Where Are the Jews, Disney?

Growing up as a kid in the late 90's I loved Disney movies. I would ask my mother to put on Lion King 2: Simba's Pride at least five times a day, waking up to it, and it being the last thing I watched before I went to bed. I even watched the sequel before the original like the unorganized child (and adult) that I am.

As I grew up, I noticed something. I never hit that "phase" that some young girls had where they dream so hard that they want to be a princess. As a white girl, I should've easily found someone to relate to and aspire to be right? I never felt that. I never cared for any of the princesses. Not because I felt "better" than them or because I'd rather be a lioness in sub-Saharan Africa but because I never could relate to any of them.

Belle was too nice, too weak, too "I want to fix him so he becomes better." I tried that, and it... absolutely comes to a failure. Women aren't therapists for badly raised men. Put that on my grave.

Snow White was nice but unintelligent.

Cinderella had an unfortunate life that I could never relate to. I grew up lucky.

Ariel was curious and explorative but left her family to be with a prince who she even sacrificed her life for. Girl, we don't do that for men anymore.

After those Princesses and after Disney became a little less sexist, there was a new door that was opened for the possibilities of what a princess could be. She had strength, courage of self, confidence, fearlessness, and pride. She could be anything she wanted. So Disney created Pocahontas and Merida, and Tiana and Moana. Diverse characters, diverse lives and diverse personalities. All spreading the message that women and girls can be whoever they want, and they shouldn't have to sit back and watch their male counterparts do the work for them.

This is a big message to little girls and boys, and it is shaping future generations.

Thinking about this, and all of Disney's new diverse and strong characters, I was reminded of something. Not something Disney hasn't done, or even possibly even thought of and it left me with this question:

Why hasn't there been any characters in modern day folk lore, Disney movies, animated movies who are ethnically or religiously Jewish? It is almost true that Disney has overtly shied away from religion... unless you count Snow White praying at the bedside, or the entirety of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or even that biblical scripture was quoted in The Jungle Book. Walt Disney himself said that Protestant Christianity in his film was box-office poison and essentially irrelevant. Yet, somehow it is still a hidden trope within the movies.

My desire in the future is to have an empowering Jewish woman be the center of attention in a Disney film, within any race or demographic. It is also a widely held belief that all Jews are caucasian, leaving out a lot of women and men that want to be apart of another community that doesn't always accept them. This is something that has to change. If you're Jewish, either ethnically, ethically, culturally, or religiously you should be welcome in any Jewish space.

If Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity were all slightly weaved into these Disney storylines, when are we going to see Judaism? As a little girl, I never watched this happen and I believe that if there were more Jews in folk-lore and children's movies, Jewish boys and girls would have a character they could relate to. These characters would practice the same holidays, go to temple, attend Sunday school and learn Torah, to be Bat/Bar-mitzvah—even be taught about Jewish history.

Judaism circulates around history, it is the basis of our beliefs. What could be a better way to educate children on different religions than to watch a Disney movie?

It is important to be inclusive, and a lot of people that claim to be "intersectional" don't include Jews, and I've watched this happen on a regular basis within our political climate. I'm looking at you, Farrakhan.

If we want to seek justice and fairness for people of color, we have to be intersectional. Since the biblical era, Jews have been persecuted. To this day they are seen as the "other," meaning they are not part of the white, caucasian, Christian, powerful majority and are seen visibly as such. No one bats an eye at anti-semtisim, not even during Charlottesville.

Understanding and compassion starts at childhood and Disney has helped shaped a lot of children to become the people they are today. There has to be a way to educate children simply and in an entertaining way to introduce them to Judaism. Children should learn of the positives and not be immediately thrusted into the history of WWII and the Holocaust as their first introduction to the Jewish people.

We are more than our persecutions, we are a people with such an extensive and rich history that should be shared and respected as such. If there is just one, ONE, princess or empowering Jewish character represented by Disney, it would be a step in the right direction to include Jews in intersectionality.