The Aristocrats

(Year: 1970)

The biggest thing I noticed in the movie was how bad the brothers treated their sister, and how Maria treated the boys, and got away with it because, “I am a lady.” I also felt as though the mother cat was very vulnerable, and way to quickly practically threw herself at O’Malley. She was very flirty and relied very easily on him, even for the life of her children.

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,

https://lubyadam.wordpress.com/classism-sexism-and-deviance-disneys-the-aristocats/