Race in the Media
Posted by VickyC on December 14th, 2009
Mac Cartoons: Tiger Woods crashes his car after an argument with his wife."No, no, no! Honey. You're lifting your head and not following through!"
Disney has been jumping all over the whole “including all different races” thing in their movies. They had to make a big song and dance about their new movie The Princess & The Frog with the “Black Princess”, but when you make a big deal out of something, you open yourself up to some MAJOR criticism. Disney, unfortunately, can never get it right. There’s too much racism; too many sexual connotations. But kids don’t pick up on that – they don’t watch the Lion King and see boobs in the sky or whatever the controversial scene was! Only overbearing parents with nothing to do between PTA meetings make these stupid claims.
Apparently in the Princess & The Frog, the princess’ hair is too “white” because she doesn’t have “black person” hair, and the characters’ voices are racist. Isn’t this like a curly red headed person saying that Ariel from The Little Mermaid didn’t have big curly red hair, but straight hair.. Therefore Disney is saying that only red headed people with straight hair are beautiful. Therefore all red headed people with big curly hair should go out and buy straighteners immediately. And with Mulan, are they saying that most Asian girls could (with merely a costume change) be passed off as a boy?! OH MY GOD, Disney is blatantly telling Asian girls that they look like boys! I mean, come on!
People are crazy. I’ve read on multiple sites that people are taking the Tiger Woods cheating thing to be a racial matter – because… wait for it… he’s a black man!!! Give me a break! Isn’t Tiger Woods part Dutch, Chinese, Native American, Thai and about 4 other things?! So what, does that automatically make Chinese people womanizing man-whores?! Of course it doesn’t – I forgot, his skin is darker than a Chinese persons’ and Chinese people are supposed to be accountants or play violins – not be golfers. Race and over generalised assumptions do not make the person.. And whether we like it or not, people cheat – regardless of their ancestry.
It really bothers me when people make stuff out of nothing though. Our race does not define us. And what is race but a person’s skin colour… Think of all the Asian people who don’t live in South East Asia, but in North America. Many of them don’t speak their mother tongue, don’t eat crazy Asian food, or play an Asian instrument. They speak the hip slang, eat McDonalds, play guitars and hockey and date non-Asian people. Does it make their parents sad? Probably.. But that’s life. We live in this multicultural world and have to see the best of it. Chinese people in China have probably never heard of Perogies, Poutine or Latkes: Polish, Quebecois and Jewish cuisine (!) – all from the humble potato. I believe that we have to remember where our ancestors came from, but also that we must learn from all the diversity around us!
Tags: Asian, Black, Chinese, Coloured, Disney, Film, Media, Movie, Multicultural, Princess, Princess And The Frog, Racism, Tiger Woods, TV
i total agree with your view on the racist business. Being Asian,I was ofter asked where I came from. People would be surprised when I answered from London. They see you non-white and expect you said China or Japan. Another silly question is “where did you learn your English?”
Yes, I agree. Sometimes people really don’t know any better – which is fine, if they are willing to learn things.. But sometimes it’s sheer ignorance.. Like when people presume you eat puppies and kittens because you’re “foreign”… or rat and pigeon
Ignorance is just insulting!