As in The Jungle Book, the animals reflect the local fauna, but not the local culture. On the mountain, Kenai is cornered by Denahi, but their battle is interrupted by Koda, who steals Denahi's spear. "[35] Kenneth Turan, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times, complimented "the richness and fluidity of its visuals" and the "satisfying ending", but derided that "Brother Bear has an appeal that can't be denied. Once Pinocchio escapes, he's almost immediately carted off to Pleasure Island, where badly behaved boys drink, smoke, and generally wreak havoc. Is Brother Bear Cultural Appropriation. Every other character speaks in British English, implying that the "Jungle Book" apes embody historically dehumanizing, racist comparisons between black people and apes. Don't call me a leading man. I would love to see Disney make a movie set in India with human characters. And, believe me, that reality still lives hidden away out there among our American Indians. A Beautiful Girl I Knew Became a High-Class Escort And Paid a Terrible Price. As George Chesterton writes for GQ, "If we can only exist in and guard the cultures we emerged from, from those we resemble, we will shrink into the superficiality of newly contrived tribes . [10] However, Blaise explained that "we were struggling [with the story], trying to get some charm into the film. We also get a specific hint about location: Kenai, the name of the film's star, is also the name of an early-known native village on the east side of Cook Inlet in southwestern Alaska. At first glance, it appears that this is a harmless act. Disney chose to cut them out entirely, probably to avoid having to deal with the racist themes of the original story. In a cultural sense, "Brother Bear" is nothing if not inclusive. Theres a song performed by a Bulgarian choir using Yupik lyrics written by an Alaskan professor. Sami people traditionally raise reindeer to pull sleds but they dont typically ride them. Disney wisely avoided recreating this scene in the "Dumbo" remake, but they cheekily reference it. Do you find the movie Brother Bear offensive and/or inaccurate? On Disney Plus, Disney has since added a disclaimer to "Dumbo" that said the movie contains racist stereotypes. Contrary to speculation, news writer Jim Hill stated the release date switch was not because Home on the Range was suffering from story rewrites, but to promote Brother Bear on the Platinum Edition release of The Lion King. When it comes to cultural portrayal, Disney has to walk the line between representation and appropriation. [41] The film grossed $85.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $165.1 million in international territories, bringing its worldwide total to $250.4 million.[2]. "The Emperor's New Groove's" Kuzco, and "Brother Bear's" Kenai all have one thing in common they're main characters of color in Disney movies who spend almost all of their respective stories . Not offensive, but then again, the tribe portrayed in the movie isn't mine. This year's Met Gala theme China: Through the Looking Glass was just begging for cultural appropriation, which led many starlets to play it safe with minimal references to China.Emma Roberts, however, earned herself Twitter backlash for wearing chopsticks in her hair.. Chopsticks in the hair is one of many broadly "Asian" styles tried on by Western dressers (for what it's worth . In that sense, every person in the tribe is a shaman in his or her own right. See more. [13] Layout artist Armand Serrano, speaking about the drawing process on the film, said that "we had to do a life drawing session with live bear cubs and also outdoor drawing and painting sessions at Fort Wilderness in Florida three times a week for two months []". The main protagonist is half Japanese and is played by an actor who is also half Japanese. "The hyenas had to change a lot," said Jon Favreau in Disney's press notes for the new movie. However, upon realizing that Koda needs him because of his own mistake, Kenai asks Sitka to transform him back into a bear with Denahi's support. Best. The two hyenas who speak are voiced by actors of color (Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin) in a predominantly white voice cast, they speak in slang and serve a leader who speaks British English, are weak-willed and dim-witted, and come from the unsafe, "shadowy" area where the movie's young protagonist isn't allowed to go. [5], As is typical for animation voice acting, Suarez and Phoenix voiced their roles separately, although they both did a recording session together at least two times. The spirits call upon Tahana to reveal to each member of her tribe their totem spirit power. The Sami officials were pleased with Kristoff though. Aladdin was Disneys first attempt at a non-European folktale. Writers. However, since Snow White is unconscious and essentially dead during the scene, this kiss could be viewed as non-consensual and an act of assault. Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It ranges from the aggressively entitled stance of, "I can do whatever I want!" to the perpetually angry approach of "everything is cultural appropriation!". . Life in this cold climate was extremely difficult, and it behooved everyone to have some form of medicine power. However, by this time next year they will be well on the way to becoming a main attraction for visitors to Washington, D.C.. Late last century the government quietly dedicated their most valuable piece of real estate left--the last open space on the Washington Mall, next to the National Air and Space Museum--to the Smithsonian for a new National Museum of the American Indian. Brother Vellies . The film's music collaborators, Nate "Rocket" Wonder and Roman GianArthur, voice them, and they sing a new song called "What A Shame.". He gets caught in a trap, but is freed by an outgoing bear cub named Koda. Collins's lyrics for the song were first translated into Iupiaq. Even though the US is made up of many different cultures, "exotic" is a . The voice actors were American and African-American. Saludos Amigos (1942) & The Three Caballeros (1944). ", A few examples of Disney villains people believe are queer-coded include Scar from "The Lion King," Jafar from "Aladdin," Hades from "Hercules," King Candy from "Wreck-It Ralph," and Ursula from "The Little Mermaid.". By: David Marcus. Cultural appropriation is a seriously hot-button topic. Yes, powerful shamans who could cure were rare, but the use of medicine powers was not. The 2014 film "Maleficent," which is told from the villain's point of view, attempts to resolve the problematic scene by focusing on the untold story of Maleficent's eventual bond with Aurora. Cultural appropriation is the "adoption or taking of specific elements of one culture by another without substantive reciprocity, permission, compensation, understanding, or appreciation" (Chepp, 2012). On the positive side, Disney can shine their spotlight on various countries and cultures, depict diverse people and ideas, and promote openness and understanding. Examples of Cultural Appropriation 1. Now imagine if they did an animated movie like Moana, but with a black African Disney princess. Brother Bear follows an Alaska native boy named Kenai as he pursues a bear and kills it, but the Spirits, incensed by this unnecessary death, change Kenai into a bear himself as punishment. [31], On the syndicated television show At the Movies, film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper both gave the film positive reviews. It is based on the famous Arabic tale set in Arabic China. When patterns of borrowing fail to acknowledge their sources and compensate them, they can be categorized as cultural appropriation. "In an effort neither to offend audiences in the North or South, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery ['Song of the South'] unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship, which is a distortion of the facts," the NAACP said in a 1946 statement. There are two songs performed and written by a Hawaiian musician. Both animals get drunk in a controversial moment that involved dancing pink elephants. Authenticity comes from being original, which can include everyone, as no one individual shares the same unique experiences as another. But if festivals are a space for freedom of expression, where is the line betw. As we meet Kenai, his two elder brothers have already received their totem spirit helpers from Tahana. The film, which was released in the United States on November 1, 2003, received mixed reviews from critics and received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards, losing to Pixar's Finding Nemo. The voice cast is entirely American and white, but Disney hired a Sami musician to write the opening song. This was a wrap on a small film produc. Tahana reveals that his spirit helper is the bear. The rest of the songs are Elvis Presley songs. If you haven't watched 1940's "Pinocchio" in a while, you might mainly remember the movie for its lovable titular puppet and the song "When You Wish Upon a Star." Its exactly the kind of folktale that Disney likes to adapt, but with Arabic motifs. Its too anachronistic to be taken as a serious attempt at cultural representation. This type of cultural appropriation is a form of dehumanization. This begins to official process of consideration to change your local mascot from a racist depiction to something more culturally appropriate. Look for much more on American Indian medicine powers to come. Some of the English characters are voiced by English actors, like Alice and Robin Hood. Koda begins by teaching him humility. Calling "cultural appropriation" is an easy way to call attention to an infraction, real or imagined. It inspired me to take a look at the history of cultural representation in Disney movies. Along the way the two eventually form a brother-like relationship. "It feels like the culmination of a whole story's worth of emotional abuse and grooming.". In our remote-control cultural context, that figure tops out at 15 seconds, max. Your email address will not be published. Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player. It features sailboats, coconuts, palm trees, pigs, chickens and tattoos. There's a big difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. Of course, the former is a much larger portion . Queer-coding is when writers consciously or unconsciously include stereotypes about LGBT people as characteristics of a character without their sexuality being part of a broader story. The DVD also included a documentary on the production of the film, an audio commentary track by Rutt and Tuke with an option for visual mode, an artwork gallery narrated by the artists, three deleted scenes, two games called "Find Your Totem" and "Bone Puzzle", and two music videos with Phil Collins. So Kenai is given a great power. [3] In order to be human again, Kenai must travel to a mountain where the Northern lights touch the earth. Definitely a winning combination. [24][25] By January 2005, the film had earned $169 million in home video sales and rentals. Its a cool concept, and they cast African-American actors to voice the African-American characters, but I thought it was a bit weird to make Tiana the pseudo-servant of a rich white girl. He has been criticized for cultural appropriation, stirring up controversy to drum up publicity, and, perhaps most frequently, for his former rap moniker, "Rich Chigga," "chigga" being a . At the end of the movie though, an Indian girl appears wearing a bindi and she sings a strange song that seems to imply that things never really change in the jungle. Only then will we be close to a world that is more equal and respectful of others. Because Blaise, Walker, and Williams enjoyed Duncan's vocal performance, Tug, the de facto leader of the bears at the salmon run, was written into the film. Rafiki might be meant to be some sort of African shaman (?). During a discussion among the bears, Koda tells a story about his mother recently fighting human hunters on a glacier, reminding Kenai of his and his brothers' fight with the bear that led to Sitka's death, making him realize that the entire time, the bear he killed was Koda's mother. [19], Brother Bear was originally slated for a spring 2004 release, while Home on the Range was scheduled for a 2003 release. Most people had at least one small power. I hope in the future they do more fairy tales set in real places. [5] Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, an associate professor who taught courses on Alaska Native philosophy at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, claimed he was never given a script, but was instead given "the dialogue that they had written, which was being told by a Native person". It was a bit of a disappointment, because I [usually] write songs that I sing myself. The DVD release consisted of two separate discs, which were both THX-certified. This blending of two cultures is a timely concept and a nice love letter to immigrants. Disney doesnt have anything new on its horizon as of now. The Jungle Book was Disneys first feature-length adventure outside of Europe and the United-States. "[11] After the filmmakers heard his audition tapes for Finding Nemo, Jeremy Suarez was cast as Koda. "Because of the photo-real nature of the film, having too broad of a comedic take on the hyenas felt inconsistent with what we were doing.". "Noticeably marked by their ethnically coded 'street' accents, the hyenas blatantly symbolize racist and anti-Semitic stereotypes of 'verminous' groups that form a threat to society.". The Spirits, represented by Sitka's spirit in the form of a bald eagle, arrive and transform Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body evaporates and joins them. Since they cancelled Gigantic, everything they have planned is a sequel. These teepees are not only the perfect place for a child's imagination to run wild, but also add a whimsical design touch to the room . Three Cheers for Cultural Appropriation. Sitka complies, and Kenai is transformed back into a bear. Jacky Chan was at the height of his comedic career in the late 90s, and he voiced a part in the Chinese dub of Mulan, so Disney literally had him at their disposition! They tried. "[33] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a playful movie that celebrates nature and the spirit world with striking imagery and a smooth blend of drama and comedy. In Disney's 1995 film "Pocahontas," the love between the movie's titular Native American protagonist and John Smith (a white Englishman sent to help "settle" America) effectively puts an end to the conflict between their two communities. By disproportionately turning people of color into animals and other entities in their films, fans argue Disney doesn't allow them to learn and grow in their human forms like nearly all of the studio's white characters. Bear shamans are also well known for the ability to transform into a bear. The concept of ohana (family in Hawaiian) is central to the movie. One of the great American myths about native shamans is that they were rare. The terminology we find amongst proponents of cultural appropriation - "homage", "borrowing", and "sharing" - centers the desires of those who take artistic expression for profit. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear, but a fight ends on top of a glacier, during which Sitka gives his life to save his brothers by dislodging the glacier, although the bear survives the fall. ", Much like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the 1959 film "Sleeping Beauty" also includes a pivotal scene where a man kisses an unconscious woman. "Don't you think that it's weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission?" The film was the third and final Disney animated feature produced primarily by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida; the studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this film in favor of computer animated features. Festival fashion has recently come under criticism for cultural appropriation. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 131 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10. One major criticism Keziah received was that she profaned the dress by wearing it to a party.