1.The Representation of Race in Childrens Movies
172.237 Language, Discourse & Power
Assignment 3
By Lauren Wootton

2. Text One
Rationale & Significant Features
Old & New Racism
Text Two
Rationale
Significant Features
Conclusion : The Representation of Race in Childrens Movies
Reference List
3. Racism
A social system of domination, that is, of a specific kind of power of one group over other groups, in our case of Europeans (whites) over non-European peoples (van Dijk, 2005 pp.1-2).
We all learn to be racist (or antiracist) through childrens literature, movies [etc] discourse plays a fundamental role in the formation of racist beliefs and in the discriminatory practices based on such beliefs(van Dijk, 2005 pp.9-10).
4. Text one:
Excerpt from
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4dQA_61EJI
5. Rationale & Significant featutres
Portrayal of African Americans vs European Americans

Implicit and Explicit Racism ethnicity, social inequality and power

Contrasts between Lottie and Tianas lives
Tiana as Disneys first black princess in 72 years (Pilhofer, 2002)
Discourse:
you know how long it took me to save that money
Exactly, which is why a little woman of your background woulda had her hands full tryna run a big business like that. Youre better off where youre at
6. Old style racism
a negro is different from other people in that hes an unfortunate branch of the human family who hasnt been able to make out of himself everything he is capable of. He is not capable of being rushed because of the background of the jungle we look upon him for his lack of culture, as being less reliable, in business and unsafe socially. His passions are aroused easily(Bonilla-Silva, 2006, p.29)
7. New racism
Is democratic, respectable; denies that is racism real racism is only existent in right wing extremists. Minorities are different, not inferior they have a different culture, and there are deficiencies, such as single-parent familieslacking achievement values, pathologies that need to be corrected (van Dijk, 2000, pp. 33-34)
8. Text Two
Stereotypes & Racism in Childrens Movies
(Brunette, Mallory & Wood, n.d.)
http://nhaeyc.org/newsletters/articles/Racism_in_Childrens_Movies.pdf
9. Rationale
Discussion o f movies with racist discourse, with explanation of why this discourse is deemed racist
Portrayal of negative stereotypes
How this effects children; the impact of this representation in everyday life
10. Significant features
Discussion of types of racism in childrens movies with an emphasis on those by Disney
a kind of street, inner city African American dialect (Brunette et al. n.d, p.1.)
Effect on the children
children between 2 and 5 years of age start to become aware of race, ethnicity, gender and disabilities. They can accurately identify Black and White when labeling pictures, dolls and people. (Ramsay, as cited in Brunette et al., n.d., p.1)
They learn stereotypes and attitudes about race from their parents, caretakers and the world around them(Linn & Poussain, as cited in Brunette et al., n.d., p.1)
Suggestion of how to combat these portrayals of racism
11. Conclusions
Racism a conspicuous feature in many forms in childrens movies particularly Disney movies
The influence this racism has on the children watching it
How this racism is portrayed through the language, discourse and representations of power
12. Reference list
Brunette, L., Mallory, C., & Wood, S. (n.d.) Stereotypes and racism in childrens movies. RetrievedOctober 3, 2011, from http://nhaeyc.org/newsletters/articles/Racism_in_Childrens_Movies.pdf
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Pilhofer, F. (2002). Disney anitmatedfeatures. Retrieved October 3,2011 from http://www.fpx.de/fp/Disney/Features.html
van Dijk, T.A. (2005). Racism and discourse in Spain and Latin America. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (Producer) & Musker, J. & Clements, R. (Directors) (December 11, 2009). The princess and the frog [Motion Picture].