What Is Disney Really Teaching Your Children?

Overview:

Over the past few years Disney has recreated the delightful fantasy stories for the visual enjoyment of children and adults alike. Most people take these tails as innocent and harmless. Very few parents take the time to watch the productions with their children, but why would they? IT'S DISNEY! What possible agenda could Disney, the world's most profitable children's entertainment company, have?

Well, I did some research and have some hints to pass on to the parents and will-be-in-the-future-parents of our community; Pagan and non-pagan alike. Our children are ours.

During my research I explored every detail of the movies that I could think of, including dialogue, imagery, symbolism, action, music, and the implications and possible effects on a child's developing mind. You may think I'm going "overboard" with the "complexity" of some of my suggestions. You may say, "A child couldn't possibly understand that..." To that I say, keep an open mind and don't underestimate your children. (A good example to reinforce this is: How many of you have children that know computers 10 times better than you could ever hope to? Another one is the beautifully developed book "Alice in Wonderland," which is specifically designed to be thought provoking "foolishness.") If the child can understand the language, they will pick up the implications. And even if they don't grasp the Whole concept right away, all will fall into place in short order.

Typical Markus Disclaimer:
(Anyone who knows my writings well doesn't really have to read this)

Any arguments I present are completely open for you to investigate yourself simply by viewing the movies. After doing so, feel free to make up your own mind. You may agree still, you may not. I'm not here to dictate what you should and shouldn't allow your children to watch. Just be ready to deal with some of the agenda implications that they pick up along with it. If you aren't sure what I mean, it will be made clear as you read on. For now, allow me to just open some doors.


Does Disney Know?

The role of Disney as an creativity and imagination inspiration to our children expands well into the realm of Role Model. How many children run around imitating Mickey Mouse? Or try to be as strong as Hercules? Or as free spirited as Pocahontus? The main character of every film quickly becomes a role model to a large group of children. Let's provide a proper label for what these movies really are: Fables. Each film has some moral and ethical lesson to teach, and fables, by definition, are stories that teach some type of moral lesson.

So now we find the heart of the matter: Disney is teaching your children Morality; right from wrong; good from evil. But as always, when we run into these terms ("good", "evil", "morals") we need to ask: WHO'S MORALS? To teach morals you must define right and wrong, which is always subjective, and as such, invariably carries an agenda in its wake. (I won't bother you all with trying to impose my opinion of morals on you. You each have your own and own, and me trying to dictate to you would make put me in the same position as Disney.)

So now that you have an idea of what I'm really talking about, lets get to the examination of all the movies, the labels, and assigned implications.


Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Before tackling this film, I'll note this is one of the first full length motion picture produced by Disney and has since been remade and resold many times over. The story has still not changed to my knowledge. It was originally written for adults, but soon became a popular children's film and that is where Disney found it's fortune.

In the very opening, the evil Queen summoning the face in the "magic mirror" in the opening scene reflects the classic stereo type of a witch's ritual. All the spoken words that accompany the summoning:

Slave in the magic mirror, come to fill this space, through wind and darkness, I summon thee, speak! Let me see thy face.

She lifts her arms, wind picks up, blowing the black cloak dramatically. Perhaps this kind of argument wouldn't hold up in court, but a child's mind doesn't confine itself to the trappings of our judicial system. This is a strong case, proving the wickedness of a witch to a child, only lacking two things. One, some deed of evil to accompany the terrifying image. So, the movie provides. Quickly after finding out that Snow White is more beautiful the Queen orders our heroine killed and her heart bound in a box and returned to her! The final thing that is missing is the physical form of the classic propaganda witch, pointed hood or cowl, old wrinkled body, wart on the nose, hunchback, and an absolutely terrifying cackle! Well if you are disappointed, don't be... it won't take Disney long to complete the scene!

Children will not understand, it is not the magic that is evil but rather the person wielding it is. Therefore, anything else associated with the witch or implications of her will also be considered evil. A child's mind is probably more versatile and understanding than you may think. (Some of the connections that I now offer may seem "obscure"; try to suspend some of the social programming and take on a more "child like" thought process.) My cousin wouldn't eat apples for almost a full year after seeing this film... moving along.

When the Dwarves return home, to their surprise there is food cooking in the cauldron.

Happy wants to try it:
Something's cooking
*sniffs*
Grumpy warns not to test the food:
Don't touch it you fools! It might be poison!
*cauldron blows steam*
Grumpy Continues:
See, it's witches brew!


With this, the child's mind automatically links Witch with Cauldron. Without wanting to jump around the movie too much, I will just make the connections and reinforcements apparent as I go along. Keep your eyes open.

If the child didn't get it yet, the creators of Disney make it perfectly clear to them.

Grumpy describes the evil Queen:
She's an old witch! ... I'm warning you. If the Queen finds [Snow White] here, she'll swoop down and reap her vengeance on us.
Snow White: But she doesn't know where I am!
Grumpy: She doesn't, eh? She knows everything ... she's full of black magic. She can even make herself invisible! Might be in this room right now!


The labeling of magick as "black", not differentiating between the magick and the person using it, seems a bit harsh to keep in a child's film even after recreating it a few times. If I were going to build a propaganda base, or reinforce one already in place, I can't think of a better way than to invoke fear of the subject -- witches -- and endow them with supernatural power to rival any goodness.

To work a bit farther into the imagery in the film: have you ever taken a look at the Queen's bookshelf in the background? No, probably not, most people wouldn't so don't sweat it. (This must have been the 8th time I'd watched this film and I didn't see it until now). Well, here is what it reads (from left to right):

Demonology | Black Arts | Alchemy | Witchcraft | Black Magic | Disguises | Sorcery | Poisons | (A skull holding them all up)

Isn't that just a darling picture of political correctness? Even though most eyes don't consciously pick up on it, the subconscious will certainly register and store the implications and images for future reference. Very much the same as it does with subliminal advertising. The implications are pretty darn obvious so I'll only take a moment to address one or two. First, Poisons. Going back to Grumpy, this reaffirms that Witches work with poisons, obviously all the time to have this big ol' book on it! Second, Disguises. This creates further fear that evil Witches are probably lurking all around but they are so devious and treacherous that you won't know it until it's too late. Just as Grumpy pointed out the ability to make oneself invisible.

Without further delay, the Queen gives a perfect display of their abilities to take on disguises.

Queen:
Now a formula to transform my beauty into ugliness, to transform my Queenly raiment to peddler's clothes.
*Opens the book of Disguises*
Spell Title: Peddler's Disguise
Formula: Mummy Dust, Black of Night, Old Hags Cackle, Scream of Fright
*Mixes potion in a HUGE black Cauldron!*
A blast of wind to fan my hate, a thunderbolt to mix it well. Now begin thy magic spell.
*She drinks and changes into the perfect image of the propaganda Witch*

Now she Does look like a "typical" Witch - Big nose, wart, long messy white hair, black-hooded cloak. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt... continuing....


The Queen in disguise: Dip the apple in the brew, let the sleeping death seep through.
*Dips apple in the bubbling brewing cauldron*
Antedote to Apple Poison -- Book Reads: Victims of Sleeping Death can be revived only by love's First Kiss.
Queen (Spiteful): Love's first kiss, BAH! No fear of that!

Did you catch the brew and cauldron reference yet again? The reiteration of the ritual scene, only this time with more intensity and an even more malicious intent? The complete disregard for good qualities, such as Love (and hence Every other good quality that exists, since Love is always considered the strongest)? The creepy ingredients for the Disguise recipe? Witch's acceptance and fueling of hate? I don't need to remind you about her bookshelf. And I didn't even take the time to go into the rest of the scenery complete with spiders, webs, and other scary objects.

We'll take a quick intermission here, just like Disney did. I guess they thought your child has absorbed enough hate-filled propaganda for now. So they decided to back it up with some negative feedback counter imagery. The intermission picture shows Snow White praying with steeple fingers and kneeling before going to sleep. I did say that Disney fables teach morals and good manners -- I didn't say ones you'd completely agree with -- such as the ideal posture and practice for Christian children. This is the perfect foil, juxtaposing the evils of Witchcraft and the Queen with the purity of Christianity and Snow White. Who could ask for more?

Again, I'm not going to bother beating a dead horse... there is no way I could take on Disney, I simply don't have the funds to compare and besides, I enjoy their movies, just not everything in them. I'm taking the time to write this because parents for the most part don't look. (Who would? It's a cartoon!) But since I'm planning on being a parent sometime in the distant future, it's something that concerns me.

*Lights flashing, intermission at a close... please return to your seats for the continuance of our program*

One image that a child will most likely Not pick up on immediately, but will store and uncover subconsciously later in life is the scene when the Queen gets in her boat, which sits on an underground river in caves beneath her castle. I've never seen a more vivid picture of the River Styx! Watery passage to Hades, the Greco-Roman Underworld linkage, complete with the boatman!

Returning to Snow White and the Dwarves... the Dwarves are about to go to work in the mines again:

Doc warns: The old Queen's a sly one, full of Witchcraft, so beware of strangers.


What a great moral, beware of strangers! I wish more children would pay attention to that and not the "witchcraft is evil" implications! More children are abducted by strangers each year, and when the strangers are caught not one of them (to my knowledge) claimed to be a Witch. The story continues to misdirect the moral lesson:

Queen in disguise: I'll share a secret with you, this is no ordinary apple. It's a Magic wishing apple.
*Offers it to Snow White, who accepts it.*


Sigh. Snow White obviously mirrors the naive children watching the movie, they are intended to identify with her. But those children are distracted, and it doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out how. The moral should stay focused on "DON'T TAKE THINGS FROM STRANGERS," but is degenerated to "Witches are Evil" when the apple comes into play. Snow White doesn't know how "evil" magic is, but the children watching do, so that's what they concentrate on, and completely lose the real lesson. I don't have children, I don't work with children, and I figured this out... you can bet Disney figured on it too.

I'm going to end this one here, like I said, I didn't get into more of the subtle things in this movie just because what I have got is so long as it is. Keep in mind the role music tone and intensity can work on Your imagination, then amplify it by 10, and you will know the baseline affect on a child's imagination! I left out the smaller symbolism, like snakes and spiders and similar things. Frankly, I thought this was enough. *smile* Well, enough for this movie....


Cinderella

We'll jump right into it... the intent of moral/mannerism teaching is promptly established by showing Cinderella making her bed first thing in the morning, first thing in the movie.

Disney was a bit more discreet in this film and used more name associations and connotations that will not be immediately picked up by the child, but will again be recorded and as the child learns more the connections will be made. For instance, the cat's name is Lucifer, who just happens to originally be a Pagan Sun God. In later years, Christianity corrupted the name and linked it to Demonology and Satan. The cat fits that Christian stereotype-cast too... he's a mean cat who is out to kill all the good mice in the house (who are, of course, Cinderella's friends). By this programming, the child will therefore most likely remember Nothing about the name Lucifer other than it carries "evil" connotations and those implications will carry over to Witchcraft if the name is ever heard from a Pagan mouth.

Disney doesn't make magick evil in this film, but there is a catch...
The magick wielding person this time is the "Fairy God Mother," a pointedly Christian term. Fairies, while of Pagan origin, are thought to be imaginary by children, but EVERYONE has a God Mother, right? Furthermore, everyone knows that Fairies are small and have wings; neither is true of this large and aged Fairy God Mother. So the child mind will disregard the Fairy/Pagan association to good in favor of the God Mother/Christian association to good.

Another, perhaps vaguer, implication is the Fairy God Mother's use of the magick wand. The Queen from Snow White needed no such tools for magick (except for special rituals perhaps); any Pagan the child talks to will undoubtedly tell them that tools are not needed for magick. Disney works against this. The Fairy God Mother is unable to do her magick until she finds her misplaced magick wand. It may or may not register to the child that "good" magick can only be done with the aid of a tool and anyone claiming otherwise is undoubtedly evil like the Queen in Snow White. This one is iffy in my mind too, but it has the potential for the programming, and if you build up enough potential, no matter how "flimsy" some of it is going to stick.

Finally, from personal observation of children watching this, I can remember two instances when the children exclaimed the step-mother is a "Witch!" Doesn't take much to point out that we could find a nice rhythm word to be more accurate, but that is not how the children will see it and this pretty clearly displays the associations that are made.


The Lion King

The setting of this film had the potential of causing a large amount of racial tension for Disney, something they obviously wanted to avoid. No animals with enlarged lips, no afros, and none spoke Jive (all of which are common derogatory stereotypes of Africans and African-Americans). So while there is very little negative to point out in this film (which I loved *smile*), they didn't fail to add their small snippets of Christian propaganda.

Rafiki is obviously a religious leader archetype, seemingly of Shaman tradition or some similar Tribal association. Regardless of this, there is an obvious baptismal ceremony upon Simba's birth in the beginning. Instead of water, which is scarce in the dry area, the juice from the inside of a fruit is smeared across Simba's forehead.

Some other side notes, Rafiki uses a form of divination, Scrying: Sprinkling leaves into a turtle shell and reading them, discovering from his interpretations that Simba was still alive. Simba also uses Scrying when he gazes into the pond and sees his father in his place. Rafiki is also shown in a meditation position more than once, and the staff that he carries holds a tribal/magickal significance.

None of this is portrayed as "true" Witchcraft but rather in a tribal Shamanistic tone, reminiscent of Native American and Native African, both of which, in present times (after 1990) are portrayed in a more noble light than previously? Think it could be a political motive? Possibly. I'd think so, since both groups have made such a "big fuss" (a much needed disturbance) about their media portrayal and have forced newer productions to consist of more respectful material. Both groups are represented by an entire race and culture of people. Unfortunately, Witchcraft isn't represented by a socially or racially unified group, and being thus divided does not lend itself to similar political maneuvering on the part of the media or Disney. (If anything, paying attention to recent media portrayals, we are being retaliated against for trying to utilize political pressure.)

Perhaps you think I'm going astray and losing my mind with this idea that Disney has a political agenda when it comes to portrayal of groups.... well, let's take a look one of their newest hits and political endeavors.


Pocahontas

Here is a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with Witchcraft, but has a great deal to do with the political agenda issue! Recap: Disney made bundles of money with their western-Indian-savage-killing-conquer-the-west cartoons. Loads of black and white toons were made, and when images enhanced to full color, the Native American was not only a savage, but a stupid savage with the silliest walk in creation! Think Disney took flak over this?? YOU BET!

In light of this heavy political pressure from a proud nation of Native Americans, Disney recreated the real story of Pocahontas.

To alleviate some of the pressure, the new rendition portrays Smith as going from the "savage killer" to being enlightened by Pocahontas and learning to love nature and respect all life. The movie does a great job of portraying Shamanism and the nobility of the Native American people. But what makes Witchcraft different from Shamanism? Shamanism is very different -- it was developed in a different region and therefore has different techniques and origins -- however, a good majority of the principles in terms of Nature are also very similar. So why no good light portrayal of Witchcraft? That's easy... no pressure to do so and changing the sensationalist image wouldn't bring in as much money. Simple enough.

But so what? Let's get to my real question about this movie... Why didn't Disney tell the TRUE STORY??? In the movie, when Smith is injured and must be sent back, Pocahontas elects to stay with her people as a Wise-woman. I'd thought that was great -- until I found out that in real life she did return to Europe with Smith where she spent the rest of her life! I haven't been able to even come up with a single good hypothesis as to Why they would change the story! Whatever their reason, and I'm positive they had some political motive, they weren't merely out to give a proper history lesson. I just don't know.


The Little Mermaid

Some tidbits in the next two movies for you to do some personal speculation on. The film attempts to tackle the parent-child relationship problems; i.e. the child’s adventuresome nature and rebellion versus parental rules established by experience. Going back to the tools-needed-for-magick issues, King Triton needs his trident for power, but Urcela has no problem performing her evil magick without any prop.

Urcela uses a bubble as a "crystal ball" to Scry and spy on Ariel. Urcela is referred to as the "Sea Witch" multiple times, and her garden of enslaved "grubs" mirrors a sensationalized witch's garden. This of course fits in very nicely with Sabastian describing her as a "demon" and a "monster." And it really doesn't help much when Urcela as well pins the label "witch" with a bunch of implications:
I admit that in the past I've been a nasty. They weren't kidding when they called me well a witch... and I fortunately know a little magic, it's a talent that I always have possessed.

This is, of course, all happening while she is trying to trick Ariel, just like the evil Queen was deceiving Snow White. The children watching know it is a trap, but not poor Ariel, who is going to be harmed by the mean witch.

There are definite patterns here, including the further use of the witch's cauldron for Urcela to put together her foul concoction. Furthermore, when Urcela does transform Ariel into a human, the spell is done with alien words. When I was a child I heard more than one story of witch spells being done in unknown tongues.

Finally, upon Urcela's death, all her magic becomes reversed. Sends a pleasant message about why all witches should be killed; if all witches are killed I'm sure there would be no evil in the world, right? *sigh*


Beauty and the Beast

I didn't find much about this movie other than the Enchantress that changes the Prince to the Beast sounds very much like the Goddess Morrigan. Morrigan is said to appear often as a hag and then turns into a beautiful young lady. Just to end with a chance for further speculation. Oh yeah, I loved this movie too!


Conclusion

If anything, I hope this article will inspire parents to pay more attention to what their children watch. I feel this should go for TV, videos, movies, books, and games. Everyone knows the song: I believe that children are our future... well, they are. Let's watch out and make sure their future is better than our present.

Article by Markus




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