THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996)
A film review by Arthur Hu
Copyright 1996 Arthur Hu
PC Review of Hunchback and Gypsies
The What Of Notre Dame?
With a title like Hunchback, it looks like Disney really dropped the political correctness ball on this one. Heck, even the townspeople call him the "bell ringer". Maybe they should just call him "appearance challenged. At least they'll be having Americans saying "No - Tra Dom", instead of pronouncing it like the football team.
When multiculturalism is supposed to be about exposing minority children to people who look just like themselves, why take them to Paris? What do inner city children need to know about a minor religious landmark that only rich white and Japanese vacationers will ever live to see? But the dark-skinned Gypsies show that even Europe has diversity. In this country, we don't have much of a Gypsy "problem", yet when the American Jewish Committee did a poll of the best liked and worst hated ethnic groups, the people on the bottom weren't black, or Jewish, they were the Gypsies. You've got to wonder what these guys did to get such a reputation even in this country. One problem is that the Gypsies aren't Catholic, or even Judeo-Christian. They believe in fortune telling and magic, which draws complaints from some Christians today every time Halloween rolls around.
We hear about great African Americans every Black History Month. But the best Isabel Fonseca's book "Bury Me Standing" can come up with about the Gypsies is that while not all of them are habitual transients, liars, and criminals, a lot of them were and still are. She compares them to the Jews, but nobody ever accused the Gypsies of being over-achievers. The New York Times profiled a Gypsy murder suspect whose mother said "Gypsies don't keep regular jobs, but at least they don't kill people", and said that the Gypsies make a career of living apart from the civilized mainstream.
Maybe Disney thought they were just simplifying things, but by making Clopin the King of the Gypsies, they made all of the Gypsies into the beggars and thieves, instead of the poor Frenchmen in the original story. We all avoid the "N" word, but don't even realize that to use the word `gyp' as a verb implies all Gypsies are cheats. Even that term is misleading because they really came from India, not Egypt (which would actually make them Asian) These days, many would prefer to be called the "Romani".
Interestingly, the Seattle may be the only school district in the nation that breaks out the Gypsies as a disadvantaged group. Well, they might have problems elsewhere, but the Seattle data book shows that the Gypsies score just as well or better than other white children in test scores and grades, and no worse in dropouts or suspensions. When the Bell-Curve school says that groups at the bottom are genetically destined to stay there, this may prove that at least this white group can assimilate into the norm.
In this updated story, Quasimoto's gargoyle friends still sing in "A Guy Like You" that his looks are one of a kind. But where the early movies were placed in the horror category, Disney's Quasi is just a boy in a tower with a big song and dance number. Like the Little Mermaid, Quasimoto wants to go "out there" and mix up with the other people.
He's practically a prisoner in the care of the evil Judge Frollo long before the days of child protective services. Talk about your one-parent Disney families. Esmerelda is the latest Disney heroine who wouldn't look out of place on the cover of Cosmo. If NOW complained about Pocahontas's looks, this working girl makes a living making guy's eyes pop out.
Pheobus is the blond he-man who eventually switches teams and joins up with the geek to save the girl. It's Phoebus that gets packaged with the girl in the Mattell 2 figure gift pack, not title character. The creators said that Quasimoto has "puppy" love for Esmerelda, and Phoebus has real love. But Spike Lee's "Jungle fever" would probably put the outcasts together. Disney made a reasonably happy ending, but in the 1939 version, Phoebus gets killed halfway through, Quasimoto flings Frodo out of the tower, Esmerelda gets tortured, Clopin gets hit in a friendly fire incident, and Gringoire, the wimpy poet who got dropped entirely by Disney gets the girl. Boy they don't make them like they used to.
Two years from now, Disney is slated to give us a legend set in China. That is, if we can get over human rights issues, pirated Michael Jackson CD's, and see if they hire enough Asian Americans in the cast.
Net pointers - check out the disney site www.disney.com for promotional background. The real gem is hidden under the Disney publishing section, they are putting up the full pictures from the children's book that pretty much gives a condensed plot.
ps, I'm picking up extra burger king toys and I have some sets of the Skybox cards that were givven out at the travelling exhibitions with all the characters if anybody needs them. I'll be putting up the toys on my home page soon.
** Views do not reflect any other organization or group *** Arthur Hu fax 206-814-2711 for hot news to pass on. To comment or join "Fairness in Diversity" mailing list, contact arthurhu@halcyon.com index at http://www.halcyon.com/arthurhu/ 12422 107th Pl NE Kirkland WA 98034
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