I noted some similar concerns about The Chronicles of Narnia in an earlier post for Inner Life. I agree with Naomi -- purity tests are perhaps self-defeating and even inaccurate in a post-colonial world. Although I also hear your point about how Disney's budgets might be spent.
My daughter's interest in Spanish has undoubtedly been sparked by films like Vivo, and she is an abiding fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda. I wonder how you feel about Moana, as it turns largely on indigenous cultures and creation stories, so far as I can tell?
My cynical side wonders whether a corporate brand whose top priority is making money can be expected to care about these things, except if there's a branding or marketing angle to them.
Miranda’s Hamilton is a good example of the risks an artist takes when they really indulge their natural modern magpie-like impulses: is the work historically accurate (enough), is it authentic (enough), can they get away with it?
And what a strange, hybrid, borrowing beast it is: over 20,000 words, longer than Macbeth, full of the rhyme and energy that free-verse poetry so often lacks, and delivered so fast I had to watch the filmed version (on Disney+ of course) with subtitles turned on just to be able to follow it; the songs from all sorts of genres; actors cast against type; and that great rotating stage.
The film version of Miranda’s In the Heights was less interesting, I thought. Perhaps the songs weren’t as good. But maybe because it was filmed in the neighborhood, with actors who were plausibly of the neighborhood, it lacked that almost science-fictional aspect that Hamilton possessed.
A powerful essay on Disney, art, culture and how art and film affect us--particularly children. Take a look and comment, please. Luisa Summers is worth the read ...
I’m not familiar with Lilo & Stitch, but perhaps the Elvis songs were a callback to his 60s Hawaii movies, particularly Blue Hawaii, intended for children’s parents and grandparents, a way of leavening an otherwise non-adult experience with adult pleasures. That a couple also express universal themes (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog”) is just a bonus.
According to Wikipedia, 87% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere, which probably contributes to its dominance. However, it’s worth pointing out to your son that a world map turned upside down is just as valid a representation as when it’s showing north as “up” and south as “down.” I remember when I first realized that: a bit of a shock (and I was an adult).
Yes, I think that the inclusion of Elvis songs was very much referencing his Hawaii movies, I personally just think it's a shame that Disney automatically use familiar Western cultural references and didn't use the opportunity to champion and feature solely local musicians to create a richer learning experience about Hawaiian culture.
I do love the film though! Stitch is probably one of my all time favourite Disney characters!
Ho’omalu may be a great musician, but I wonder how many viewers left the theater humming his songs instead of Elvis’s (on Tin Pan Alley that was known as the old gray whistle test: if you heard an old man in the street whistling your tune, you knew you had a hit). Many of the songs Elvis sang were written by veteran songwriters like Leiber and Stoller (“Hound Dog”), from Broadway, and Mae Boren Axton (“Heartbreak Hotel”), who was known as the “Queen Mother of Nashville.”
Music’s primary function in film is to manipulate the viewer’s emotions, but it can also have a secondary function: to entertain and connect with the audience via recognizable hits, often in incongruous contexts. Example: Strauss’s “Also sprach Zarathustra” at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps the odd musicologist in the audience could have named this piece’s opening section (“Sunrise” — duh), but most viewers just recognized it as something unexpected that made their spines tingle.
I’m reminded of the short-lived Dogma film movement from a few years back, which was concerned with film realism and “purity.” From one of its “vows”: “Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot.” That is, any music in the film must be diegetic. It’s safe to say this view has been universally rejected by filmmakers everywhere, even though I think I’m sympathetic to it and tend to like diegetic music (eg, in Blow-Up when David Hemmings enters a nightclub and the Yardbirds are playing).
Can authenticity ever mean that a culture is free from US/euro influences though? All cultures, everywhere, are influenced by the west. Hawaii is a US state, Colombia speaks Spanish. It feels like, especially with the fragonard critique, you are holding these movies to an impossible standard. How can US movies, made by Americans, about a world defined by European hegemony, ever avoid referencing the west or European culture?
You are quite right that all cultures are influenced by the West, in most cases this is due to colonisation and as you say European hegemony.
Personally, I don't think it's holding the movies to an impossible standard with these critiques, Disney's net worth is billions and they have access to huge budgets and unlimited resources when they make these films.
I think that a film made to celebrate a culture should do just that, and therefore historical and art references from that culture, not others, should be referenced. Unless these changes are made then the cycle of Western dominance continues.
It is also notable that the references to the West and European culture are never critical. There is a deleted scene from Lilo & Stitch that deals with the racism of tourists towards the locals, and the often (and historic) exoticising of non-white people. This could have been an important inclusion when portraying the lived experience of Hawaiians.
In my opinion, I think it would be a much richer learning experience for children.
I noted some similar concerns about The Chronicles of Narnia in an earlier post for Inner Life. I agree with Naomi -- purity tests are perhaps self-defeating and even inaccurate in a post-colonial world. Although I also hear your point about how Disney's budgets might be spent.
My daughter's interest in Spanish has undoubtedly been sparked by films like Vivo, and she is an abiding fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda. I wonder how you feel about Moana, as it turns largely on indigenous cultures and creation stories, so far as I can tell?
My cynical side wonders whether a corporate brand whose top priority is making money can be expected to care about these things, except if there's a branding or marketing angle to them.
Miranda’s Hamilton is a good example of the risks an artist takes when they really indulge their natural modern magpie-like impulses: is the work historically accurate (enough), is it authentic (enough), can they get away with it?
And what a strange, hybrid, borrowing beast it is: over 20,000 words, longer than Macbeth, full of the rhyme and energy that free-verse poetry so often lacks, and delivered so fast I had to watch the filmed version (on Disney+ of course) with subtitles turned on just to be able to follow it; the songs from all sorts of genres; actors cast against type; and that great rotating stage.
The film version of Miranda’s In the Heights was less interesting, I thought. Perhaps the songs weren’t as good. But maybe because it was filmed in the neighborhood, with actors who were plausibly of the neighborhood, it lacked that almost science-fictional aspect that Hamilton possessed.
A powerful essay on Disney, art, culture and how art and film affect us--particularly children. Take a look and comment, please. Luisa Summers is worth the read ...
I’m not familiar with Lilo & Stitch, but perhaps the Elvis songs were a callback to his 60s Hawaii movies, particularly Blue Hawaii, intended for children’s parents and grandparents, a way of leavening an otherwise non-adult experience with adult pleasures. That a couple also express universal themes (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog”) is just a bonus.
According to Wikipedia, 87% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere, which probably contributes to its dominance. However, it’s worth pointing out to your son that a world map turned upside down is just as valid a representation as when it’s showing north as “up” and south as “down.” I remember when I first realized that: a bit of a shock (and I was an adult).
Hi Frank,
Interesting point about the world map! I like it.
Yes, I think that the inclusion of Elvis songs was very much referencing his Hawaii movies, I personally just think it's a shame that Disney automatically use familiar Western cultural references and didn't use the opportunity to champion and feature solely local musicians to create a richer learning experience about Hawaiian culture.
I do love the film though! Stitch is probably one of my all time favourite Disney characters!
Ho’omalu may be a great musician, but I wonder how many viewers left the theater humming his songs instead of Elvis’s (on Tin Pan Alley that was known as the old gray whistle test: if you heard an old man in the street whistling your tune, you knew you had a hit). Many of the songs Elvis sang were written by veteran songwriters like Leiber and Stoller (“Hound Dog”), from Broadway, and Mae Boren Axton (“Heartbreak Hotel”), who was known as the “Queen Mother of Nashville.”
Music’s primary function in film is to manipulate the viewer’s emotions, but it can also have a secondary function: to entertain and connect with the audience via recognizable hits, often in incongruous contexts. Example: Strauss’s “Also sprach Zarathustra” at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps the odd musicologist in the audience could have named this piece’s opening section (“Sunrise” — duh), but most viewers just recognized it as something unexpected that made their spines tingle.
I’m reminded of the short-lived Dogma film movement from a few years back, which was concerned with film realism and “purity.” From one of its “vows”: “Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot.” That is, any music in the film must be diegetic. It’s safe to say this view has been universally rejected by filmmakers everywhere, even though I think I’m sympathetic to it and tend to like diegetic music (eg, in Blow-Up when David Hemmings enters a nightclub and the Yardbirds are playing).
http://www.dogme95.dk/the-vow-of-chastity
Can authenticity ever mean that a culture is free from US/euro influences though? All cultures, everywhere, are influenced by the west. Hawaii is a US state, Colombia speaks Spanish. It feels like, especially with the fragonard critique, you are holding these movies to an impossible standard. How can US movies, made by Americans, about a world defined by European hegemony, ever avoid referencing the west or European culture?
Hi Naomi,
You are quite right that all cultures are influenced by the West, in most cases this is due to colonisation and as you say European hegemony.
Personally, I don't think it's holding the movies to an impossible standard with these critiques, Disney's net worth is billions and they have access to huge budgets and unlimited resources when they make these films.
I think that a film made to celebrate a culture should do just that, and therefore historical and art references from that culture, not others, should be referenced. Unless these changes are made then the cycle of Western dominance continues.
It is also notable that the references to the West and European culture are never critical. There is a deleted scene from Lilo & Stitch that deals with the racism of tourists towards the locals, and the often (and historic) exoticising of non-white people. This could have been an important inclusion when portraying the lived experience of Hawaiians.
In my opinion, I think it would be a much richer learning experience for children.