So in the spirit of a great convo I just had with @BridgetPhetasy about how intersectionality essentially represents the antithesis of great art, I will now use art to demonstrate the silliness of most of this list. Specifically Disney movies 😂okay here goes, bear with me:
1. This makes sense but isn't always the case. You shouldn't trust POC just because we're POC. That's insulting. Ernesto de la Cruz definitely should not have been trusted in Coco and it would be silly to argue otherwise just because he's brown.
2. This is true. Pocahontas and Moana had two totally different experiences and upbringings just like me and the author's upbringings and ideas are also totally different.
#9. This is a lesson in almost every major Disney movie and also the opposite of this list.
#14: Remember in Freaky Friday, when the mother Tess and the daughter Anna were constantly complaining about each other until they walked a mile in each other's shoes? It would be interesting to see that happen to the author and a white person; they're not so different.
17. This one really takes the cake. Remember how it was assumed that Aladdin couldn't possibly have a heart of gold because he didn't come from a certain socioeconomic background? That he couldn't possibly relate to the princess in a way that mattered?
Yeah.
Yeah.
19. Remember how in Finding Nemo (and every Disney movie), Nemo is helped and assisted by his other fish friends? That's ridiculous. Nemo can't possibly understand what it's like to be Gil, an injured depressed older dude. So why did he seek his advice in the first place? Ugh.
#21. Oh wait apparently it's okay for Nemo to ask Gil advice or something. But only when Gil wants to give it, God forbid they should be actual friends and just talk openly about things.
24. You know how Bunny from Winnie the Pooh is a super angst-filled dude who doesn't quite know what he wants sometimes? I feel like the author is in his headspace in this piece.
24. Also read this twitter thread because I'm black 🤗
35. Watch Disney's 'The Color of Friendship' for insights on why this tale is a bit reductionist.
#39. Not all beggars are "street rats", (Aladdin) not all hunchbacks should be written off, (HoN) not all Scottish princesses want to be married off (Brave) and not all black people think like this author.
#42. Every great Disney movie is about how people can literally be anything including a cowboy or a prince at heart or a musician or a Boy Scout or an archer or a horrible priest or a lovely godmother or an unlikely chef or an innovative ant you see where I'm going with this? 😂
62. You know, I don't think I need a Disney movie to illustrate why this isn't right. Just know that most of us aren't this fragile and if we are we should be challenged to be stronger than this.
63. Of course people will stare at them because the author practically called for this in number 62. This is like saying don't expect Aladdin to be what you stereotype him to be but also please stereotype him.
96. Imagine if this was told to Quasimodo or that dude who was turned into a beast. In fact here's a reminder that the beast in Beauty and the Beast was turned into one because he kept prejudging people. This is what the author is doing. I'll end here.
Oh wait one more thing: Black Panther was a movie that represented a battle between two fundamental ideas: Power with humility/responsibility (T'challa) and pride/blaming everyone else for things which led to endless rage and destruction (Kilmonger.)
Take. Heed.
Take. Heed.
