Disneys Impact on Kids

By: Alexis Pemberton

Picture Disneyland: with castles, bright colors and lively faces all around, it must really
be the happiest place on earth, to a child. Brothers, Roy and Walt Disney, first opened "the
Disney brothers studio" in 1923. They created the iconic, Mickey Mouse, and revolutionized
the world of cartoons. The studio went on to make the some of the first, feature length cartoon
films including, "Snow White". Nowadays, Disney makes more than $34 billion a year. As well,
they have created some of the most well-known films that are loved worldwide (Bodden 4). Yet,
Is Disney really so great for children? - I think not. Disney teaches children to adopt attitudes
that are unacceptable in society and have negative consequences on their well-being.

It has been said by some that Disney has a positive effect on children, by teaching them
to never give up. After all, Walt was bankrupt, unskilled at drawing and had no job in his humble
beginning. Yet, he never stopped following his dream until he was finally able to open a studio
with his brother. After his first success, Oswald the lucky Rabbit, was stolen from him he
aspired to make a feature length cartoon (Bodden 6-10). Critics told him that "no one would sit
still for an hour and a half of cartoons"(Bodden 10). When his film "Snow White" premiered it
was a true success and proved that you should never give up. Although his perseverance was an
admirable trait, it may have been one that led to his death. It is a well-known fact that Walt
Disney was a cigarette smoker for nearly all of his life. Unfortunately, his mentality of never
quitting was also attributed to this part of his life. Due to the fact that he never quit smoking, his
death, of lung cancer can be attributed to this habit (Bodden 26). Therefore, Disney has a

negative impact on children because his lesson to never give up has negative repercussions many
situations.
Similarly, Disney has a negative impact on kids because many of his films promote
drug use. The first case of this is that within the film "Snow White". The drug Cocaine, also
known as snow white, comes from the leaves of a plant named Erythoxylum coca (Fischman
267). The drug became widely used in the 20th century, mainly in the form of a powder which is
ingested or snorted ("Cocaine"). You may be wondering how this is related to the story "Snow
White", listen carefully to the main symptoms of cocaine use. Each of these things can be closely
represented by the names of the seven dwarves: Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Bashful, Grumpy, Sleepy
and Doc. First, Cocaine acts as an anesthetic causing impulses of nerves in the eyes, nose and
throat. With use, it constricts the blood vessels of the nose causing a chronic runny nose.
Secondly, when cocaine is used it produces a sense of euphoria or a high. Thirdly, cocaine use
creates extreme mood swings such as happiness, shyness, depression and anger. Fourth of all,
cocaine provides relief from fatigue while using it, but with addiction it can cause sleep problems
("Cocaine"). Lastly, the only way to get over a cocaine addiction is with treatment. Doctors will
provide addicts with rehabilitation, behavioral therapy and relapse prevention (Fischman 272).
Clearly, this shows that Disney has exposed children to drugs. This has a negative effect on kids
because it makes drugs look like a positive thing. Secondly, the promotion of drug use is used in
the film "Alice in Wonderland". The movie depicts the story of a young girl, who follows a
talking white rabbit down a hole into a magical land. One of the first things related to drugs, is
the use of "magical mushrooms" and other foods, to change the physicality of Alice (Is Alice in
Wonderland really about drugs?).These items are clearly related to real drugs such as "magic
mushrooms" and other hallucinogens. As well, Alice is even shown having visions such as the

White Rabbit and the Chersire cat, further detailing she may be taking drugs (Is Alice in
Wonderland really about drugs?). Secondly, aside from taking drugs herself, some of the people
she meets in wonderland promote drugs as well. For example, the caterpillar Alice meets during
the film is shown smoking a very detailed pipe (Is Alice in Wonderland really about drugs?). It
is never specified what he is smoking and he even offers Alice the mushrooms she eats to change
her size. Clearly this shows kids that drugs are positive because characters in this movie use
them to solve problems. Lastly, in drug related songs like Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" he
says "When the men on the chessboard get up/ And tell you where to go/ And you've just had
some kind of mushroom/ And your mind is moving low/ Go ask Alice, I think she'll know"(Is
Alice in Wonderland really about drugs?). This implies that Alice has been doing drugs because
the entire movie is disconnected from real life, just like the human mind on drugs described in
the song. Evidently, because they are not shown the negative impact of drugs they may do drugs
in the future. Therefore, Disney has a negative impact on kids because they will be willing to
imitate these characters and do drugs.

Third of all, Disney has a negative impact on children because he depicts sexist
attitudes as acceptable in his films. In 2011, the book Princess Recovery: A how-to guide to
raising strong, empowered Girls who can create their own happily ever afters explained that
Disney princesses may be causing a major issue with girls in America (Teitel). The author
American child psychologist, Jennifer Hartstein says that these stories may be teaching your
daughter everything from only appearances matter to dont expect to rely on yourselfyoull
need a prince to rescue you (Teitel). She claims that too much exposure to these films creates
what she calls Princess Syndrome, an obsession with appearances, vanity and self-esteem
issues. Do you really think these are things your daughter should be exposed to? Not only do

these things affect her mentality they affect the mentality of males as well. Most Disney
princesses are shown as dim, destitute and often forced to take on the role of a maid. This teaches
little boys that all girls follow this stereotype and they grow up seeing women as objects with
little purpose besides saving. Also, the males in Disney films are shown as strong, un-emotional
and brave. This creates issues for boys who do not fit these standards because they may be
bullied or teased for being feminine. Secondly, I have observed that nearly every Disney film in
creation shows Princesses being saved by someone or something. This makes girls believe they
cannot be independent and must rely on others. In the past, Disney came under fire for being
sexist after nearly every princess was rescued by a man. In recent films such as Frozen,
Maleficent and Brave Disney has tried to portray that women do not need a man to save
them. Yet, these stories still show sexist attitudes because even though the princesses are not
relying on men they are still not independent (Teitel). For example, in Frozen the two sisters
save each other with their love, but the character Ana is shown as clumsy and is always aided
by her male side kick Kristof. This shows that women in these films are still not able to rely on
themselves. Lastly, Disney stereotypes each gender and teaches kids that they can only like
certain toys because of their sex. This is shown through the story of Natalie Wreyford, a woman
who planned a Star wars themed birthday for her son and daughter. After visiting two Disney
stores she could not find a Princess Leia doll from the movie. The shelves were filled with
dolls of the male characters in this film but none of the female lead. Natalie then tweeted Disney
asking why this had happened and they replied saying that they have no plans for any Princess
Leia products at their companys stores (Prynne). This shows that Disney is stereotyping toys
based on gender because they did not want girls to like this movie and therefore made nothing

for them. Evidently, Disney has a negative effect on children because he teaches them sexist
viewpoints.
The final problem Disney poses for children is a skewed and racist view of different
cultures. One of the first issues with the races in Disney movies is that they rarely portray more
than one race, Caucasian. Unfortunately, these portrayals do not add up with the amount of these
races in the real world. In the 2006 Census, out of the age group 0 14 years old, 1,145,395 out
of the total 5,576,805 kids in this category were listed as a visible minority and this has been
rising ever since (Visible minority population, by age group (2006 Census)). Therefore Disney
is giving inaccurate portrayals of races in our world because many of his films only depict
Caucasians. Secondly, in movies such as Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Princess and the
Frog and Song of the South various races are shown in a stereotypical or racist way. First, in

Lady and the Tramp the Italians come out and serve spaghetti to the two dogs. This depicts
Italians in a stereotypical way because not every Italian person will identify with this or even like
spaghetti. This teaches children that all Italians act this way when frankly thats not true (Jackson
and Kathy). As well in Lady and the Tramp, the Siamese cats are used to represent Orientals
but as they are villains this casts them in a negative light. Their portrayal as sneaky, vile and
destructive villains may be assimilated to all Orientals although that is untrue (Jackson and
Kathy). Lastly, although other movies depict racist views, Song of the south is by far the worst.
The film tells the story of a slave owner and a slave during the time just after slavery ended. The
African Americans in this movie are given lines with grammatical errors and are essentially
portrayed as stupid. This film is clearly racist and from personal experience I have found that
Disney has discontinued this film because of its content. Therefore, Disney has a negative effect

on children because he depicts other races in a negative light; thus causing kids to adopt these
racist attitudes.
Conclusively, Disney films show attitudes such as sexism, racism and drug abuse under a
spotlight. They attempt to sugarcoat the bitter ideals of those in society making them a delectable
treat that children gobble up. Disney teaches these kids ideals that are intolerable in humanity
and have negative consequences on their mentality as they grow up. Therefore, Disney as a
whole should make their products more realistic and outline the proper lessons a child should
learn in life.

Works Cited
Bodden, Valerie. The story of Disney. Minnesota: Creative Education, 2009. Print.
Cocaine. Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014. Web. Nov. 16, 2014.
Fischman, Marian W. Cocaine. Encyclopedia of Drugs alcohol and addictive behavior. 2011:
267-272. Macmillan reference. Web. Nov. 16, 2014.
"Is Alice in Wonderland Really about Drugs?" BBC News. n.p. 20, Aug. 2012. Web. 16 Nov.
2014.
Jackson, Merlock, Kathy. "Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender,
Sexuality, and Disability." Journal of American Culture. Mar.1,2014: n.p. eLibrary. Web.
16 Nov. 2014.
Pyrnne, Miranda. The British mother who took on Disney to get her daughter a Star Wars doll
The Daily Telegraph. Dec. 6, 2014: n.p. eLibrary. Web. Nov. 2, 2014.
Teitel , Emma. Happily ever after minus the prince. Macleans. July 21, 2014: n.p. eLibrary.
Web. Nov. 16, 2014.
Visible Minority, Population by age group (2006 Census). Statistics Canada. n.p. Dec.
10,2014. Web. Nov. 19,2014.