One way in which animators anthropomorphize their characters is by giving them human stereotypes to allow viewers to better relate with the characters. A critical and obvious drawback of stereotypes is that it can lead to a race, gender, religion, etc., being negatively depicted by a film. Another difficulty with stereotypes is how an animated film can depict a race or culture without using stereotypes. There is a hazy line between what is part of a culture, and what could be seen as an offensive stereotype of a culture.
Having just watched clips from Cars and Oliver and Company with a focus on race, it is very apparent that the writers certainly emphasize race when creating their characters. In Oliver and Company, the various dogs represent distinctive races, most noticeably Francis the English bulldog and Tito the Latino Chihuahua. Physically, the shades of the dogs’ coats represent the races of the dogs, from white to black to something in between. The film establishes the characters’ races with their accents, and perpetuates the stereotypes with the character’s actions. Even Disney Wiki says, “(Tito) speaks with a thick American Mexican accent,” and Francis “has an upper-class London accent.” These characters fulfill their racial stereotypes given by society, as Francis is a very proper and dramatic Englishman, while Tito is a scrappy Mexican who so happens to know how to rewire the electrical system in a car. These stereotypes are effective in that they help distinguish one dog from another, and viewers feel that they can better understand and relate to the characters; however, these stereotypes may send negative messages to viewers about how certain races are meant to act. It is worth considering how the film would change if the dogs acted in the same way but were stripped of their accents. Cars similarly uses very deliberate stereotypes with its characters, particularly the redneck Mater, the African American Flo, and Luigi/Guido the Italians. Once again these characters are given accents and they speak and act in ways one might expect them to given their race. These depictions are particularly offensive when depicting the stupidity of Mater, and through him, southerners/country folk. A particular line that stuck out to me was when Lighting McQueen says, “I’m in hillbilly hell! My IQ is dropping by the second, I’m becoming one of them!” I think it would be difficult for a southerner with an accent similar to that of Mater to not be offended by this.
Following Henry Giroux’s belief that films are crucial teachers for children, we must be far more careful about the ways in which we depict race. It is worth noting that these stereotypes certainly extend beyond race into areas such as gender and class. Although a younger version of myself may not have explicitly noticed these racial developments, certainly they were subconsciously shaping my perception of race. Portraying a race or culture in animation is a very difficult task, and there’s always going to be someone who disagrees with the depiction. Some argue the Pocahontas depicts Pocahontas as white, but to make her not white, the writers may have to enforce certain stereotypes; it is a lose-lose situation. Having just seen Mulan for the first time I am curious to see how the film’s portrayal of Chinese culture was perceived. There is a lot of emphasis on the importance of honor, but I am not sure if that is a stereotype or simply an accepted part of the culture; the line is hazy.
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