Classism, Sexism, and Deviance: Disney’s The AristoCats

The AristoCats (1970)

Plot:

The Aristocats (1970) takes place in old Paris in the year 1910. The movie’s plot is about a family of cats (Duchess and her three kittens) who happen to be listed as the sole inheritors of the property of their owner, Madame Bonfamille, a wealthy old lady. With the help of a street cat (Thomas O’Malley), the cats are able to find their way home after being kidnapped by the greedy butler (Edgar) who left them stranded in the countryside so he would inherit the property himself.

Music:

The music in the film is divided between classy and jazzy. The first part of the movie is all about how the cats are living “la vie en rose” practicing their drawing talents and piano lessons in their mansion. The song in the opening credits foreshadows the difference between classes before we actually see it applied in the movie.

 Aristocats are never found/ In alleyways or hanging around/ The garbage cans where/ Common kitties play, oh no, Which pets are known to never show     their claws?/ Which pets are prone To hardly any flaws?/ To which pets do the others tip their hats?/ Naturalment! The Aristocats (The AristoCats, 1970)

The song is sung in a snobby manner using French words such as “Naturalment”. The lyrics enforce the idea that there is a difference between classes. Those differences exist among pets as well. There is a special place for upper class pets (mansions and lavish houses) and other places for household animals of the lower classes, namely alleyways and dirty garbage cans. At the beginning of the movie, while playing with his siblings, Berlioz the orange kitten starts to imitate alley cats. He tells his mother that he is “just practicing biting and clawing” (The AristoCats, 1970). His mother’s response is “Aristocats do not practice biting and clawing, and things like that. It’s just horrible.” (The AristoCats, 1970) Because they live with a wealthy Madame, the kittens are not allowed to fool around and play it rough.

On the other hand, when lost in the countryside, Dutchess and the kittens hear Thomas O’Malley singing: “Gotta walk the scene/ Gotta kick up highway dust/ Feel the grass that’s green/ Gotta strut them city streets/ Showin’ off my eclat, yeah” (The AristoCats, 1970); Thomas is a free spirited alley cat. The lyrics dictate the life style of alley cats and what is expected of them. Alley cats, in contrast to the aristocats, should play and fool around. They should get dirty, “strut” around town, and enjoy their time. They aren’t bound by rules and regulations like the aristocats.

Towards the end of the movie, O’Malley takes Duchess and the kittens to his house where he plays the song “Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat” along with his band. Duchess starts singing along and tells O’Malley, “If you want to turn me on/Play your horn/Don’t spare the tone/And blow a little soul into the tune” (The AristoCats, 1970). It seems to me that Duchess is very eager to be around a male figure given that her husband passed away or ran away long time ago. She flaps her eyes when he looks at her and keeps swaying her body in a seductive manner. The abovementioned lyrics join sexual desires with music. Even the choice of words “turn me on, blow” are explicitly sexual. I don’t doubt that even teenagers, especially teenagers of today’s world, are able to find the sexual messages the song is trying to subliminally implement.

Deviance, Sexism, and Segregation: 

Crime in The AristoCats (1970) demonstrates how money can corrupt. Edgar is the loyal butler of Madame Bonfamille yet when he overhears that her cats will inherit her fortune, Edgar transforms from loyal butler to evil villain. Even though he would be living with the cats and given various privileges in the event of Madame Bonfamille’s death, he is taken by all the wealth that he might acquire if the cats were out of the way. Like most Disney villains, Edgar is aloof and clumsy. What is worth noting here is that crime here is not related to race. Since the white race always comes at the top of the racial hierarchal paradigm, it is interesting to see that most villains in Disney movies are white, unlike Hollywood movies where villains are usually of a colored race.

              

 Gendered messages are obvious throughout the movie. Thomas O’Malley is a rascal male cat and Duchess is an upper class white female cat with, as Thomas describes them, blue eyes “like sapphire” (The Aristocats, 1970). Duchess is slender, very feminine, and wears pricey collars indicating her social status. Her daughter, Marie, is drenched in pink bows. Both cats show vulnerability and their need for a male figure to guide them. The kittens never mention their father and whether they miss him or not. Nonetheless, Duchess and Maria twice mention the importance of having a male figure in their lives, as when Duchess tells her owner Madame Bonfamille that “We need a man around the house” (The AristoCats, 1970).

Marie struggles to step out of the stereotype by fighting with her brothers, but uses the fact that she is a girl to get what she wants first. When Duchess tells her that ladies don’t fight, Marie replies that “Ladies don’t start fights, but they can finish them!” (The AristoCats, 1970). When discussing the female characters in Disney’s cartoons, Peggy Orenstein, author of “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” (Harper Publishing, 2011) states that, “I think we’re still uncomfortable with a strong female character unless she exhibits some pretty traditional submissive behavior along with her strength.” (Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience, 01 April 2011) Marie’s vulnerability constantly appears when while the cats are navigating their way back from the countryside. She falls off the truck that takes them back to Paris and is rescued by O’Malley. She then falls again from the railway, only to be rescued again by O’Malley.

The AristoCats(1970) clearly shows segregation between boys and girls. These messages to the children watching the movie enforce the idea of difference between the sexes. The outcome could be that children will start building assumptions and stereotypes regarding each other and themselves. Kids catch these phrases and scenes and build assumptions upon them. It’s not only media that reinforces these ideas because even in “settings where teachers say things like, “Good morning boys and girls” — children express more stereotypes about gender and even discriminate when deciding who to play with.” (Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience, 16 November 2010) Marie, for instance, aspires to become like her mother, beautiful, slender, and charming. She even falls for O’Malley’s charming gestures and appearance.

Stereotypes and Diversity:

Other than the sexist stereotypes mentioned above, stereotypes about the upper and the lower social and economic classes abound in the movie. Indeed, the movie moves from the upper class to the lower class as if going down the hierarchal paradigm.

The Madame’s family name, Bonfamille (French for “good family”), contradicts with the fact that her only family is Duchess and the kittens. Madame Bonfamille is the typical wealthy aristocrat figure lacking family and health. Even though she tries to show that she is content, she is clearly not happy with her life. She feels empty and awfully alone when her cats are gone. On the other hand, the alley cats are illustrated as happy, fun-loving, full of life, and content. They dance and sing all night and do not envy or cause harm to the aristocats. They live together in a shabby house and resemble a good example of diversity. These stereotypes are often found in movies and stories dealing with classes. We frequently see the upper class as wealthy, but they lack health, functional family relations, and true happiness. The poor, on the other hand, own nothing yet they are content, happy, and a have healthy familial relationships.

When Duchess, O’Malley, and the kittens go to O’Malley’s house, we meet the rest of his gang. Each cat represents a stereotype of a cultural other: Billy Boss (Russian), the buck toothed Shun Gon (Chinese), Peppo (Italian), Hit Cat (English), and an unnamed hippie cat. Shun Gon is shown with sleepy eyes and two bucked teeth. He plays the piano with chopsticks and speaks American Chinese (oh reary). Peppo, the Italian cat, is illustrated as a womanizer with a golden earring and a red scarf around his neck; a typical Casanova image of an Italian male. Billy Boss is heavy and looks

Alley Cats (The Aristocats, 1970)

like Stalin, the Soviet premier who died seventeen years before The Aristocats (1970) premiered. The depictions are not harmful in themselves in the sense that the characters are with the “good guys.” The depictions do, however, perpetuate the stereotypes of Italians, Chinese, hippies, and Russians which posit difference between the intended viewer and these cultural others. Another stereotype regarding a group of people is shown through Lafayette and Napoleon, two hound dogs standing guard at a windmill in the countryside. Despite the fact that the dogs’ names are prominent French names and they live in a Parisian suburb, the dogs have a heavy Southern American accent. They are depicted as dumb and lousy hillbillies.

Whether the above mentioned glitches were done on purpose or not, yet these stereotypes confirm with our habitual way of looking at things. The presence of crime and punishment is meant to give a moral value to the movie whereas gender stereotyping might have been put to reinforce the idea that men and women are not equal and that some ethnicities are less intelligent or sophisticated than others.

 

Parents should be aware when leaving their children in front of the tube. They should also pay attention to what their teenagers are watching. “Many people may not be aware that such gendered language could be damaging, but Liben [a psychologist of Pennsylvania State University] said the effects can be similar to the harmful outcomes caused by segregating children based on race.” (Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience, 16 November 2010) Kids, teenagers, and adults alike are susceptible to messages absorbable through communications media. From watching The AristoCats (1970) at an early age, kids learn that boys and girls are born with different biological and physical attributes. Boys will feel that they are responsible for taking care of women and supposed to play rough games. Girls on the other hand learn that they need to be well behaved, expect to fulfill domestic duties, and look desirable for men at all times. However, on the bright side, children learn that with all our differences, people from different races and ethnicities can get together and become friends. This film will also teach kids that the lower class doesn’t socialize with the upper class, but if fate does bring them to fraternize with one another, the outcome may be fun and enjoyable.

 

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Resources

Wolfgang Reitherman. (Director) (1970). The aristocats [DVD].

Jennifer Welsh. (2011). Disney princes and princesses still slaves to some stereotypes.LiveScience, Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/13526-disney-princes-pink-princess-culture-stereotypes.html

ClaraMoskowit. (2010). When teachers Highlight Gender, Kids Pick Up Stereotypes. LiveScience. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/8966-teachers-highlight-gender-kids-pick-stereotypes.html