Lady and the Tramp

 

Release Date: June 22, 1955

Watch Date: March 1, 2023

"Fall in love with Walt Disney's beloved classic. Experience the thrilling adventures of Lady, a lovingly pampered cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a freewheeling mutt with a heart of gold. This heartwarming tale now charms a new generation of families and fans with its exquisite animation, unforgettable songs and one of the greatest love stories of all time."

    Ah, a classic movie full of racially charged stereotypes that you're not sure whether to appreciate for the wrong side of the tracks romance or feel incredibly uncomfortable with.

    Now, racial stereotypes are always, always bad. They should be avoided, at best they're examples of lazy writing, at worst highly offensive. I will endeavor to say that, in the case of Lady and the Tramp, the stereotyping was at least meant to have a purpose. Doesn't excuse it, but there you go. The hound is Southern, the Scottish terrier is Scottish, the Laika is Russian, the British bulldog is British, the chihuahua is Mexican, and so on and so forth. They're done as tongue in cheek odes to their breeds and not meant, I hope to offend. Probably does, but it's not meant to.

    The Siamese cats I have absolutely no defense for. The fact that my grandmother, who loves the breed, constantly wandered her house singing that song, I also have no defense for.

    Remember Bob, my wonderful Puerto Rican husband? Well he's half-Italian. His story and lore just keeps expanding doesn't it? To say he was thrilled by the portrayal of the two Italian characters would be a downright lie. He spoke with a bad accent every time they were on screen and insisted I tell him if I knew of any Italians that sounded like that. I don't. Obviously, I don't. No one does.

    But there's so much racism to go around it's almost hard to see it as a problem. If everyone is being picked on, is anyone?

    I like how this story is told exclusively from the dogs' perspectives. They don't have innate human knowledge on subjects and human faces are hardly ever shown, people are mostly scene from the waist down. You do feel like you're transported into a dog's world and if that's what Disney was trying to achieve, they absolutely nailed it.

    The romance, the real meat of the story, is fine. Nothing we haven't seen before, guy from the wrong side of the tracks gets the girl. But it's their romantic dinner date that sticks in everyone's mind and still does.

    One thing you have to admire about the old Disney films - even if the rest of it feels bad, there will always be at least one moment that has completely, culturally, invaded our psyches.