"Mickey Mouse Monopoly" Review

So recently, our dorm screened a documentary called "Mickey Mouse Monopoly," which was pretty much a criticism of Disney films. My thoughts on it:

• While it brought up some interesting points, most of it seemed wayward and biased. The critics bring in all of these arguments about how certain periods in history should have been reflected instead - but come on!! These movies are targeting kids, most of whom will not be able to understand these details and complexities. Just leave it be - they decided to alter the story to fit the demographic audience, and that's fine. Kids will figure out later on their own that Pocahontas does not end up with John Smith or that Imperial China did not have matchmaker interviews as shown in Mulan.
• Sexuality - I am, by no means, a hardcore feminist. But of course I think we girls are capable of doing whatever guys can do, and sometimes we're even better at it than they are. Disney princesses are always portrayed with the perfect hourglass body and long eyelashes, but personally I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I understand that it's portraying the ideal girl and that we should learn to love our bodies, but think about this - what little girl wants to see a physically out-of-shape woman as a Disney princess?? And what sort of example would that show to our already-fat society? I do, however, agree with this film in that I think Disney should show more kickass girls who don't need to depend on a man.
• Targeting Latinos - I did have to agree with this point. Hispanics are always portrayed in the form of a chihuahua, which is really annoying, but then again, look at Taco Bell advertisements. It's not just a Disney problem, it's in a lot of our mass media.
• Targeting black people - Well, this documentary was released before The Frog Prince came out, and I have to agree that there were a lot of subtle messages about black people, most of them pretty negative. But I remembered them showing a clip of some movie from 1930-50 (might've been Jungle Book), and I was just thinking, "Really. It's the 1930's, of course it's going to be racist, what do you expect." I'm not saying it was right for them to portray black people that way, but we can look back at these films to see the historical value and learn from history's mistakes. As for showing your kids these films, that's one's personal decision as a parent, but it's a little silly to criticize Disney for something they made so long ago.
• Targeting Asians - Yes, the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp were certainly a demonstration of racism, but again, this movie was made in the 1950's, so what can you expect? I think Mulan was certainly a big improvement, though I'm not fond of how they portrayed the Mongols... 
• Targeting Native Americans - When it comes to this part of history, I always get super passionate, so I'll try to refrain from writing a lot... But the Europeans were total dicks to the Native Americans. The Native Americans, of course, are not helpless beings, but most of them had no choice against guns and germs and steel. The film Pocahontas never bothered me, but when they started showing little 8 or 9 year-old kids talking about their interpretation of that part of history, I just wanted to scream at the screen. I had never noticed before how WRONG the entire background was. NO, the Europeans did not return back to Europe because Pocahontas had saved John Smith, and NO, the Europeans and the Native Americans were not really friends. And it's sad, because it's a huge part of our American history that deserves recognition for how atrocious the widespread genocide was, but of course nobody ever likes to acknowledge that their ancestors had killed and massacred so many people just because they were a different type of people. Just sad.
• Overall though, if your kid is well-exposed and integrated into society, then he or she won't take Disney too seriously and associate all black people with orangutans and Latinos with chihuahuas. If he or she does, then there is a bigger issue at hand honestly.

I would give the documentary a 2/5 stars for educational value, and a 3.5/5 for entertainment value.