Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power

That's a very mouthful title of the event being held at Harvard to view how Disney's movies have shaped children's view of the world they live in.

The documentary incorporated scenes from Disney classics like “The Little Mermaid,” “Peter Pan,” “Hercules,” and “Mulan,” and argued that they negatively shape children’s conceptualizations of race and gender beneath a guise of innocence and fantasy.

For instance, the documentary showed clips from “Aladdin,” “The Jungle Book,” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” contending that they contain highly sexualized representations of females, and that “Oliver Twist,” “Pocahontas,” and “Peter Pan” communicate stereotyped, white supremacist messages.

Of course, we ALL know that just because one can make a documentary does not necessarily translate into facts or valid evidence. If not, one would have to believe that Ben Stein was correct in his argument against evolution. It would have been nice if the news article actually also cited some research work that actually supported such contention. This is, after all, Harvard's newspaper. I should expect a higher level of intelligence and diligence in doing some background and supporting documents.

Alas, that's not to be.

Zz.