How is lion king racist

Jane R. Consider another expert opinion, this one from Olympia, Wash. Sections U. Science Technology Business U. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news.

The Associated Press. An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens. The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good.

Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways. New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system. In case you went 25 years without a spoiler: there was a stampede.

Some critics have called it a shot-for-shot remake. The Lion King was met with near universal praise when it came out 25 years ago. It grossed It won two Oscars. But an argument nevertheless emerged concerning the two main hyenas, Shenzi and Banzai—namely, that they were racist characters. In an overwhelmingly white voice cast for a movie about Africa , they were brought to life by minority actors, Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin, who played them as low-life gangsters, reprobates who speak in slang and live tucked away in a shadowy corner of the Pride Lands—the wrong side of the tracks.

Critics said their accents instantly demonized the characters. He weighed in on hyenagate, agreeing that the critters are coded as ethnic and social minorities, not only in their accents but also in their skin color, which he points out is darker than the hides of real hyenas. That last part, by the way, refers to Ed. Poor Ed. Today, many believe the crows to be racist caricatures of black Americans for their use of "jive talk.

The character Jim Crow was also troublingly voiced by a white actor Cliff Edwards. On Disney Plus, Disney has since added a disclaimer to "Dumbo" that said the movie contains racist stereotypes. The live-action remake of the film also excludes both of these elements, opting to focus on a newly introduced family of circus workers led by Colin Farrell.

It seems unlikely that Disney would show children drinking in one of their new releases today, but older animated films depict exactly that. In one scene from the original "Dumbo," the elephant's friend, Timothy Q. Mouse, tells him to drink a barrel of alcohol that he thought was water. Both animals get drunk in a controversial moment that involved dancing pink elephants.

Disney wisely avoided recreating this scene in the "Dumbo" remake, but they cheekily reference it. In a scene where Dumbo is being bathed, a clown runs in with a bottle of champagne and the ringmaster protests, "Hey, no booze near the baby. The movie's rosy portrait of slavery and racial relations in the South immediately drew criticism at the time of the film's release.

If you haven't watched 's "Pinocchio" in a while, you might mainly remember the movie for its lovable titular puppet and the song "When You Wish Upon a Star. The morning after Pinocchio is brought to life, two strangers convince him to skip school and sell him to Stromboli, a puppet master who threatens to chop the boy into firewood if he doesn't perform for him in a life of servitude. Once Pinocchio escapes, he's almost immediately carted off to Pleasure Island, where badly behaved boys drink, smoke, and generally wreak havoc.

However, every child who participates in the island's activities is then turned into a donkey and sold to work in nearby salt mines. With the recent news of a "Pinocchio" live-action remake moving forward , it's likely that these two plot points will be modernized.

The depiction of Native American culture is homogenous and stereotypical: The characters speak in gibberish instead of an actual indigenous language, smoke excessive amounts of pipe tobacco which they even offer to the children , and sing an offensive song called "What Made the Red Man Red.

Peter and the Darlings also appropriate the tribe's culture, wearing headdresses, brandishing tomahawks, and making stereotypical "whooping" noises. This one-note, demeaning depiction of Native Americans, as well as the cultural appropriation at play, would likely be cut by today's standards.

The cats' entrance is even marked by the sound of a gong. Luckily, in the live-action remake of "Lady and the Tramp," Si and Am are replaced by cats of a completely different breed.

He plays the piano with chopsticks, speaks in a stereotypical accent, and sings about fortune cookies. One of the most well-known characters from Disney's "The Jungle Book" is King Louie, an orangutan who is "king of the apes" and famously tells Mowgli, the human protagonist, "I wanna be like you. The concept of an ape wanting to be like a human is innocent enough, but the movie's use of Louie becomes more concerning when viewers realize that the character and his subjects are the only characters who speak in jive slang.

Every other character speaks in British English, implying that the "Jungle Book" apes embody historically dehumanizing, racist comparisons between black people and apes. In the live-action remake of the film, King Louie is not an orangutan, but a gigantopithecus a now-extinct primate native to the Indian jungle where "The Jungle Book" is set.

Voiced by Christopher Walken, he forgoes any jive associations and is much more menacing towards Mowgli.