Introduction
Before I get into the thick of what I intend on discussing I feel the need to first define Ideological Criticism, what it examines, and what it does not examine. I will also begin to describe what an ideology is, exactly, and I will also begin to define and explain the Political 
Economy Theory and how it applies to ideological criticism.
When you think of an ideology the way I would word it is as a set of ideas that present the audience with a way to view the world. It is an instrument that is usually used by the dominant elites to extend their control over others.
What ideological criticism does is that it examines how these ideas are embedded in and circulated through texts. Essentially what this means is that it seeks to find ideologies that have been placed in texts. Ideological criticism also looks at how they reflect or serve the interests of the dominant elites as well as how they largely go unnoticed and unchallenged.
Ideological criticism is not just look at the text, but it is concerned with how it is produced, structured, and the ways it interacts with our life experiences.
Moving on to the Political Economy Theory. What is it? How does it relate to ideological criticism?
The answer is that it is based on the Marxist conception of socioeconomic order. That is that it examines how media institutions, texts, practices establish and sustain existing power relations. Additionally it looks at the link between media ownership (means of production) and the ideology embedded in media texts. Political economists are also genuinely concerned with the growing power and reach that media conglomerates have in the advertising and marketing industries.
The Wonderful World of Disney…
In one of the classes we watched a film about Disney and the huge effect that it has on children as well as the media industry and how it has became not just a company that specializes in childhood imagination, but rather a conglomerate that has its hands in everything, from ESPN, the Military Channel, Lifetime television network, Buena Vista Records, Touchstone, Pixar, Baby Einstein, and the Muppets.
It is safe to say that when most people think of Disney they think back to their fondest childhood memories of some of their favorite Disney films (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, etc). At first thought, one might look at them as harmless. However, if this is the first initial thought then there have been some glaring problems that have been overlooked.
There is undoubtedly some hidden ideologies embedded within some of Disney’s films that can have a profound impact on children. The main points raised in the film were that Disney has too much control over the narratives and information people have access to, there are distorted views of femininity in Disney films, race and ethnicity are skewed in films, and that commercialism plays a huge part in their films (ulterior motives).
How much control is too much control?
The first issue raised is that Disney has an overwhelming about of control over their product. Now you might be wondering, what does this have to do with political economy theory? The answer is simple. By allowing Disney to have the amount of control over their brand image as they do right now, they have the power to shape the way their perceived image to their own liking. A prime example is how Disney has been able to monopolize the market of their image. They have policed its image (cannot use the name Disney without permission, need permission to use photographs, etc) so that it can only be viewed in a positive light. In the film, one of the men being interviewed discusses how a writer was doing a book and was going to use an aerial photograph from space of Disney World, but was unable to because Disney would not allow it. It became the first copyrighted urban environment in history. Disney has been able to hide behind their innocence and has been able to skew the world view of their image due to the amount of control they have over their image.
Femininity: How Disney conceptualizes women in their movies
One of the most striking ideologies that are embedded in the Disney films is the way femininity is portrayed in the female characters. The sexualization of the female characters is all to clear in their films. The prime examples would be the big breasts, tiny waists,
Miss Bunny from Disney's, Bambi
fluttering eyes, seductiveness, and the overwhelming sense of vulnerability that they present. Often times the female characters will be viewed as having to rely on the strong male characters in the movies. This can be seen through personification of the animal characters as well. In the film Bambi you can see the rabbit, Miss Bunny, who seduces Thumper, by acting in a very seductive way, fluttering her eyelashes and really just emphasizes the fact that in order to get what you want you have to make yourself more vulnerable. This is again seen in the film Aladdin, when Princess Jasmine seduces Jafar in order to distract him. In The Little Mermaid, Ariel gives up her voice so that she can be with the one she loves, leaving only her body to offer him. And it is seen again in Beauty and the Beast with Belle and how she stays in an abusive relationship in hope of finding the “Prince” that is hidden away in the beast. All of these examples tie into the hidden ideologies that are present in the Disney films. That is that women are merely seen as objects and that they are reliant on men for protection. Without them they are helpless. That is until they offer their body up for the taking, which is seemingly their only option. The image that they present children with that in order to be beautiful you must have the long hair, you must have the big breasts, you must have the tiny waist, and you must be willing to flaunt these to men if you are ever hopeful of finding love.
Race and ethnicity: Stereotypes and Disney
It is not until you get older that you begin to see some of the racist undertones that exist in the Disney films. As a child it is hard to fully piece together the hidden meanings that some of the characters have. The racism can be seen with African-Americans being portrayed “‘jive’ crows in Dumbo, as human-wannabe orangutans in Jungle Book.” Why is it that when it comes to the portrayal of African-Americans, they seemingly play as characters who lack basic social skills and speak in broken English or slang words. The same can be seen in the way they portray Latino’s and Asian’s. In The Lady and the Tramp the Asian characters are seen as the Siamese cats (they have buck teeth, thick accent, slanted eyes, very cunning). The only Latino characters in the Disney world is, Tito, from Oliver and Company, and Toughy from Lady and the Tramp. Both were Chihuahua’s and were labeled as irresponsible characters. Tito can be seen in the movie as wanting to steal a car and take it for a spin. This is giving children a misrepresentation of what people from these backgrounds are like which only perpetuates the continuation of stereotypes.
The commercialization of a childhood
The last ideology that I will be discussing is how Disney has strategically positioned themselves as a company whose purpose is not to entertain children, but rather a company who seeks to present children with a fantasy world filled with characters, and then cash in on
Money Hungry Mickey
those characters. What children fail to realize is that when a new Disney film is presented to them they have now been targeted by Disney. I say they have been targeted because they are now viable consumers of a brand new Disney product and will be sought after. The films are merely being used as a vehicle to push through a wide array of products which range from plastic dolls, bed sheets, pajamas, t-shirts, lunch boxes, board games, video games, costumes, shoes, and the list continues on. You name it and it will be made into a Disney product. The ideology is that if you get the child attached to the film then they will want the costume, they will want the “actual” sword seen in the film, they will want the dress the princess wore, they will want whatever it is being sold to them because what Disney has been able to do is take away their ability to use their own imagination. The advertising that Disney does for these products has gotten to the point where they can’t not avoid it.
Final Thoughts…
So what does all this mean in terms of the bigger picture? Why did we just examine the Disney culture that, on the surface, appears to be harmless?
The answer is simple and straightforward. The reason why we looked at the ideologies embedded in the Disney culture is because, yes on the surface Disney is a seemingly harmless entity, but when looked at under a microscope, one begins to see some of the glaring issues that is associated with this company. The ideologies that were revealed here was that Disney has a skewed version of the world the surrounds them. They have a firm grip on their image and the power that they have over that image allows them to continue portray themselves in a positive way. They also have this obsession of sexualizing their female characters and continue to push a message to little girls that their body is an asset that they should use to get what they want, and that they should be reliant on men as their “saviors.” Up until 2009, Disney had never had a black character in any of their films and the princess’ were primarily white. The only roles that blacks had were as animals. This was also the case for Latino’s and Asian’s (until Mulan for Asian’s). Lastly one of the hidden ideologies that were embedded in the Disney culture is the commercialization of childhood. The films that they would release were merely seen as a way to push products onto generations of children.
This is important to look at because it allows the audience to see how exactly the media has been able to force their ideologies onto the mainstream culture, more importantly how they are subtly permeating these ideas into the minds of children.
tsalas07 