Mickey Mouse Monopoly

The influence that Disney has on our culture is quite significant. I have always associated the company with imagination, fantastic stories, and unending childhood. I did not realize, until we watched the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, that some of the messages within Disney films are negatively portraying social groups, ethnicities, women, and history.

Disney is everywhere, and throughout childhood, American children watch Disney movies and then internalize their messages. This makes since, how many little girls want to be a Disney princess for Halloween? How can we progress from gender roles if the movies we watch as impressionable children reinforce that it is female to bat your eyes, use your body to get what you want, and that one should love an angry and violent beast?


The way ethnic groups are portrayed in stereotypical fashion, and this no doubt contributes to their perpetuation in society. How come there aren't any African princes or princesses? We allow Disney to tell our children stereotypes that we should be breaking free of!

The rewriting of historical accounts also disturbs me. As a company producing fictional stories, they have the right to make movies portraying events in any way they choose. However, the impact is startling. I know from first hand experience that it is difficult to replace the scenes from a movie with what really happened historically. For example, I had watched Disney's Pocahontas before I learned about it in school. I was disappointed that the story I thought to be true was, in fact, not. Even today, I can still remember the storybook version far better than the actual historical accounts. Pretty scary.