Animism in Disney
Is Animism Present in Disney Movies?
Here, from this scene in Brother Bear, the character Kenai is hugging a human spirit and a bear. The bear is even seen smiling.
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In almost all Disney films, there is some type of talking animal. For example, Finding Nemo, all of the characters in Finding Nemo are talking sea animals (mainly fish) that go on a journey to find the main character, Nemo, who is a talking clownfish. Another strong example is The Lion King. Every character in this movie are all talking animals in Africa. Cinderella also has talking mice that turn into humans and help her get to a ball. And of course, there's Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie Mouse...all of the above. These are just a few examples of talking animals. In Toy Story, there are talking toys. The toys belong to a young boy named Andy. The toys only talk and move whenever Andy isn't around. In Cars and Planes, there are cars, planes, and boats that all talk. Does this mean that Walt Disney and the creators of this film believe in animism? Or, better yet, are they promoting animism to young children? When children buy toys from Disney stores of their favorite characters from these movies and play with them, pretending they can talk and feel things, is this animism? The answer is technically yes, but they're just kids being kids. Right? Or is Disney actually promoting animism to young children?
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