My 11 year child has been asked to re write a Disney story of his choice but without the sexist/racist aspects. AIBU to write back..

[SecretsInSpitalfield]

That I will not have the teacher pushing her views on my child?

As far as he (and his younger DB) Disney has always been a POSITIVE thing! Fun films , cinema days and even a dream once in a lifetime trip to World Disney World.

I wouldn't have minded if they said 'do you think any Disney films are racist or sexist? If so, please elaborate why. But this has been set as if it's FACTUAL that they are and my child is just 11.

Please give me your honest opinions

Thank you 😊

Sorry should read distroy.

Why do we have to district childhood innocences before we need to

Some children will have experienced racism and sexism way before 11. They have lost their innocence.

What age should those children who haven't experienced racism or sexism learn about it?

I have always enjoyed Disney Animated movies and they got me into enjoying drawing, painting etc. but I would have enjoyed this assignment in school, it’s accessible to most children as Disney is quite well known and to deconstruct the films for their racist/sexist overtones is a good way to get those conversations started IMO. I wish my Grandparents had taught me that the Peter Pan song with the horrific depiction of Native Americans was not something that should be repeated before I got a stern lecture as a 5yo from my teacher for singing it with some friends in the playground.

Modern Disney is an improvement but there is still a ways to go.

As for examples of sexism - well in almost every Princess movie it’s obvious.

Sleeping Beauty always grossed me out the most, from the minute the prince decided to grab hold of Aurora and interrupt her dancing like that’s absolutely fine to him kissing her when asleep... at least it’s an improvement on her being impregnated whilst asleep and only waking up due to the pain of childbirth (like one of the original versions I read).

The Little Mermaid was originally intended to keep to the original Fairy Tale - which was a cautionary tale about arrogance I guess. The mermaid falls for the prince when he’s out at sea getting married to his human bride, who he loves, mermaid decides she can win him over so makes a deal with the sea witch who cuts out mermaids tongue for the spell to make her human. Mermaid becomes human and fails to win the princes heart (because he’s happy with his wife) and so becomes immortal... in that she turns into sea foam and becomes a part of the ocean. When they found the script in the vaults Walt Disney had intended to keep the ending where she dies, the people who eventually adapted it properly for the screen decided that wasn’t such a great idea (but would have made for an interesting watch!).

Also for boys I think there’s an important component to learn, a lot of the males in Disney movies are extremely one dimensional with little to no character, something that doesn’t give a young boy much inspiration as far as I can tell!

I’ve always enjoyed deconstructing films though - I am most critical of the ones I like best (DH has had to request I not do this to the TV shows/movies he likes haha).

How do you destroy a child's innocence by asking them to re-write 1 Disney story?

You could rewrite sleeping beauty to have the prince try mouth io mouth resuscitation I suppose.

I hope no one is letting him read the Bible !

He's 11, it's the age where they have to start critically engaging with texts. He could argue there aren't sexist or racist views in his chosen tale. Let him do the homework. You are pushing your views here just as much as the teacher, except she's trying to introduce the children to a difficult skill, whereas you are trying to stifle critical thought. I love Disney BTW but I think you must acknowledge historical and systematic bias in popular culture, Disney no exception.

It's not about destroying innocence. When dc are little it's enough to show them a range of different films not just 1950s princesses and white people and maybe point out girls can do everything boys can do. In fact when my dd was little she really liked me making up stories about favourite characters from TV or films so I could make up all the PC adventures for them I liked.

Why It's Personal

Because of the nice white girls at school telling me "We don't think of you as coloured".

Because of But we don't mean you

Because maybe my personality wasn't that bad.

Because you were really grateful I devotedly cared for your beloved elderly Aunt, my DS's darling Nan and you didn't understand why your reasons for voting UKIP made me frightened for my child.

Because I wanted to "pass".

In Peter Pan, 'What makes the red man red' presents a very stereotypical view of native Americans.

At 11 years old the class are old enough to be thinking about things from a different perspective and recognising outdated, racist, mysoginistic ideas. Disney films are both filled with enough examples of those things for it to be an engaging task, and also tame enough for a group of 11 year olds with varying levels of maturity to not be distressed at the material, I wouldn't want an 11 year old reading of mice and men for instance.
As for not liking/allowing our children to watch Disney films, well you can still appreciate something whilst accepting and acknowledging it's faults.

Any thoughts on Mary Poppins?

You can really analyse that - busy parents. A father who works very hard, doesn't really know his children, a mum who is a suffragette, They hire a nanny who appears out of nowhere, drugs the children to get them to sleep.....

OP no one is saying you're not ALLOWED to watch Disney films ffs we are just saying that it's a good idea to watch them, enjoy them but also acknowledge the harmful stereotypes within them. Your child is 11 he's hardly a baby. Seems to be a great lack of critical thinking here. Will be the same for your son if you don't allow him to form different perspectives on things.

Why do we have to district childhood innocences before we need to?

Also most kids will have seen, experienced or have an opinion on male/female stereotypes. For example they might know a girl with short hair who'd rather play football with the boys than skip with the girls or they might know a boy who loves sparkles and unicorns. It's not destroying innocence lol

What a great piece of homework ❤️ love this teacher

NaviSprite you bring up a very good point about how many of the princes in the early films aren’t exactly good role models for boys either - some of them aren’t even named!

Prince Philip in sleeping beauty has a bit of a personality, but the Princes In Cinderella and Snow White (from what I remember) don’t really do anything but stand around looking pretty.

In the modern films at least they’re all a bit more lively and engaging!

Your child is having a viewpoint framed for him as you so clearly recognise. The ideas of racism and sexism need contextualising and he needs to realise that you cannot judge the past by present values. I should encourage him to look at some history in detail and to read as widely as possible so he can avoid being brainwashed by unmediated PC and Woke notions.

Wide knowledge, objectivity, rationality and open, free, independent and critical thinking are what is needed to develop your son’s mind.

Philip had a bit more to him, at least he sort of challenged the hierarchy by stating he would marry the ‘peasant girl’ even though she turned out to be Princess Aurora all along 😂 similar in Cinderella, all the prince really does is insist on marrying the mystery woman (a massive push on encouraging girls to try and marry a rich man rather than trying to make their own wealth).

Eric wasn’t too bad, he at least seemed to have a bit more personality but not much outside the “I’m obsessed about the girl that saved me at sea but hey you’re pretty and fun too! Oh look it was you all along.” 😂

But other than being the knight in shining armour or the abusive arse the Male characters don’t have much really to offer in the Princess movies.

I enjoyed Robin Hood the most as a kid and Hercules (Meg and the Muses were ace). I also liked that they displayed Hercules as quite a naive, timid and vulnerable personality

An 11 year old is plenty old enough to start thinking critically about films and Disney is a good choice because lots of kids will be familiar with ones they now feel they have grown out of.

The pre2000 films are a lot more sexist and racist than the 21st century ones so let him pick an old one for the school work and then talk about how much the more recent films are making an effort to be less so (with some shortfalls occasionally)

All my kids go on about these days is things being racist. Everyone is obsessed with it even when there is no derogatory meaning to what a person is saying. Lines have been skewed. If anyone says the words black or white my kids say it’s racist because that is all that’s bandied about at school, on TV, everywhere. If a racist comment is made then of course it is disgusting but you can’t move these days for someone being accused of being racist.

The scene in Ralph breaks the internet where the princesses are talking to vanellope about how she can only be a princess because everyone always assumes a big strong man solves her problems, is actually quite meta. Disney recognises the problems it had previously, I would hope that it is going some way to make up for it now.

It's a fact though, it's not merely the teacher's opinion. Does your son get taught history in school, if so do you object to the content of world history on the basis you don't like your son being taught the facts?

Hate to break it to you but Roald Dahl isn't who everyone thinks he is either.

I know. I hate hat Roald Dahl quite about nice thoughts make sunbeams shine from your face because it basically implies that if you aren’t smiling or pretty, you are horrid on the inside.

NaviSprite oh god is it weird if I admit that I had a MASSIVE crush on Robin Hood? It’s not weird to be into foxes, right? There definitely must have been something about that film because it’s the one I remember most from my childhood.

I liked Hercules, but that’s another example of where Disney had to change the source to make it more kid-friendly - portraying Zeus as a kind (if eccentric) chap in a loving relationship with Hera... Ha! “I won’t say I’m in love” is one of my all time top Disney songs though.

pinkstripeycat but this isn’t an example of the “cancel culture” that goes too far in stifling meaningful debate. This is saying that portraying Asian cats as buck toothed slant eyed idiots with exaggerated accents is pretty off by today’s standards; and having a black crow literally called Jim Crow ; is also pretty wide of the mark

YABU.
It's excellent that children are having their eyes opened to be analytical and look beyond what they're shown. I wish when I was younger that I'd been shown that there's more to a story than meets the eye. It'll allow your child to develop a skill to look beyond what the media show. It's very powerful.
I learned these skills at university whereby I had to unlearn everything is 80's kids were taught. We were convinced to just look at the story and take from that, never to fathom out for ourselves the hidden messages in literature or media. The children being taught this from a young age will be able to develop this skill and become an amazing generation...if we let them.