Journal Entry #8: Mikey Mouse Monopoly film

Media and Minority Portrayals:

The film Mickey Mouse Monopoly critically analyzes the Disney films, specifically looking at race and gender. The values that are brought up during these Disney movies are seen as being disguised by the fun and childish characters. The claims made about these films are quite disturbing and may be proven to influence both children and adults in a negative way. Throughout the film the producers interview young children on their thoughts with race. One of the major points that were brought up in the film is race. If you think about all Disney movies and their characters, there are no characters that are African-American or black. Many people came to the conclusion that the hyenas in the Lion King and the black crows in Dumbo are given a “black accent” and they speak language that is slower and they are seen as being dumb. Also, some of the children believed that the hyenas were bad and therefore came to the conclusion that all African-American people are bad or evil. The minority portrayals seen in these Disney films are non-recognition and ridicule. Non-recognition is seen because there are several minority groups that are not seen at all in the media. Ridicule is seen because some of the characters that are either voiced by an African-American person or given the stereotypical “black accent”. These characters use humorous stereotypes against the minority groups. Several of the evil Disney characters are constantly given stereotypical African-American characteristics, which leads to supporting the Schema Theory. The media is altering our knowledge structures and modes of thinking about how we categorize African-Americans. In the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly, we see this happen when a woman talks about how her young child heard a group of African-American children laughing on the jungle gym. The child immediately linked the group of children laughing to the hyenas in the Lion King, giving that group of children a negative and evil stereotype.
This is not only seen in Disney films; we can see examples of minority groups being given a negative stereotype in the show 24 on Fox. Throughout the 6 seasons of the show, there has never been a white terrorist. The majority of the terrorists are middle-eastern. This causes people to believe that all middle-eastern people are terrorists. The framework of people minds is altered by this constant exposure to a minority group having a negative effect on the world. This exposure to middle-eastern people constantly being terrorists and causing trouble leads the public to view all middle-eastern people as terrorists and bad people. In this show you can also see examples of stages of minority portrayals in regulation. Regulation is when there are minority identities are shown in positive ways by helping the authorities. In 24, you can see this through the different races and genders in the Presidents. In each season there is a new President. The majority of the seasons had white male presidents, but there have been two African-American male Presidents and currently in this season there is a white female President. These examples of Presidents as being African-American and female give these groups a more positive connotation. The public may change their minds on how they see the group as a whole, if the character in the show is successful and does their job successfully. In conclusion, the mass media as a whole portrays minority groups mostly in a negative way and therefore the public has linked these portrayals to the group as a whole.