Racism at Disney's Peter Pan: are a few clues enough?

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Scene from Disney's »Peter Pan«: Is it just dressing up or is it already cultural appropriation?

Photo: 

Walt Disney Co. / ddp / Everett Collection

I am a real Disney fan.

Even as a child, I would sit in front of the TV for hours to watch Bambi play with his friend Klopfer.

I cried with Simba for his dead father and laughed at the two good fairies, Sunshine and Flora, who couldn't agree on whether Aurora - Disney's Sleeping Beauty - is better for the color pink or blue.

While she dances with him, already kissed awake by the prince, the dress keeps changing color.

Photo: Lina Moreno / DER SPIEGEL

Sarah Wiedenhöft

, 28, is a freelance journalist and doctoral candidate.

As a young, queer, single mother of a black child, she is often confronted with prejudice.

In her column she writes how she deals productively with the injustices of everyday life.

But what excited me most was Peter Pan.

The flight over London by night, the beautiful colors of Neverland.

For me as a child the perfect dream world.

It wasn't until later, when I became the mother of a black child, that I saw the film, like many other things, with different eyes.

I would have loved to show my son my childhood heroes - but that was impossible.

The realization that many of my childhood heroes are part of racist narratives struck me deeply.

My Neverland dream world was shattered when I realized how racist the portrayal of Native Americans in the film is.

They are shown as hook-nosed men with long, black braids.

A differentiated facial expression, as it is present with Peter Pan, Wendy and the lost boys, is denied them.

Armed with axes, they attack Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys from the cover of fir trees and take them prisoner;

they are tied to a torture stake.

Accompanied by drums, the leader steps in front of his prisoners and threatens to "eat them skin and hair" if the missing Princess Tigerlilli does not return.

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