{"id":133729,"date":"2023-09-11T00:10:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T04:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=133729"},"modified":"2023-09-10T11:37:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T15:37:31","slug":"scholars-argue-disneys-zombies-movies-promote-white-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/scholars-argue-disneys-zombies-movies-promote-white-supremacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholars argue Disney\u2019s \u2018Zombies\u2019 movies promote white supremacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Racial utopia for whiteness,\u2019 two media professors argue in new paper<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A pair of scholars have claimed in a recent paper that Disney\u2019s \u201cZombies\u201d young adult musical trilogy promotes \u201cwhiteness\u201d and harmful racial stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Monstrosity and the Rhetoric of Whiteness in Disney\u2019s Zombies Trilogy\u201d argues the series \u201csustains white power and fluidity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linsay Cramer, associate professor of communication, media and culture at Coastal Carolina University, and Gabriel Cruz, assistant professor of media studies at North Carolina Central University, wrote the paper<\/a> for Critical Studies in Media Communication<\/em>, a peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese films offer pedagogical narratives for children and adolescents about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that on the surface appear well-intentioned, but actually sustain whiteness through harmful stereotypical racialized representations that foster fear and mistrust of Indigenous, [Asian-American Pacific Islanders], and Black people,\u201d the Aug. 12 paper reads.<\/p>\n

The first movie, released in 2018, depicts a charismatic zombie, Zed, and a blonde cheerleader, Addison, who fall in love throughout a series of numerous musical ballads and dance numbers and encourage their peers to see beyond skin deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Seabrook [High School] students struggle to coexist with new students from Zombietown, an unlikely friendship between a cheerleader and a zombie could unite their community for good,\u201d states<\/a> the online description.<\/p>\n

The humans represent white people \u201cbecause they are situated in brightly colored suburban homes, they play and stroll on clean beaches, and they socialize in quaint, safe, clean downtown streets and restaurants,\u201d the authors argued. \u201cFurthermore, valuing conformity, they all wear preppy, pastel-colored clothes and have midwestern accents and language choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, \u201cZombies, who are visibly darkened with green hair and grayish skin color, have their own in-group speaking that is not understood by humans, like African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and dominant white society,\u201d the scholars wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are also a musical and rhythmic culture that likes hip-hop, and they live in an inner-city space rather than the suburbs like the humans. Zombietown is visually constructed to reinforce their impoverished and lower-class status, specifically through repurposed, damaged building materials or actual refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The College Fix<\/em> emailed Cramer and Cruz to ask why they feel this type of research is important, whether they believe the film is intentionally racist, and how they think Disney should approach racial issues in the future.<\/p>\n

Cramer did not respond to two recent inquiries. Cruz declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The two subsequent films center on Zed\u2019s and Addison\u2019s continued efforts to promote unity and understanding as newcomers such as werewolves and aliens move into town. \u201cZOMBIES 3 continues what the franchise has been so good at doing, spreading messages of love, acceptance, and inclusion through song and dance,\u201d argues a 2022 review<\/a> of the movie.<\/p>\n

But the professors assert the humans in the series represent the creators\u2019 view of white people and the invaders are caricatures of black people and other minorities.<\/p>\n

Their paper describes the fictional town in which the story is set as a \u201cracial utopia for whiteness\u201d where \u201cthe humans are helpless and terrified that the inherently dangerous \u2018monsters\u2019 (black, indigenous, and other people of color\u2014BIPOC) have shown up in their human (white) space to kill, steal, and dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors accuse Disney of \u201ccultivating a post-racial anti-Blackness\u201d through the zombie protagonist Zed, played by white actor Milo Manheim, by portraying him as \u201cever-threatening, yet controlled and policed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The human female protagonist he falls in love with displays \u201cwhite racial tourism,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe extend arguments of monster theorists \u2026 to children\u2019s media by arguing that such societal discourses and inscriptions of raced Others as monsters within children\u2019s media are born out of the rhetoric of whiteness that creates and perpetuates cultural fears of raced Others,\u201d the paper states.<\/p>\n

Asked to weigh in on the argument, former Emory University English Professor Mark Bauerlein said that such \u201cexotic\u201d and \u201cattention-getting\u201d research hurts academia\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

“The thing to remember about these outlandish academic papers is the productivity mandate,\u201d Bauerlein told The College Fix<\/em> via email. \u201cAcademics must publish or perish, and the publication must involve \u2018original research.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 60 years of this mandate we have hundreds of thousands of books, chapters, essays, reviews, web sites, catalogs . . . covering every element of culture,\u201d the professor said. \u201cWhat must a young scholar do? Come up with ever more exotic, topical, and attention-getting theses. That’s what sets him apart; it’s what ensures promotion (he hopes).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the way the academic game is played now, and it helps explain why academia keeps slipping in popular repute,\u201d Bauerlein said.<\/p>\n

Cramer and Cruz cited opposition to conservative education policies as inspiration for their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cSituated within the context of anti-Critical Race Theory policies and the use of children and K-12 education as political pawns, the timely release of Zombies as a postracial narrative motivates this research,\u201d the paper\u2019s abstract reads.<\/p>\n

The media scholars co-wrote another paper<\/a> last year exploring \u201cwhite masculine victimhood appropriation and black masculine sacrifice in Marvel\u2019s Netflix series The Punisher.\u201d Cramer describes<\/a> the study of \u201cwhiteness\u201d in culture as her \u201coverarching goal as a scholar.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Here are cartoons and kids\u2019 movies the left has denounced as problematic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Disney<\/p>\n

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