    Tony Jerome Stewart: No he didn’t, see Comment #35. Not that there aren’t other prob lematic things, re: Disney (company or founder), but let’s avoid the “Nazi” label (it’s like calling someone “worse than Hitler” - overused, poorly used, and generally mis used.)

    And hey, look, what big round ears are on Anonymouse!

    Posted 06 Jul 2008 at 8:15 pm ¶

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