Lacroix and The Exotic Other

Celeste Lacroix is the author of "Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney's Cartoon Heroines From The Little Mermaid to The Hunchback of Notre Dame". 

This piece explores the orientalization of Disney characters. It outlines that the physique of the "exotic other" is emphasised in Disney films. These exotic characters, such as Pocahontas, are made more athletic, and clos eup shots draw attention to their figures. Also, they are oversexualized. As Pocahontas wears even a more provocative dress than the other tribes-women, with a shorter skirt, off the shoulder strap, and more figure hugging shape. Princess Jasmine certainly embodies the sexualized exotic other, with her revealing outfit (in an Arab country no less), and her sexual appeal playing a large role in the scenes with Jafar. 

I do feel that Lacroix fails to sufficiently acknowledge that the physique of the ethically diverse princesses plays into the story far more than the original white princesses like Snow White, Cinderella, or Aurora. Pocahontas, for example, would have been more athletic, and stronger. And the tribes people did wear clothes very different to the fully covered, floor length dresses custom in Europe around the 18th century, where the first-wave princess films are based. 

Lacroix also compares Esmeralda to Belle, writing that Esmeralda is "frequently shot in active sequences that emphasize the physical rather than the delicate frame that we see particularly in Belle". Well yes, look at it contextually. Belle is a studious character set in provincial France. The dress styles for Belle are very different from Esmerelda's, who is a gypsy. And Belle is not as athletic or active as Esmerelda, though she does still ride her horse, and try to fight off a wolf pack. And while Belle is not overly-sexualized, other white females in The Beauty and The Beast are. Particularly the three blonde, French maiden who swoon after Gaston. They are more provocatively dressed and voluptuously animated. And here, race plays no role in their sexualization, it is more the role of the story line that affects this. 

I found particularly interesting Lacroix's interpretation that Disney seeks to "maintain the invisibility of the construction of whiteness". That what it is to be a white woman is defined through the perpetual representations of asexual, demure, generally passive with a touch of rebellion, romance orientated women. Lacroix agrees with other authors, like Nakayama and Krizek, that the exposure of naturalization of whiteness is as important as the exploration of of the construction of otherness. 

Overall, I think Lacroix raises an interesting and important argument, even if I think it has some weaknesses. This certainly was an interesting read, and I enjoyed looking at the films from this perspective.