Dopey's Legacy Response

In the Karen Schwartz, Zana Marie Lutfiyya and Nancy Hansen's article, Dopey's Legacy: Stereotypical Portrayals of Intellectual Disability in the Classic Animated Films, the argument that certain Disney characters are meant to portray the mentally disabled in order to offer a sense of humor is made.

This article in particular focuses on one of Snow White's famous 7 dwarves, Dopey, and exploring his character "in the context of stereotypical portrayals and imagining of people with intellectual disabilities". I have never really picked up on any of what the article was saying about Dopey's characteristics and how he resembles an animal with his long drooling tongue or dog like floppy ears, and his inability to speak. When I was little, I always just thought that Dopey was like that because he was the baby of the group, and he was still learning how to be a dwarf. Also, I don't think I was fully aware of what being mentally disabled meant at such a young age, so I am not sure if I agree completely with what this article is saying. In my opinion, I don't believe it was Disney's intention to "perpetuate largely negative messages about intellectual disability that are harmful and damaging to the individuals so labeled". In creating characters such as Snow White’s Dopey, Cinderella’s Gus, and Beauty and the Beast’s Lefou, I think the main purpose was to provide some sort of comic relief to give little kids to laugh at when they are watching these movies.

Many of the points made in the article are fairly farfetched in my opinion. For example, when Beauty and the Beast’s Lefou is being talked about, a part of the move is mentioned when Lefou is posing as a snowman out in the freezing cold. The article states that this “leaves the viewer with the feeling that he does not have the sense to come in from the cold, and also that it is acceptable to sacrifice him in the freezing elements because he has not real value or worth as a human being”. To me, this argument is completely absurd and exaggerated and does not make any sense whatsoever. I think Disney incorporated this scene in the movie solely to add some humor to it. I know when I was little I probably laughed when this happened and didn’t think Disney was trying to convey the message that Lefou has no worth as a human being. Little kids do not think that deeply into things when they are watching Disney movies.

To sum up, this article did open my eyes about certain things that I was unaware of at first regarding the characters of Dopey, Gus and Lefou, but as I kept reading I slowly began to realize that many of the points that were made were dramatic and I did not agree with the majority of them. In my opinion, Disney was not looking to portray mentally disabled people with these few characters, but rather make little kids giggle.