So, after reading Christensen's article, every notion that I had a Disney as well as other cartoons have been pretty much shattered. I never realized how biased seemingly innocent cartoons could be. Christensen argues in her article that these cartoons are bad influences on children, and I cannot help but agree with her. Children, especially, are very impressionable and the exposure to the kind of racism and bias expressed in cartoons causes children to grow up believing things about others that are wrong.
For example, if you take a look at all the Disney princesses pictured above, all of them are depicted as white, beautiful, and extremely skinny women. Not all women look like this in real life. If young girls grow up thinking that this is what their bodies are supposed to look like, then they will never learn to be happy with who they truly are.
On the boys' side of things, think about male characters portrayed in cartoons: Popeye, Buzz Lightyear, and Captain Hook, just to name a few off the top of my head. All of these male characters are portrayed as hyper- masculine, and resorting to violence and anger in some form or another to get what they want. Young boys growing up watching these cartoons will eventually begin to think that violence and anger is the way to get what they want, too.
Aside from the stereotypical gender roles being present in cartoons, there is also the problem of racism being present as well. The black crow feautured in the Disney movie Dumbo is named "Jim Crow", which obviously refers to the infamous Jim Crow laws of the American south which were enacted from the late 1800s until the mid 1960s. These laws made into law segregation rules, which were to be enforced in all public facilities. But, one also has to keep in mind that Dumbo was a Disney movie which was released in 1941, so it's a "sign of the times", I guess.
In conclusion, I'll leave you with this article, which contains a short video looking at the elements of mostly racism in Disney cartoons.
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