Sex, Race, America, and Disney

[pbnesbit at msn.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Ebony Elizabeth Thomas" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote:
> > >Yup, as American as apple pie, and genocide against native 
americans,
> >and lynching of African Americans, and ....this is not about p.c.
> >this is about recreating a real culture that we are comfortable
> >having our kids learn about!
> 
> Every country on this planet has at least one chapter of shame in 
its past.  
> America is not unique in this regard.  America does not have a 
cornerstone 
> on committing atrocities.  We also have many proud and shining 
moments in 
> our nation's history, contributed by all people.
> 
> Patriotism isn't just for beer-bellied militiamen drilling in the 
woods.  
> It's for women too.  It's for people of color (will be glad in a 
few years 
> when we can toss the term "minority") too.  Shame on mainstream 
American 
> society for letting these clowns usurp what is rightfully ours... 
what made 
> our country great.
> 
> And the lack of it will break America in our lifetimes.  I'm sure 
that we 
> will live to see this.  Our country is better in some ways than it 
was 30-40 
> years ago, but in many ways it is a lot worse off.
> 
> > And I would have missed out on a lot of great Disney movies.
> 
> It's not that I don't care about racial and gender issues.  Race is 
> something that all African Americans *must* think about, and think 
about 
> often.  We do not have a choice.  If you forget for a while about 
the color 
> of your skin, be assured that there will be someone who will remind 
you in a 
> hurry.  And I did go through a phase in high school during which I 
loathed 
> Disney... and in truth, loathed most mainstream American culture.  
It was 
> around that time that I began having my first personal experiences 
with 
> institutionalized and personal racism, and I was highly impatient 
with 
> anything or anyone that either treated me as if I was invisible, a 
cancer, 
> or a cockroach.  Or worse, a spot to be paraded about proudly--
"see?  Look 
> how liberal I am!  I've got a spot!"  It gave me headaches, which 
is why I 
> made the undergraduate college choice that I did.
> 
> So as much as I'd love to see Disney finally make an animated 
feature film 
> with an African-American protagonist, I'm not holding my breath 
until it 
> happens.
> 
> I fight so much in real life.  I've chosen to make fighting 
injustice, 
> inequity, and ignorance my life's work... at considerable financial 
expense, 
> might I add.
> 
> But when I watch a Disney movie or visit Disneyworld, I lay down my 
sword 
> and shield for a moment.  I laugh, I cry, I have my faith in 
mankind and my 
> belief in happily ever afters restored.
> 
> And I see nothing wrong with that.
> 
> >The history channel and pbs and a bunch of other places has stuff
> >that is far more interesting, textured, informative and fun than 
the
> >crap that Disney is producing...
> 
> The History Channel?  Most of the "history" on that is indeed His 
Story--the 
> story of the Western European male experience over the past 500 
years.  I 
> certainly don't see much "diversity" on that channel!  I used to 
like "In 
> Search of History" a few years back, but even that doesn't come on 
regularly 
> any more.
> 
> I also hate to see history inaccurately depicted.  The winners 
write history 
> over to their liking... and the so-called "ivory tower" of 
historical 
> scholarship is but another cog of the machine that has dominated 
the world 
> for the past half millennium.  Read "Lies My Teacher Told Me", 
which won a 
> National Book Award, and exposed the blatant errors contained in 
most 
> traditional high school history textbooks and documentaries.
> 
> I like PBS, Discovery, and other channels too... but my liking 
Disney 
> doesn't negate my enjoyment of them.
> 
> >And I will never give up my demands to have heros of both genders 
be
> >nonwhite...
> 
> I have heroes and heroines of all races.  Disney wasn't my only 
source for 
> them as a child, and I thank God for that.
> 
> I sighed over Sleeping Beauty as a child, but didn't adopt Disney's 
> aesthetic standard as my own.  Those standards came from my mother, 
who 
> modeled locally and nationally until I was born, and my young aunt, 
who won 
> pageants locally and on the state level.  I remember when I was a 
little kid 
> wanting to be *darker*-skinned, so I could look like my aunt!  I 
don't think 
> Disney damaged me much in that regard.
> 
> And I never expected that "someday my prince would come", like Snow 
White's. 
>   Hip-hop feminist Joan Morgan, Amiri Baraka's daughter Lisa Jones, 
and 
> other young black scholars explain why we understood not to apply 
Disneyian 
> principles into our own lives.  I think it's the same reason why 
recent 
> studies show that African-American teenage girls in general have a 
> "surprisingly healthy" body self-image... we know that most of pop 
culture 
> is not intended for us, and so can watch Disney and view print ad 
models 
> with some detachment.  To be sure, I grew up in a majority-black 
context, so 
> black children growing up in integrated neighborhoods (don't get me 
started 
> on integration--that's an entirely different post) may have had 
different 
> experiences.
> 
> Now, you have instances like Toni Morrison's protagonist in "The 
Bluest 
> Eye", and Lil' Kim's seeming desire to morph herself into a Barbie 
doll (not 
> to mention Michael Jackson's fading).  Rest assured that these are 
*not* the 
> norm.  Even hair relaxing, the bane of African American women's 
existence, 
> is waning... it really helps that now the *corporate* sector isn't 
requiring 
> us to relax our hair anymore... and the Black Arts Movement of the 
60s and 
> 70s didn't hurt either.  (My hair and I are strange bedfellows... 
it wasn't 
> until my New Year's resolution to stop relaxing my hair that I'm 
finally 
> happy with it.  But that's another story and another post.)  
Suffice it for 
> now to say that within a generation or two, I fully expect most 
black women 
> will stop frying their hair in shame and realize just how beautiful 
it is.
> 
> Long rant, I know.  Perhaps not very coherent... I'm just coming 
home from 
> school and was with kids all day with no break.  But this post hit 
a twin 
> nerve, and I *had* to respond.  Will respond again if needed.
> 
> Closing with a poem by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay.  One 
of my 
> favorites... sums up the way I feel about this country of mine and 
my place 
> in it perfectly... I have my seventh graders learn it.  It's called 
simply, 
> "America".
> 
> Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
> And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,
> Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
> I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
> Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
> Giving me strength erect against her hate.
> Her bigness sweeps my being like a hood.
> Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
> I stand within her walls with not a shred
> Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
> Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
> And see her might and granite wonders there,
> Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,
> Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
> 
> --Ebony (who read *Aida* to her fifth graders today and thinks it 
would make 
> a great Disney movie--but again, isn't holding her breath.)
> 
> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
> Ebony AKA AngieJ
> ebonyink at h...
> 
> Come join us in Paradise!
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Paradise
> 
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> 
> "Not that great German master in his dream
> Of harmonies that thundered amongst the stars
> At the creation, ever heard a theme
> Nobler than 'Go down, Moses.'  Mark its bars--
> How like a mighty trumpet-call they stir
> The blood.  Such are the notes that men have sung
> Going to valorous deeds; such tones there were
> That helped make history when Time was young."
> 
> --James Weldon Johnson, composer, Negro National Anthem
> 
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