Hyacinth Hippo - History, Walt Disney, and Race
by Guest Contributor Mo Pie, originally published at Big Fat Deal
Those of you out there who have seen Fantasia and who fondly remember the hippo ballet sequence might appreciate this rare glimpse into the history of Disney animation: photos of actress Hattie Noel, who was the live action reference for Hyacinth Hippo in the film. I don’t know much of the history, but I’m gathering that Hattie Noel’s contributions haven’t always been publicly acknowledged. The photos can be seen here and here, where many of the ancillary issues surrounding Disney politics and race are being discussed in the comments.
BFDude Matt, who sent along the links, says:
I know comparing a fat woman to a hippo can be misconstrued but I think it’s a positive piece. It’s great to see more old Disney reference made public (Disney has always been secretive about their process, to not ruin the “magic” of animation) and for Hattie to finally get credit… Always so wonderful to see a fat woman take center stage!
Cartoon Brew also linked to a video of Hattie jitterbugging (her entrance is at 3:47). So what is your response to all of this? Is it a part of Disney history that we should be proud of, or is it uncomfortably tinged with racism? Or both?
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[Latoya’s Note - Big Fat 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 snapshot into America’s racial psyche in a few other posts. What do you all think of this new twist?]
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Ottermatic wrote:
I’m a proponent of fat acceptance and my blog is more of a fat acceptance blog than anything else, but these pictures are more than just “uncomfortably tinged with racism.” They are a product of a racist, patriarchal society that exploits noncomforming bodies – here a black, female, fat body. In these pictures, Noel isn’t smiling. In fact she looks decidedly uncomfortable. Consistent with the mechanism of oppression used through the long history of exploitation of black bodies, women’s bodies, and fat bodies (I acknowledge there are many issues of intersectionality here that I am completely failing to address), she is half naked in an ill-fitting, infantilizing child’s ballet costume and put on display for a bunch of white men so that they can literally objectify and animalize her body. These particular white men are Disney animators, who weren’t then (and still aren’t) exactly known for their respect for non-white, non-male, non-conforming humans. How can I look at an animated hippo en pointe and think she represents something beautiful for body acceptance when I know how the real actual human body on which she was based was treated? Even if Noel was treated kindly when posing for that particular photo shoot, I think pretending that Disney treated Noel, or any non-white, non-male, nonconforming individual, as fully human would be both apologist and willfully blind. The linked video demonstrates just how much respect Disney (shit, the white world in general) had for women like Noel – they put her in a “black” musical number, parade her around in front of a slender, rich, white audience, and play her size and her blackness for laughs. Look! A fat black lady in a fancy dress! That is just crazy! Which is exactly what Disney does with the hippo in Fantasia – it’s not a celebration of grace and size. It’s a hilarious juxtaposition – look! A hippo en point! Also crazy! It boggles my mind that anybody can look at the milieu in which Hyacinth Hippo was created and see anything of which we should be proud. Frankly, if the philosophy of fat acceptance means exploiting black women’s bodies, I don’t want anything to do with it.
Posted 11 Mar 2008 at 9:19 am ¶
Gregory A. Butler wrote:
Ottermatic,
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Basically, Disney hit the prejudice trifecta here - racism, sexism AND fatophobia, all in one character!
Posted 11 Mar 2008 at 10:36 am ¶
BT wrote:
How degrading. The only time a Black woman can be seen in a Disney film is probably as a slave, a hippo, or a jive talking crow. I have boycotted all Disney merchandise for many years, ever since I was a child because of things like this. All you have to do is ask a Black child to name Black characters in Disney films and maybe they will figure out something is wrong. Disney is the devil making parents waste money on their crap!
Posted 11 Mar 2008 at 2:05 pm ¶
Cynthia wrote:
I’m not sure if kids, at least really young kids would know that the characters are stereotypes of certain ethnicities. I didn’t realize that the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp were meant to make fun of Asians until I was much, much older. When I was a kid, I thought they were just silly cats.
Posted 11 Mar 2008 at 10:44 pm ¶
Michelle wrote:
The issue is that when you are a child, the social/racial conditioning of seeing non-white humans as less than human begins. It can warp how you look at the world when you become an adult. It can also warp how you look at yourself when you become an adult.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 12:15 am ¶
E wrote:
Cynthia, I can see where you’re coming from. When I was a kid I loved Aladdin, but didn’t notice how racist it was. I think that’s mostly because the “Arab” villains didn’t seem at all relevant to my own reality or my Arab family. As a result, although they perhaps shared some common physical features (hello brown skin and hooked noses!) they were otherwise completely unlike myself and my family, so I just thought they were silly. (Also, maybe watching the movie was some misguided attempt to connect with my roots?) I probably couldn’t stomach watching Aladdin now, though.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 3:26 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
E:
But all the human characters in Aladdin were Arab, whether they’re the bad guys or the good guys. It’s different from other movies where the good guys were one ethnicity and the bad guys another.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 7:17 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Cynthia -
The first three paragraphs here should help you to understand why Aladdin was problematic:
http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/white951.htm
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 8:54 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
Latoya,
For most of the essay, they were saying that the countries didn’t really have problems with the movie.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 9:12 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Yes, but they explained the race and ethnicity issues in paragraphs 1 - 3, namely the visual images and sounds of Jasmine and Aladdin versus the treatment of the other Arabs in the film.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 9:14 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
Right, but they also talk about accents period. That in American film, villains have traditionally had accents, period. To me, it kind of evens things out.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 9:23 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:
Ottermatic: VERY well-said. No need for me to add anything else - and good thing, too, I’m too busy following this whole Spitzer thing.
Posted 12 Mar 2008 at 1:49 pm ¶
DiosaNegra1967 wrote:
a tip o’ the nib to ottermatic…..as a fat/black/queer woman…i couldn’t have said it better myself….
hmmm….actually when you mentioned about her being paraded/put on display for a white audience….i couldn’t help but think of a few passages from the bessie smith biography i read awhile back….
the only disney movie i ever liked was “lilo & stitch”…however, even that one had a few moments that made my left eyebrow arch sky-high!
Posted 14 Mar 2008 at 10:02 am ¶
Richard wrote:
Well Disney does it again. Their new movie Prince of Persia has cast a white British actress, Gemma Arterton, to play the East Indian role of Princess Farrah. Why can’t they cast an east Indian actress. There lots of them in the US and in Britain with more credits on their resumes than this actress.
Posted 24 Mar 2008 at 6:39 pm ¶
sj wrote:
I have for many years realized the racism in Disney. It was apparent when they came out with the classic princess characters and none of them were African-American. My question posed to them at that time was, Are you sending the message to all of the Afican-American/Black irls that you can only be a princess if you look like these characters. Then again, WE ARE QUEENS!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 29 Mar 2008 at 7:10 am ¶
Ashley wrote:
I agree with ottermatic. However, I don’t find Disney movies to be making fun of other races. Just because some of the characters are given accents or physical attributes of their race does not mean they are making fun of them. I understand most of the movies portray white characters, but in the non-white movies, I don’t note any racism. For example, how was Poccahontis being made fun of? And even Jasmine? Someone please enlighten me because I am interested in this.
Posted 29 Mar 2008 at 9:38 am ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
Well, the”Arabian Nights” song at the beginning of Aladdin played pretty heavily on stereotypes of Middle Eastern culture as savage and backwards. There’s the Natives in Peter Pan, the jive talking crows in Dumbo, the jazz gorilla in the Jungle Book, and some others I’ve probably forgotten.
Posted 29 Mar 2008 at 12:53 pm ¶
vanessa wrote:
I think what people are failing to see here is the actual story of aladdin, the time it was set in. First. The story of aladdin and the lamp has been around long before disney came along and animated it. If this story was just made up in todays times and made to look like a modern view of arbian world, then we could say it was racist. WE also have to remember that this story was for children. And it teaches children some very valuable lessons. AS a young girl when i watched jasmine standing up to her father and freeing the birds and turning away the pompous suitors even though they were rich was impowering. It showed that it is ok to go against the grain. Because to be happy is to follow your heart. There were many moral lessons in this story, about honesty and greed. About abusing power, And how good and bad isnt always black and white. for instance when aladdin shares the bread he stole with the children yea it was wrong to steal but he balanced it with kindness and thoughtfulness
Posted 29 Mar 2008 at 2:45 pm ¶
Tammy wrote:
I have just recently started hearing about the racism surrounding Disney. Probably being white has something to do with this, or just plain ignorance on my own behalf. Anyways, I just wanted to point out something very recent that bothered me. Has anyone else seen the commercials out now for the new Disney princess dolls? There are a set of three of them. And they are all white. Now, this probably wouldn’t have bothered me so much, except for the fact that they didn’t even think to include Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. She was actually called a princess! Are they really that stupid to not have noticed this, or just really don’t care?
Posted 01 Apr 2008 at 6:13 pm ¶
Lonnie wrote:
the only racist part is that they presented her w/ “jive talkin” or whatever. But if that’s how she naturally talked and they gave her the gig then at least they made that type of lingo more marketable/commercial. yeah there is a large black pple disney deficit, but you have to admit…she looks just like that hippo
Posted 07 Apr 2008 at 11:11 pm ¶
AJ wrote:
Ive taken my kids to Disney twice now and as far as my kids are conscerened Mickey is Black and hes got the coolest crib in the whole world!
Posted 30 May 2008 at 8:02 am ¶