modern times shall not be justified. (2) Methods of crime shall not be
explicitly presented. (3) The sanctity of the institution of marriage and
the home shall be upheld. (4) Miscegenation (interracial sexual
relationships) is forbidden. The Code specifically addressed the
inadvisability of caricaturing national origin groups or portraying them
in offensive ways. In 1968 a Rating system was put into effect, and the
Code was no longer used.
11 Brode (2005: 101–103) argues that the representation of the wolf as
Jewish peddler is not racist. As a part of his argument he acknowledges
that such stereotypes existed (and he knows this because this is part of
his own family history). “Besides, cartoons – with their extremely
(and, for anyone who understands the medium, necessarily) broad form
of portraiture – rely more heavily on caricature than any other
cinematic form.” Brode goes on to add this odd bit of rationalization:
“Disney may have created the wolf, but it is the wolf – the film’s
villain – who invokes ethnic stereotyping” (ibid.: 103).
12 Yiddish is a variety of German that originated in Jewish communities
in Eastern Europe and spread to Jewish communities all over the
continent. It was the first language of many Jews who immigrated to
the United States in the last two centuries. While Yiddish spoken in
Russia and the East is still vigorous, Western European Yiddish is
dying out. In the U.S. about 150,000 people report speaking Yiddish at
home, most of them resident in New York or Florida, with smaller
populations in California, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
13 It might be argued that many aspects of animated films are actually
aimed at the adults.
14 Included in the study were full-length feature films (generally between
one and a half to two hours in length); specifically excluded short
features and compilations of shorts grouped together for thematic
reasons. Only fully animated films were included, excluding those that
combine live-action sequences with animation (The Song of the South,
Three Caballeros). Animated film created for adult audience (the war-
time film Victory through Air Power is one example) were also
omitted, as were Pixar films which are not produced by Disney. All
characters with speaking roles of more than single word utterances
were included in the analysis.
ff
(ff)
#1