Speaking of Fantasia 2000 and Rhapsody In Blue, in August, I did an animation challenge where I watched all 61 Disney classics on Blu-ray in chronological order (I have a complete collection), and noticed something I’ve never seen mentioned anywhere else. That particular segment was the first instance in which I noticed a human African American in any of the films. Not even in the background had I seen anyone. The one exception might be the Greek chorus muses in Hercules, which is only 3 years earlier, in 1997 (which would be the first human representation even if not technically human. I am not counting the edited out servant centaur in the first Fantasia - not human). Fantasia 2000 was 1999 and the 38th film in the canon dating back to 1937 and Snow White. Of course, they’ve had animal characters that coded as black, from the crows in Dumbo to Pearl Bailey in Fox and the Hound. The first African American human with an actual speaking role (other than the aforementioned Greek chorus singing) was in Atlantis: The Lost Empire in 2001. After that, it’s like a cultural shift behind the scenes because then we get Ving Rhames in Lilo & Stitch and so on. Earlier depictions of people of color varied from the condescending portrayals of South American cultures in the WWII era travelog films (“We sent our artists to SA to get a taste of the local cultures and how quaint they are”) and the American Indians of Peter Pan to less offensive portrayals in Pocahontas (which has its own issues) to the Indians of Jungle Book.
I’m not getting into a judgmental stance here as much as just mentioning my surprise and, honestly, embarrassment that I hadn’t noticed it until I actually reached that film as my ethnic heritage had been represented since the beginning. I will say, unless you are Anglo American or English, even the rest of caucasians were kind of met with stereotypes. Bill (Droopy Dog/Wallace Wimple) Thompson alone does 5 or so in Lady and the Tramp (I do love Jock, the Scottish Terrier).
I assume you mean specifically animated people? Song of the South obviously included live-action African-American characters in the framing story (though of course there are issues there, too).
Also, do you mean specifically “African-American”, or “African”? Many Disney animated films are set in unspecified countries in unspecified parts of the world, that probably aren’t America.
A utterly disgusting human as noted by George Orwell In 1942, George Orwell wrote about the author: “During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him… he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting.”
The real burden for White men is to be associated with him.
Song of the South is not in the Canon. They made animated/live action films not in the Canon, such as Pete’s Dragon, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins. and so on. I am referring to the Disney Animated Classics. It starts with Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia through Lion King and the most recent is Strange World. There are 62 movies, depending on which list you go by. UK does not acknowledge Dinosaur but includes The Wild which USA excludes. I say “African-American” as term to avoid any controversy but convey my meaning. I can’t use “people of color” because Disney does have North and South American indigenous peoples, Indian subcontinent peoples, Asian people, and even Roma (portrayed by a white actress, but still). I am talking about animated black human characters. They do not exist in any of the first 34 films, even as background characters. Even Tarzan. which takes place in Africa, specifically avoided black characters to sidestep the problematic nature of the story. The first time we see a human (not animal) representation is the Goddess Muses in Hercules (technically human but actually mythological beings serving as a Greek Chorus rather than actually being autonomous characters.If you want to count them, then that just extends my point two years earlier). The first time in the entire catalog we see a black human character is the silent construction worker who aspires to be a drummer. There’s not even a speaking part until Atlantis:The Lost Kingdom. Correct me if I’m wrong, as I was not specifically looking for this while watching them.
Oh, I’m not disputing your point, and even if there do turn out to be one or two exceptions, it’s still an extreme shortfall of representation. I just wanted to be clear exactly what the parameters were.
Not going to defend Kipling or the Jungle Book. He was brought up by colonialists and that’s how he saw things. The article addresses this, but it really was a different culture then. Not excusing it, but when you live in a culture that is that way it’s hard to really judge being the products of that culture. Even the most progressive persons back then still lived in segregated neighborhoods versus the ones who went out of their way and actively joined the KKK. It took a big cultural shift to change. It was in most of our lifetimes, but we are witnessing that same sort of culture shift with LGBTQ issues today. People change.
Even my Disney point is more about how it reflects American culture rather than them trying to be specifically racist. The producers and artists were old white guys brought up in pre-Civil Rights era America. They genuinely thought they were being progressive sending artists to South America to soak up a culture most Americans were unfamiliar with. The government requested Disney do so in the early 40s to shore up South American support for the imminent war effort. In retrospect, they remind me of 60s-70s mondo films in how they try to relate how quaint South American culture is compared to (White) North American culture (just not as shock oriented, just underlying condescension and patronization). The last of the Old Nine Men retired around The Fox and the Hound in 1981 and the new guard came in. After a fitful start, they revived the animation division and the culture changed. Even then, Princess and the Frog was the first and only black character centered film and it was the 50th film (out of 62) in 2009, and they are frogs half the movie.
I watched the movie Gremlins on a plane last week. I haven’t seen that movie since I was a kid. In the opening scene as the camera pans over “Chinatown” in an unspecified city, there’s an abandoned AMC Gremlin prominently in the foreground. It didn’t exactly take me multiple viewings, but I was probably halfway through the movie before the significance of that car dawned on me.
I have read The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings several times and just realized that the first chapters are An Unexpected Party and A Long-Expected Party
I’m in the middle of watching The Good Place again and I picked up on a little foreshadowing that I hadn’t noticed before.
Chidi and Eleanor are discussing how they met and how Chidi wishes they’d met like normal people and gives a few examples of how he thinks normal people might meet.
(hidden because it’s a big picture, not because it’s going to spoil anything)
Later, after watching the What We Owe To Each Other lecture following her (now)near death experience, Eleanor hops a plane to the other side of the world only to knock on his door and ask him for philosophy help.
Well, look at it this way- in how many of the films would you have expected to see a black person?
Let us take The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Hugo did not include any black characters, and how many would you expect in 15th century Paris? Certainly there would be a few, of course, but of the dozen or two named characters, having one be black would be unexpected. Many other early Disney films were set in a Western European medieval fantasy land, which again, Black people would be unusual.
Lion King has no humans, so no white people either. Same with several other films, where there might be one or two humans.
However, in Dumbo (1941), the Song of the Roustabouts is shown as sung and played by Black men, however of course that film is again, mostly animals.
Does that excuse it? It took them 60 years to make a film that would have even expected to see a human black person? Not even walking in the background? They managed to have animals that coded as black, so they had no issue with black characters. They managed to make other films with human of various ethnicities. Again, I’m no SJW with an agenda. I’m not even accusing Disney of conscious racism. Even their racist portrayals were just in line with the culture of the time, which just happened to be racist. I was watching them in chronological order and it jumped out once I saw it.
I wouldn’t say that. The Roustabouts are all abstractions with no human features other than arms and legs.
Nor are they sung and played by black men. The singers were The King’s Men. Here’s a different song by them.
