Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment [Paperback]

Douglas Brode (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292709609 | ISBN-13: 978-0292709607 | Publication Date: January 2, 2006 | Edition: annotated edition

In his latest iconoclastic work, Douglas Brode-the only academic author/scholar who dares to defend Disney entertainment-argues that "Uncle Walt's" output of films, television shows, theme parks, and spin-off items promoted diversity decades before such a concept gained popular currency in the 1990s. Fully understood, It's a Small World-one of the most popular attractions at the Disney theme parks-encapsulates Disney's prophetic vision of an appealingly varied world, each race respecting the uniqueness of all the others while simultaneously celebrating a common human core. In this pioneering volume, Brode makes a compelling case that Disney's consistently positive presentation of "difference"-whether it be race, gender, sexual orientation, ideology, or spirituality-provided the key paradigm for an eventual emergence of multiculturalism in our society. Using examples from dozens of films and TV programs, Brode demonstrates that Disney entertainment has consistently portrayed Native Americans, African Americans, women, gays, individual acceptance of one's sexual orientation, and alternatives to Judeo-Christian religious values in a highly positive light. Assuming a contrarian stance, Brode refutes the overwhelming body of "serious" criticism that dismisses Disney entertainment as racist and sexist. Instead, he reveals through close textual analysis how Disney introduced audiences to such politically correct principles as mainstream feminism. In so doing, Brode challenges the popular perception of Disney fare as a bland diet of programming that people around the world either uncritically deem acceptable for their children or angrily revile as reactionary pabulum for the masses. Providing a long overdue and thoroughly detailed alternative, Brode makes a highly convincing argument that with an unwavering commitment to racial diversity and sexual difference, coupled with a vast global popularity, Disney entertainment enabled those successive generations of impressionable youth who experienced it to create today's aura of multiculturalism and our politically correct value system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brode emerges [as] a worthy proponent of Disney's democratic vision, wielding a powerful argument for Disney as a forerunner of multicultural values in America. The significance of his work cannot be overstated." Deborah C. Mitchell, Westminster College, author of Diane Keaton: Artist and Icon and co-author of The Makeover in Movies

Review

Brode emerges [as] a worthy proponent of Disney's democratic vision, wielding a powerful argument for Disney as a forerunner of multicultural values in America. The significance of his work cannot be overstated. (Deborah C. Mitchell, Westminster College )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; annotated edition edition (January 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292709609
• ISBN-13: 978-0292709607
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #522,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointing Book, A Lovely Idea, January 4, 2007

By 

Mary Sheeran - See all my reviews

This review is from: Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment (Paperback)

1 star for the idea. 1 star for a few excellent points. The rest is a mess.And I am so very disappointed as that someone would have done this was such a wonderful thing.

The following review concerns both "The Multicultural Mouse" and Mr. Brode's "From Walt to Woodstock". When I first started "Multicultural", I thought there was great improvement from "Counterculture", but as I read on, it only got worse.

The trouble is, Brode's book (and his follow-up, "The Multicultural Mouse", which I'm just reading) is purely awful, his good intentions and his exhaustive attempt at writing about each and every Disney cartoon and live action film notwithstanding.

His tone is also a problem. It seems like a cocktail hour rant where people keep coming over and he becomes more and more demonstrative - and gone from reality. He tosses off his broad themes that SHOULD be explored, but they demand a more careful and culturally knowledgeable exposition than he can provide. A book like this requires so much more research and care, and he's not up to the task. His work is disappointing, flawed, and sloppy.

His proof that Disney "caused" the counterculture is simply that he has seen various connections to the hippie movements, flower power, antiwar, sexual freedom, women's rights, and drugs within the Disney works. Same for his ideas about the Disney multiculturalism. He's right...but he can't really prove that Disney "caused" anything. He can demonstrate that there were certain themes in the movies that have been ignored. But that's all.

Brode repeatedly says that "impressionable young people" saw these films and then went on from the fifties to grow up to be leftist radicals or multiculturally sensitive. That's as much of a connection as he can make to prove a "cause", and that's hardly proof of anything. We are not what we watch. When he speaks for himself (as he does in "Multicultural Mouse"), he becomes eloquent and the tone changes to a much stronger and more convincing one. But he does this, he claims, reluctantly (in a thoughtful passage about the Big Bad Wolf being a caricature of the Jewish peddler). What the book needs is more of that from himself and from other boomer voices. But there is no quote at all from a radical from the sixties left who says that Disney affected his political thinking and radicalized him.

In fact, one person in "Multicultural" does say this - that Disney changed his life - and it's Hugh Hefner. Who for some reason, Mr. Brode thinks was a countercultural voice. that had something to do with feminism and a positive sexual freedom. Uh huh. Which is another problem - Mr. Brode has a bizarre sense of the counterculture, particularly of feminism. His chapter on that in "Multicultural" had me on the floor laughing and wanting to tear my hair out. (Brode when on about women's long hair being a radical symbol, somehow forgetting that it was men's long hair that caused a gap in the generations back in the day.) Brode's take on the counterculture is so bizarre, and in corresponding themes in Disney films, that I wonder if he's really trying to sabotage his own theme.

He likes to show off, dragging in any quote from Romantic literature, beat poets, or sixties music to prove a point. Well, not prove a point, except in his mind. His description of deconstructive criticism at the beginning of "Counterculture" is instructive, but he uses it to wander all over the cultural universe and thus doesn't make any solid connections. It's a rant. His method is by association not logic.

He is not only silly, he's often downright wrong. I know many Disney films - as well as many TV series from the fifties - and when reading Brode's descriptions, I find errors of fact and of emphasis. Because of that, I feel I can't trust his descriptions of the films I don't know, and this is incredibly frustrating.

For example, in the first pages of "Counterculture" alone, he makes several goofs. He refers to a song of Annette Funicelli's as a rock song. "Lonely Guitar" was not a rock song, it was a ballad Annette sung on an episode of "Zorro", that was written by Jimmy Dodd. In his description of "Parent Trap", he says that Sharon dresses up as Beethoven. In fact, Sharon wore a dress and pearls and started to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In discussing a subplot in "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh", involving an officer, he not only gets facts wrong, he distorts the whole story. And when discussing "Pollyanna", he goes way way out, both in "Counterculture" and "Multicultural." He writes about the minister telling his congregation to leave the church and go out into nature (Brode thinks this is proof of pantheism) and then says that soon they are all dancing under the trees. In "Multicultural", he spends a good deal of type on a very small subplot involving the maid Nancy and her boyfriend, waxing eloquently about sexual freedom and Romeo and Juliet. I have no idea what he's talking about. His description of what happened in "Pollyanna" bears no resemblance to the actual film. And he misses the very things that could enhance his theme.

Such errors go on and on in both books. But what is truly frustrating is that Mr. Brode misses, by a mile or a trillion miles, in his microscopic counterculture by association a go go, the really important and so obvious how could he miss progressive themes in Disney films. If he'd only bothered to watch the movies he describes.

So I encourage everyone to try. Watch Disney films - cartoons, animated fairy tales, nature tales, live action, TV shows, the Mouseketeers - and see what you find. Mr. Disney was a man of his times, and he changed - as did the themes of the culture. Also, that he could entertain children (although he said his works were not for children) , there are themes he would approach differently. Doing this is a work that requires years and a great deal of knowledge about many fields.

Mr. Brode's books have many many silly pages. But there are a few times he makes some very good points and observations. I am glad he wanted to write his books. But, alas. I cannot recommend them to anyone. His defense of Disney may be unique at the moment, but it's far from helpful.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Multiculturalism and the Mouse is terrible., June 11, 2007

By 

C. Grimes "book reviewer" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment (Paperback)

This book is terrible and doesn't provide any relevant information on any of the topic it promises to discuss. Filled with many grammatical errors, the book is a series of tangents on ideas that have nothing to do with the book. I regret making the purchase, it was not helpful at all.