Rockler Analysis pg. 14

In this article, Rockler interviews a group of college students about The Lion King and ask them questions about the nature of the movie, and whether or not the movie has elements of racism and classism in it. Many of the students offer their opinion, and even dissent with the opinions of the original author quite vigorously, explaining that the movie was not created to be anything other than what the producers created it to be.

One of the women of color, Angela, speaks out and voices her opinion over the top of her group. Angela voices that she believes Newberger is making too big of a reach trying to make The Lion King out as a racist film, saying that Newberger only believes that the hyenas are seen to be portrayed as African Americans simply because they are voiced by an African American, Whoopi Goldberg (Rocker, 2001, pg. 14). Other members of Angela's group started to agree with her opinion, stating that you cannot identify someone's race simply by listening to their voice, and they even brought up the point that "educated" black people sound "white", while people who are "uneducated" sound "black". Rockler countered with the opinion that the members of the group "demonstrated a lack of understand of constructionist racism and misunderstood Newberger's argument."

I believe that Rockler's opinion is correct, as the ladies in the WOC group are too focused on points that Newberger was not trying to make. There is a bigger argument going on; the hyena's mannerisms and the way their story line plays out hints at a comparison to African Americans, that is going over this group. The WOC group is nitpicking at an obvious argument, but they are completely missing the deeper issues going on at the heart of the story, that the hyena's symbolically represent African Americans and portray them in a negative stereotype.