Quick Snippet: Up: Beta, Alpha, and the Rest of the Dog pound
I went to see Up last week with my youngest niece. Rather, I paid for her to take a nap in the AC after traveling to the movies in Miami heat. First and foremost, I agree with the majority of America: Up is an incredible movie all the way around. I am not sure it is a children’s movie because some of the concepts are beyond the attention span of the typical 4 or 5 year old but it is great nonetheless. I loved laughing at Carl, the lovable grumpy old man who attempts to take a “solo” trip with Ellie on a magical ride to Paradise Falls, Russell, Dug, and the rest of the gang. Squirrel. (If you saw the movie you get the joke, if you didn’t, what are you waiting for?)
Okay, by now you know that this is not just me writing about how much I enjoyed Up. Jeremy and I are both graduate students trained to overanalyze everything, pick up on the smallest details, and make explicit the implicit. When watching the movie, though, something stood out to me that I couldn’t put my finger. It wasn’t until I searched IMDB that I realized what it was. Did anyone else notice that Beta, the Rottweiler, was Black? He is “played” by Black actor Delroy Lindo who some of you may remember from Romeo Must Die (he was Aaliyah's Dad). I had to laugh because of all the main dogs in the movie the Rottweiler was black. What is more, in looking at the credits, it appears that out of the dogs, Lindo is the only real actor. The rest already work for Pixar as sculptors, writers, or directors like Jerome Brandt, Bob Peterson, and Josh Cooley. In other words, they actually sought out Lindo to play Beta but stayed in house (and white) for the rest of the dog of note in the movie.
If anyone is familiar with the association between dog ownership and race, certain breeds of dogs are “racialized” and even classed in the media and in print. I am not claiming statistical fact. What I am saying, however, the representation of the association between race and certain breeds of dog is slanted in public forums. When you look at MTV Cribs, what race of individuals always showcase their Rottweilers in large cages or running around the sprawling green pastures of their multimillion dollar homes? Given the recent conviction of Michael Vick (and even before that), dog fighting (although not exclusively Black), is also tied to certain breeds of dog (in this particular case, pit bulls) and certain races.
A similar but more direct criticism of this kind was made, as many of you will remember, against Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks. People argued that his dialect, behavior, and even appearance—to put it differently, his entire being—parodies those of slave and blacks soon after emancipation. I bring up Jar Jar Binks and the debate over how he parodies a particular time period of African American culture as a parallel. I do not, however, call foul on Pixar for casting Lindo for the voice of Beta though I think it important to bring up. I must say that I liked Beta in the movie; he has some good lines that make you laugh too. Again, I thought this was interesting to point out. Am I being too forgiving of Pixar on this one because I liked the movie?
One last thing that I cannot begin to write on intelligently right now is why my gender studies sense perked up with Alpha. Why did his voice have to sound “girlish” because of his broken collar? Why did he not sound like a robot or like an announcer on a bad radio? Just as they purposefully sought out Lindo, they made the decision to make Alpha’s voice the way it was. I know it was for comedic effect. Personally, I think the “contrast” between his voice and body is what was supposed to be funny to us and all. But this has some assumptions about masculinity (more generally) that I am just not quite ready to buy.
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Good post! I noticed this about the Beta character as well. I think the problem honestly stems more from the nature of the feature animation industry than anything else: the historical composition of the community has been 90% white & male.
ReplyDeleteIssues like racial sensitivity and exploration just don't come up very often in primarily homogeneous communities. It's like race politics in Maine. The trend is changing though, and in another generation I think we'll see a significantly greater number of mainstream Black, Hispanic, and female feature animation directors and producers.
Whether their presence will have any impact on such tightly moderated (read: expensive) projects remains to be seen.
Thanks. I just found it interesting that Lindo's voice is the only "outside" voice with respect to the dogs who make a real appearance in the film. I mean, this isn't the first time where "extras" come from the design/sculptor/animation teams, But for them to seek an outside voice for Beta seems like a conscious decision to me. I mean, Lindo could not have been cheap either; he is a legitimate actor in his own right.
ReplyDeleteThoughtful post and kudos for the observation. I haven't seen the movie (yet!) but this isn't a surprise. As a socially conscious black female, avid Disney fan and history/sociology major, I can say with confidence that this isn't the first time Disney has racialized animals or inanimate objects. Some examples:
ReplyDelete1. In the recent "Cars", Flo (a sassy, outspoken Cadillac) and Ramone (a flame-decorated lowrider who owns a bodyshop) conform to classic African-American and Hispanic stereotypes.
2. "The Lion King" is widely considered (by black people at least) to be the first black Disney movie. Happily, this perception will change with the release of "The Princess & The Frog"
3. The crows in "Dumbo" are definitely caricatures of southern Blacks.
4. While not a Disney movie, "Transformers" features Jazz is a breakdancing, boombox carrying 'bot...who gets killed at the end of the movie. Incriminating, to say the least.
Thanks. I totally agree that this isn't the first time. Let's not forget Disney's not so race friendly (to put it midly) beginnings and the like. You are absolutely right about "Cars," "Lion King," and "Dumbo." But we can also throw "Jungle Book" into the mix. Many different ethnic groups made a bit of an uproar about "Jungle Book" and also the tv cartoon spinoff "Talespin"--Baloo, King Louie, and the rest of the gang.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a jab at all but I am curious if you are really excited about the potential behind "The Princess and the Frog" or are you waiting until you see if first? There has been much talk about the movie but I am not quite sure where I stand yet. I plan to see it but don't want to get my hopes up too high to be let down.
Ack. Technological difficulties are preventing me from copying and pasting the note on Russell from Up, who was Asian, but basically, what I emailed Tony was how it was neat to see Disney get it a bit more right by having a major character be identifiably Asian only in somuch as he was animated as phenotypically looking Asian. His being Asian was not a big deal, and his part wasn't that of the "Asian Kid" -- he was just the kid, who happened to be Asian.
ReplyDeleteTwo other brief notes: One, Jazz, in Transformers, needs to be understood in the context of the original cartoon, in the 80s, in which Jazz was as identifiably "black" (inasmuch as alien robots can be racialized) as he was in the movie. At the time, though, that was part of a kind of first-wave pop-culture multiculturalism: Jazz was "black," but other transformers were similarly raced. There was Ironhide, who was kind of an old Southern shit-kicker type, and in the first animated transformers movie, Kup was clearly an old Jew. So in Transformers, Jazz's character and voice needs to be understood in that earlier context...
Lastly -- have you seen Rachel Getting Married? Tiff and I watched it while taking some vacation, and the subplot of the movie (ostensibly about Anne Hathaway's character) is Rachel -- who, as the title suggests, is getting married. Her spouse is a black man in the music business who wears - lord help us - Kanye sunglasses all the time, but the guests at the wedding are of every ethnic background (just about), and the wedding is India themed. Despite this all happening in Stamford, CT.
So there's a lot going on there, not all of which left me with a positive taste in my mouth. Curious to hear your thoughts on it.
Eli, thanks for the comment as well as the historical context of the Tranformer characters. I think it is interesting to look at the racial background of Russell. There have been other Asian characters in Disney movies--Mulan and Aladdin (if we have a less stereotypical vision of what Asia is). I know there are problems with both films with respect to race/ethnicity as well. Am I wrong in thinking about Russell as Asian American? This was my thought leaving the movie which made the "casting" of Russell even more progressive that I would have given Disney and Pixar credit for. But you are right, the fact that they did not make a big deal about it is another positive about such a great movie. As you can tell, I really enjoyed it and cannot wait for it to come out on DVD.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to the movie, I have not seen it but will try to in the near future.
Great analysis.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, there was a black girl in my class that commented about animal characters in Disney movies that were centered around a human character always being "played" by black actors.
That's a frequently upheld phenomenon, and the bit about it being certain kinds of breeds in animal-centric cartoons really expounds on that.
Better late than never...lol. I am very much looking forward to "The Princess and the Frog". I grew up on Disney movies and the closest I ever got to a princess who reflected my background was Pocahontas(I have a bit of Creek Indian heritage). I've seen trailers and was initially offended by the buck-toothed, hick-sounding Cajun firefly but realized that since the movie takes place in New Orleans there had to be a Southern stereotype, and the portrayal of Southerners as uneducated and "country" is not race specific.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest regret is that they didn't give Tiana a black prince. It seems that although relationships with black men and women are increasingly gaining exposure in mainstream movies, aside from Tyler Perry movies these are interracial (see Will Smith & Eva Mendes in "Hitched", Jon Krasinski & Mya Rudolph in "Away We Go", the aforementioned "Rachel Getting Married", etc). It is so rare to see healthy black on black relationships in the media, and it would have been great for Disney to show little black girls that Prince Charming can look like their fathers.
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ReplyDelete