I hate cartoons. I think I liked them as a child but now I’m not a child I have no desire to see one. However, I had the opportunity to go to see Frzen 2 at the cinema this week and so I thought I’d go out of curiosity.
I still don’t like cartoons but there was something about this one which worried me. Is it just me, or are there other people who are troubled by the way beauty is portrayed in children’s films?
Of course, the heroes and heroines in this film were white and beautiful. The main character is tall, slim with impossible long legs, massive blue eyes that take up most of her face and long flowing blond hair.
There was one black character who was cast in the role of guard which is also stereotypical and some difficult to place Mongolian looking tribal people.
This is what young people see as a perfect model of beauty and it’s not surprising that they try to make themselves look like these distorted imaginary characters. The habit of taking selfies and then distorting them to make eyes bigger and chins pointed may be a result of being exposed to this unrealistic characterisation of beauty.
Where are the children’s cartoon which have black, Asian and brown heroes? Maybe Disney is playing to the crowd and giving them what their customers want. Even though it’s a commercial organisation with a focus on the bottom line, I think they have a duty to be more representative of their audience.
I shalln’t be going to any more Disney films. This is my last one.