The Aristocrats
(Year: 1970)
The biggest thing I noticed in the movie was how bad the brothers treated their sis
Children could
potentially learn from this film, that someone close to you could deceive you, “put
you to sleep and take you far away.” I think it is awesome the amount of love
the duchess had for the kittens, however I saw very little effort for her to
search for her kittens. Then the movie shows a strange man can come along and
save the family, and potentially sweeping mommy off her feet and become the new
daddy.
You don’t realize what is
portrayed in the movie until you read the reviews, after viewing https://lubyadam.wordpress.com/classism-sexism-and-deviance-disneys-the-aristocats/
I thought it was
interesting how the article talked about the song played in the opening
credits, “It foreshadows the difference between classes before we actually see
it applied in the movie.” Then it continues to say, “The song is sung in a
snobby manner using French words such as “Naturalment”. The lyrics enforce the
idea that there is a difference between classes. Those differences exist among
pets as well. There is a special place for upper class pets (mansions and lavish
houses) and other places for household animals of the lower classes, namely
alleyways and dirty garbage cans.”
To add to my observation,
the article said that Maria uses the fact that she is a girl to get what she
wants. “Marie’s vulnerability constantly appears when while the cats are
navigating their way back from the countryside. She falls off the truck that
takes them back to Paris and is rescued by O’Malley. She then falls again from
the railway, only to be rescued again by O’Malley.” I did notice that, all the
girls in the movie showed vulnerability. When the cats were stranded the
kittens asked their mother what was going to happen to them and she said, she didn’t
know. Then she trusted a random ally cat she just met to lead them home.
“Each
cat represents a stereotype of a cultural other: Billy Boss (Russian), the buck
toothed Shun Gon (Chinese), Peppo (Italian), Hit Cat (English), and an unnamed
hippie cat. Shun Gon is shown with sleepy eyes and two bucked teeth. He plays
the piano with chopsticks and speaks American Chinese (oh reary). Peppo, the
Italian cat, is illustrated as a womanizer with a golden earring and a red
scarf around his neck; a typical Casanova image of an Italian male. Billy Boss
is heavy and looks” Isn’t
I also thought it was
interesting the site said, “Since the white race always comes at the top of the
racial hierarchal paradigm, it is interesting to see that most villains in
Disney movies are white, unlike Hollywood movies where villains are usually of
a colored race.” Which is very true, I have realized that.
In
the end I feel like the movie was picked apart in every aspect upon study on
it. I feel as though most the things that were in the movie were not easily
seen. I grew up with this movie, and I watched it recently and my first
instinct is not about the racism, sexism, and stereotypes. However I did find
it odd that the kittens were white, black, and brown. Also, I observed the conflict
between the brothers and sister, and that just reminded me of times with my
brothers and sisters, it was not odd for me, I actually related with the
conflict.
Crazy things can come out
of a simple, fun, childhood movie. Read more,
