- Part 1, "Of Iconic Mice and a Global Corporation of Men"
- Part 2, "He's Rather Tasty
- Part 3, "Can Your Friends Do This?
- Part 4, "The Curves"
- Part 5, "Ultimate, Cosmic Power"
"I'm The Most Famous Person in all Greece! I'm an action figure!"
Capitalism in Disney films is treated as a reality with which every hero needs to contend. Aladdin, born into devastating poverty, is forced into a life of crime in a society that privileges those with wealth while denying any form of social security to those without it. He attributes the hopelessly cyclical nature of his criminal lifestyle to uneven distribution of wealth with the line, “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we’d get along” (Clements and Musker, 1992).
Capitalism in Disney films is treated as a reality with which every hero needs to contend. Aladdin, born into devastating poverty, is forced into a life of crime in a society that privileges those with wealth while denying any form of social security to those without it. He attributes the hopelessly cyclical nature of his criminal lifestyle to uneven distribution of wealth with the line, “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we’d get along” (Clements and Musker, 1992).
Adding to his woes, street urchin Aladdin is prevented from marrying the princess he loves because of his lack of wealth and consequent lack of social status. It is clear from their first meeting that Jasmine is fond of Aladdin, but this is irrelevant. Who Jasmine marries will be decided, not by whom Jasmine loves, but by whom her father deems most able to provide for her. In this way, the traditional role of male breadwinner is a source of extreme pressure for Aladdin (Nelson, 2010: 100). Aladdin manipulates this system by masquerading as a prince with enormous wealth, impressing the sultan sufficiently to gain his approval, but also setting him on a course of constant fear that his secret will be revealed and his ability to marry Jasmine will be lost.
Money and fame do not solve Hercules problems as easily as they did for Aladdin. Assigned the mission of becoming a hero at the beginning of the film, Hercules embarks on a path that results in his acquisition of enormous celebrity and wealth. Zeus’ continued denial of divine status to Hercules convinces him that money and fame are not the keys to his fulfillment, but his coach, fans, and colleagues insist that he is successful and should be happy. Unable to reconcile his internal dissatisfaction with his materially-centred society, Hercules is driven to frustration, helplessness, and alienation.
The most evident conflict with consumerism is present in Tarzan, as the Victorian capitalist Clayton sets out to kill each member of Tarzan’s gorilla band for the profit of “300 pounds sterling a head” (Arnold, 1999). To protect his adoptive family’s lives from this ruthless European capitalist ideology, Tarzan engages the hunter in a battle that results in Clayton’s death. Tarzan, an inhabitant of an environment void of Western contact until this point, was not a participant in capitalism like Aladdin and Hercules, but he was still affected to an alarming degree by the far-reaching, globally pervasive influence of those who did. Capitalism is portrayed in each film as an oppressive and alienating system, however the conclusions Disney suggests regarding the ideology is that men’s only choices are how they react to it and that the effects of capitalism are ultimately inescapable.
Sources
Tarzan. Dir. Chris Buck and Kevin Lima. Perf. Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, and Brian Blessed. 1999. Walt Disney. DVD.
Aladdin. Dir. Ron Clements and John Musker. Perf. Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, and Linda Larkin. 1992. Walt Disney. DVD.
Nelson, Adie. Gender in Canada. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
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