Analyze Big Hero 6 (2014) because of the most racially diverse cast to ever be in a Disney film

Analyze Big Hero 6 (2014) because of the most racially diverse cast to ever be in a Disney film

In this discussion, I chose to analyze Big Hero 6 (2014) because of the most racially diverse cast to ever be in a Disney film, especially the main character being of biracial ethnicity (Asian and White). Here are the main characters and their ethnicities: Hiro is Japanese American, Go Go Tomago is Korean, Wasabi is African America, Joney Lemon is Latina, and lastly, Fred is Caucasian. In Rosina Lippi-Green’s article, “Teaching Children How to Discriminate”, she argues how different character’s roles and personalities in Disney films are determined by the type of language they speak and the kind of accents they speak with. She continues on how this can influence children to develop stereotypes and prejudices. Kids are swayed on how to think on certain races from the various underlying themes, whether it is to make fun of a certain ethnicity or the repetitive idolization towards American-sounding/looking characters in a film. She chose to analyze Disney because of its reputation of being children’s main entertainment. The movie, Big Hero 6, is about a robotics prodigy, Hiro Hamada, who lives in the city of San Fransokyo. He has an older brother, Tadashi, whom he was very close with. After a devastating event which leaves Baymax, a robot Tadashi invented whose purpose is to only help people, under Hiro’s care, Hiro takes on a dangerous project with Baymax and his friends—Go go Tamago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred.

Synthesis:

In the movie, the characters speak American English. There is not much of a noticeable accent spoken from any of the characters other than their personality traits to build their own characters. Hiro (male) is a 14 year old robotics prodigy who is adventurous, challenging, and brave. He seems like your typical teenager, plain clothing with black straight hair; but sticks out with his wit and genius-like brain. Fred (male) is a sign-twirling, monster-loving, wealthy friend who can get along with almost anyone. He reminds me of Shaggy from Scooby-doo with his laid back personality, baggy clothes, and shoulder length dirty blonde hair. Go Go Tomago (female) is tough, athletic, and loyal. With her cool appearance always chewing gum, leather jacket, and short black hair, one would think she’s social but is actually quite reserved. But we do get intimidating vibes from her. Wasabi (male) is an intelligent, tough neurotic who displays OCD-like traits. He seems buff and always wears green, but that is not why he is called Wasabi. He wears a headband and has nice, short dreadlocks. Honey Lemon (female) is the sweetest, most loving friend. She wears yellow clothes, has long blonde hair, and wears red glasses which goes well with her pink, big smile. They are all college students. Lastly, Baymax is the big, white robot who looks like a fluffy marshmallow. With the character’s different appearance and ethnicity, they are differentiated with their own uniqueness, but no accent can be clearly heard. A nice quote I found was when Fred said: “Can you feel it? You guys, do you feel this? Our origin story begins. We’re gonna be superheroes!”

Analyze:

The characters who make up Big Hero 6 come from diverse backgrounds, including Asian, Hispanic, white, and black descent. Usually in Disney films such as Aladdin, the main character is Middle Eastern, but the voice actor is white. In this film, they did not follow such tradition. Each character are people of color and although no accent is evident, the characters can be distinguished from one another. One notable thing featured in the film was the representation of women. Disney films that have females as the leading role are usually seen as “helpless” or “without voice”, as well as involved with some romantic storyline; however, Big Hero 6 displays Honey and Go Go as strong female characters. They are given confident, strong scripts, literally, and it inspires younger girls and boys the fact that females can be dominant. There is no stereotype evoked in the film because it features a multi-ethnic group of friends as well as a strong co-leading female role. Baymax is a humanoid in the film. It projects a male-like voice and it is very soothing as well as articulate.

Conclusion:

The movie was very positively influential and heart-warming with the racially diverse cast and strong female character. The representation in this children’s film for sure brings nothing but positive implications. Children exposed to this film, which includes diversity and gender-equality roles, will learn a lesson of acceptance and embrace of different cultures and to not always expect a different dialect. Whether we are people of color, the dialects we speak with are commonly the same in the United States; I know not everyone speaks without an accent :). It is perfectly demonstrated in this film how realistic a group of diverse friends are like n America, specifically in “San Fransokyo”, California (San Fransisco). Disney seems to be making more progress with featuring diverse characters in their films. The connection that could be made between language and culture is that we aren’t different from each other. Our culture just makes us unique. There is a progressive portrait of multiculturalism but it isn’t shouted to the audience, just very subtly and effectively portrayed. Whether we are of asian, black, white, latino, pacific islander, etc. in America, we speak with a similar accent.

student 2:

Madagascar (2005)

Introduction-

The film I chose to analyze was Madagascar, which was released in 2005 by DreamWorks. Growing up, the entire Madagascar movie series has always been something I enjoyed watching, but the first Madagascar movie has been my all-time favorite. So, when I had the opportunity to rewatch the first Madagascar film for this assignment I was very excited! Not only do I enjoy this film, but I thought it represented many themes and stereotypes through these animals well. The movie is based around a few different zoo animals who all can speak English, each with their own unique personalities. The film starts off based in Newyork City at a zoo in Central Park, but shifts over to an island in the middle of the ocean. The reason the settings change so dramatically is because one animal, a zebra’s, dream was to escape the zoo and live his “dream life” out in the wild. Overall the film captures these zoo animals’ friendship, personalities, and adventure out in the “real world.” In the article I read, “Teaching Children to Discriminate” by Rosina Lippie Green, her argument about there being linguistic linkages between characters in these Disney Films she has analyzed and the characters accents that play these roles. In my opinion, this argument is well thought out. Looking back on past films I have watched there have been consistent themes and characters that play these certain roles within different movies. Madagascar is one movie I decided to discuss in this post that represents certain stereotypes through the zoo charters within this movie.

Synthesis-

The film Madagascar was a very interesting film to analyze some linguistic linkages and stereotyped roles the different animals within the movie play, while at the same time analyzing common themes. Each character within the film speak English, some have Newyork accents, since the zoo is based in Central Park. While certain animals have their own specific accents based on the role they play. However, as the movie transitions from Newyork City the accents within some of the animals become more diverse, when new animals get introduced, since the setting transitions into an island in the middle of the ocean. Some common themes in this movie that I noticed were the idea of “good and evil” and “happy endings” This movie has both the protagonists and antagonists within the film, as well as that classic happy ending to the movie.

Analysis of Findings-

When I watched this movie I made sure to focus on all the different animals and the types of roles they play within the movie and how these roles connect to the type of animal they are and how they generally speak. One of the main characters in this movie that stood out to me when thinking of the connection between the character’s role and their accent was the hippo. The Hippo, Gloria, is known to have a big, sassy, diva-like personality and voice. Gloria feeds into a stereotype of females having that sassy or moody personality, where generally, people never think of that as a personality trait for men. Another linguistic stereotype that stood out to me in this film was the lion, Alex. Alex is represented as “the king of Newyork” and is known to have celebrity status in the zoo. Alex has what is known as the “Mainstream United States English” accent, also known as MUSE. Not only does this lion have a stereotypical caucasian name, but he portrays that stereotypical caucasian man, who is the lead role with all the “power” or “fame” within the zoo.

Conclusion-

Above are just some of the linguistic connections and common themes I found within the movie, Madagascar, however, I am sure there are more. While I do not necessarily think DreamWorks or Madagascar had any offensive or malicious intentions within this film, there are many stereotypes that are represented throughout this film. So, when asked, “What kind of impact could this film have on children and viewers?” I do not think the impact would necessarily be negative, but I think the consistent stereotypes given in this film along with many other films is something that children will subconsciously learn and think that these stereotypes are normal and perceived as something that is always true.