The ideology of cartoons | Juan Sklar | TEDxRíodelaPlata

Cartoons can be watched through the lens of ideology. From "The Lion King" to "Frozen", through "Shrek", "Mulan" and "Aladdin", writer Juan Sklar unveils a new world in which family dynamics, discrimination, racism and even class struggle are present. Going to the movies will never be the same. Reading Juan's work is a ticket to other worlds, like in his novels "We never arrived in India" and "Fourteen books", or his book of essays, "Letters to the son". He also suggests a new look to the most successful animated films in history in his book "Animated Ideologies" and in his columns on the radio.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I've got a four-year-old son
who loves to jump on the couch.

I tell him he can get hurt
and I ask him to please don't do it.

"But look, Dad," he says,
while he keeps jumping.

And he's always an inch away
from smashing his head on the table.

I shout "Goran!" --
his name is Goran --

"Goran, stop jumping right now!"

And when I scream like that
he doesn't give me a damn, either.

(Laughter)

Now let's imagine this other situation.

My son is jumping, up-down, up-down,

and suddenly he slips and gets very close
to smashing his brains out

with the tip of the table.

So I, his brave and strong father,
jump and save him.

I bring him down and after checking
that the kid is OK, I say:

"Goran, we have to talk."

I take him by the hand for a walk.

Imagine that we are not in my house.

We are in a huge meadow in Africa.

Imagine also a starry sky above us.

Imagine that suddenly an orchestra sounds.

(Music)

"Goran, I'm very disappointed in you.

You deliberately disobeyed me!

You could've hurt yourself!"

"Dad, I was just trying to be
brave like you."

"I'm only brave when I have to be.

Goran, you see, being brave doesn't mean
putting yourself in danger."

"But dad, you're not scared of anything."

"Yes, I was today."

"Really?"

"I was today. I thought that something
might happen to you."

And the moment I finish my sentence,

my little son sees the footprint
of my boot on the floor

and compares it with that of his shoe.

And then realizes that
I double him in height,

that I weight five times more than him,

and that I've been on this earth
for 32 years more than him.

And that this number, 32,

is never going to shrink
until the day I die.

(End of music)

(Applause)

It's not the same.

It's not the same because what I just did
is a scene from "The Lion King."

Cartoons, with music,
with characters, with stories,

convey messages and they do it
in a very powerful way.

We feel it in our bodies.

When I was a kid my favorite movie
was "The Lion King."

I watched it all the time.

"The Lion King" has a phrase that I love

in a song, that says "hakuna matata."

Hakuna Matata means
"no problem" in Swahili.

And it's also the philosophy
that little Simba

adopts when his father dies.

The little lion is full of guilt,
full of anguish,

so he adopts a life philosophy
that more or less goes like this:

"no worries for the rest of your days."

However, when I grew up, had a son
and watched "The Lion King" again,

I discovered that "Hakuna Matata"
is simply a stage in Simba's life.

Living in the forest,
with your friends, eating bugs,

not worrying about absolutely anything
other than your desire and your freedom.

But what Simba really has to do
is to assume his responsibilities,

return to his troop,
take the place of his father,

defeat evil and restore the circle of life.

This is the absolute opposite
to "hakuna matata."

"The Lion King" told me at age 10
how my 20's would be

and what I would need,
to engage in my 30's.

My sister liked "The Little Mermaid."

She knew all the songs.

Now, she says she doesn't like it much

because "no women should
give her voice for a man."

I think my sister never watched
"The Little Mermaid" when she grew up

because in the movie, princess Ariel
wants to be with prince Eric,

but lives repressed
by the patriarchal power of King Triton.

It's true, she gives up her voice,
but she acts in desperation!

And it's not until she gets her voice back

that she can be with the guy she wants.

In "The Little Mermaid" a silent woman
never gets what she wants.

In addition, Ariel is a character

that during the whole movie never ever
gives up on her desire.

And in that quest she makes
her father change his mind.

"The Little Mermaid" is the story

of repressed sexual female desire
that has to come up,

and the masculine power
that has step aside and listen.

How much of my sister's discomfort

with patriarchal mandates
had to do with "The Little Mermaid"?

How many of the decisions
I took in my life

had to do with "The Lion King"?

Every time I talk about this
on the radio or anywhere,

every time I talk about
cartoon philosophy,

someone says: "They have no message,
they are commercial."

Yes, they are commercial and, yes,
they earn millions of dollars,

but they can do it because
they do have philosophical content.

A movie like "Frozen," for example,
which cost USD 150 million --

without counting promotion costs --

it's bound to be meaningful.

In addition to the drawings,
in addition to the songs,

in addition to the huge
marketing machinery,

it's forced to resonate with
its own historical time of existence.

And "Frozen" does it.

It gets into the feminist discussion
about princesses.

And what does it do?

It makes them proactive
and leads them far from romantic love.

All this without touching the shoes,
the dresses and the crowns.

Cartoons create a worldview.

This was already said in 1971
by authors Dorfman and Mattelart

in their classic philosophy book
"How to Read Donald Duck,"

that's the name of the book.

That book in its final chapter
has a phrase that I love, that goes:

"As long as he strolls
with his smiling countenance so innocently

about the streets of our country,

as long as Donald is power
and our collective representative,

the bourgeoisie and imperialism
can sleep in peace."

For those authors
the number one enemy of socialism

was a duck with no pants.

(Laughter)

And they were right, because the war
between socialism and Donald Duck

was won by the duck.

Fifty years have passed since this book.

Many of the values the left wings used

to criticize Disney in the 70s

were absorbed by Disney itself

and by all the industry
of kids' entertainment.

It was said, for example,
that Disney was racist.

But in the 80s and 90s along with
the white and Christian characters

appeared Jews, Muslims,
Gypsies and Chinese.

And then Mexicans appeared,
African Americans and Polynesians.

Even today, recently,
we have a movie like "Zootopia"

which has, basically,
a great anti-racist plot.

It was said that Disney was misogynist.

And, while princesses
in the 90s were romantic,

they were already empowered.

Ariel, like we saw, fights for her desire.

Belle, from "Beauty and the Beast,"
rejects the male Gaston

who is murdered and tames the beast.

Jasmine, from "Aladdin,"
changes the Sultan's laws.

And Pocahontas, still being
in love with John Smith,

decides to stay in the
land of her ancestors.

Even sexual diversity
is included in 90's Disney.

"Mulan," for example,
is the story of a girl

who gets into war cross-dressed as male.

And she wins that war
supported by a group of men

cross-dressed as women.

The love plot is unquestionably bisexual

and we could even say it's queer.

At the end of the movie, Mulan
receives the blessings of her family,

of her ancestors,
and from the emperor of China himself.

In 2001, "Shrek" was released.

And with that movie
a very interesting door opened up:

the discriminated ones.

The three great sagas of Dreamworks --

"Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda"
and "How to Train your Dragon" --

have ugly, fat heroes
and people with disabilities.

Even the way good and evil

are portrayed in kids' movies changed.

We hardly have really bad
evil guys anymore.

There are even movies with no bad guys,
like "Inside Out" or "Wall-E."

There are movies in which the bad guy

reflects upon their place
in the world and changes.

Like in "Despicable Me" or "Megamind."

Historically frightening figures
like ogres, monsters or vampires

suddenly become characters
with personal dilemmas.

This way of facing conflicts
I call it "post-evil."

However, there is an argument
from "How To Read Donald Duck"

still standing 50 years later.

There is a conflict that remains silenced.

And that is the social class conflict.

Since 1990 to date,
there is only one movie

which deals directly
with the issue of poverty.

That movie is "Aladdin."

Aladdin is a poor boy from Agrabah
who lives with starving children.

At the end of the movie
Aladdin's situation changes,

Jasmine's situation,
the woman, also changes.

But the poor remain poor.

Both in 1992 version and in 2019 remake,

at the end of the movie there is
an opulent palace full of riches

and outside there are children starving.

Animated movies produced in the U.S.

and consumed throughout the world,

are strongly progressive
in regards to gender,

racism, discrimination,
disability and fat phobia.

And they are conservative
in social class conflicts.

I wouldn't be surprised
if in the next 10 or 15 years

this worldview would reign:

a multi-racial feminist, sexually diverse
and inclusive capitalism,

where the difference between
the rich and the poor only grows bigger.

(Applause)

Because at Disney, at Dremworks,
at Illumination, at Pixar,

the values of our civilization
are both reflected and also installed.

These movies are not innocent,
but they are not the enemy either.

We can use them in our favor.

But for that to happen
we have to understand them.

And to understand them we need
a new critical approach.

To discuss what movies kids watch,

talk about them between adults,
and then with them.

And, above all, to know
what voices and what values

are being silenced.

But let's go back to my couch.

I have a four-year-old son
and I want him to stop jumping.

So I call him:
"Goran, come here please."

And I go down to his height.

"Goran, let me ask you a question:

who has the biggest paw, Simba or Mufasa?"

"Mufasa."

"Here, put your hand on mine."

"Who has the biggest hand, you or me?"

"You."

"Do you understand that if you jump
on the couch you can smash your head?"

"Yes, Dad."

"So, are you going to listen to me?"

"Yes, Dad."

(Applause)

Kids are sitting in this couch
watching cartoons.

We think it's entertainment,
that they are dumbfounded,

but they are sitting in front
of the most powerful

ideological machinery of our time.

Let's not leave them alone.

(Applause)