Feminisney: “The Fox and the Hound” and “Oliver & Company”
A veritable menagerie of feminism… or not
New to this series? Figure out what’s going on here!
I’m coming in a bit late with this one because Friday I spent the day at Disneyland. My first time there. I can report two things: One, I am so very sore. And two: I was never remotely scared even a little bit I AM NOT ON TRIAL HERE.
Oh, and three: Neither of these movies was represented at the park (though there may have been some merchandise for The Fox and the Hound somewhere).
That said, these two movies mostly wrap up the pre-Renaissance period (I have 4 left to discuss), but 100% wrap up the strange period in the 1980s after Walt’s death and before The Little Mermaid. These films kind of stand out as Disney was trying some very different stuff… though not The Black Cauldron different. For feminism’s sake, though, it might be more of the same.
The Fox and the Hound
As I mentioned last time, The Black Cauldron in 1985 was the most expensive animated film to date at a $44 million budget. To show how big a difference in budgets that was, The Fox and the Hound was the largest budget to date in 1981… at $12 million. This was also the last movie in Disney to involve in any way Disney’s Nine Old Men, the original core animators, sort of kicking off the weird feel of this 4-film 1980s period. Very loosely based on a novel by Daniel P. Mannix that is WAAAAY darker and more realistic and has NOTHING to do with unlikely friendships, the basic premise of this film is a fox, Tod, orphaned by a hunter and raised by a widow, befriends the young hound dog puppy, Copper, raised by the hunter Amos Slade and his old hunting dog Chief. But this friendship is not meant to last as Copper is trained to kill foxes, and one of Tod’s escapes ends with Chief injured. Violence ensues. And so does the critique.
Number of named characters with speaking lines: 9 (I’m leaving one person out)
Number of named female characters with speaking lines: 2 (That person is “Widow Tweed” because not once is her name given. Amos only ever calls her “Widow”.)
Does the film pass the Bechdel Test? While Big Mama and Vixey do talk, the conversation is immediately steered toward Tod with the intent of romantic compatibility.
Number of named non-white characters: 0 (only 2 humans in this one, to be noted)
Number of named non-white female characters: 0
Number of openly non-heterosexual characters: 0
Number of openly transsexual characters: 0
Is there a heterosexual romance? Yes: Tod and Vixey
True Love’s Kiss? No.
Number of female mentors or rulers? 1: Big Mama as a mentor (2 if you count Widow Tweed’s raising of Tod)
Number of named female characters wearing “men’s clothes” (pants instead of dresses): 0 (With 0 men wearing “women’s clothes”.)
Main character male or female? 2, both male
Number of named female characters saved from peril by male characters: 0
Number of times named female characters saved from peril by male characters: 0
Number of named male characters saved from peril by female characters: Let’s say 1, Tod
Number of times named male characters saved from peril by female characters: I’m throwing this in just to point out Tod is inept and would have died many times if not for the interventions of Widow Tweed, Big Mama, and Vixey. Plus his mother leaving him behind as she escaped and was killed saved his life.
Number of named female characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “masculine” feats): 0
Number of named male characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “feminine” feats): 0
So, on the feminism side of things, there’s not much here. After all, one of the three major female characters, the human woman who raises Tod, is not vocally named. As I said, she’s only ever called “Widow.” And considering this takes place before the legalization of same-sex marriage, that means she is given an identity directly related to her relationship with a man throughout the film. This process makes sense when you consider Amos Slade, the only other human in the piece, does not appear to be very fond of women in general and holds some basic misogynist views.
Then you have the clumsiness and idiocy of Tod, who, as an older fox, is a cotton-headed ninny muggins. Specifically, when attempting to charm Vixey, the female fox he is instantly attracted to because I guess we’re supposed to assume she’s fox-hot, even though she’s the first fox he’s seen since he was, what, 2 weeks old? Anyway, Tod shows us all the stupid things men stereotypically do in heterosexual dating/mating rituals. He lies about his talents, attempts to impress his prospective mate through a “manly” show of ability, refuses to accept any help, and then gets mad at her when he fails. “You’re a silly, empty-headed female.” Sure, she laughed, but you’re the one who lied and looked like an idiot, dude.
The thing is, that entire exchange isn’t necessarily something formed by media the way sexual expectations or defining attractiveness can be. Many a straight men go through that entire exchange and they tend to not be incredibly… not sexist. The benefit of this being in the film is that it is clearly designed to be seen as a Bad Thing To Do. A way not to act. However, having the lovable protagonist do it and ultimately get the girl anyway, almost immediately, makes it seem like you can “just make a mistake” and it’ll work out. Oh, and Vixey (and some for Big Mama) still gets the weird female indicators like eyelashes, eye shadow, curvier body type. So this film will get tallied in the weak and problematic feminism column.
Fun Notes:
MICKEY ROONEY AND KURT RUSSELL? WHAT? (They are the voices of Tod and Copper respectively and that blows my mind.)
Huh. An older person refusing to acknowledge a skill set or any knowledge that a younger person may have. That sounds realistic.
While the worm/Boomer/Dinky story is kinda cute in a Tom and Jerry kinda way… it feels completely incongruous to the actual plot. It’s like filler to make this movie actually reach an hour 20 minutes. Poor pacing/character development and story.
One winter apart and friendship forgotten. Yeah, that doesn’t fuel any of my personal anxieties. No sir.
Chief got hit by a train and fell about 50–100 feet, hitting his head on a rock on the way down. Escaping with just a broken leg is a pretty good deal.
I can understand Tod’s quick growth from youth to adult. Red foxes apparently only live to be around 2 to 4 years. Copper makes less sense, as dogs can live up to 20. In less than a year, Copper is a great hunting dog AND that big? I call shenanigans.
Isn’t it dangerous to domesticate a wild animal and put it back in the wild? Like, dangerous for that animal?
“A stranger, eh? Why don’t you go back where you came from?” — …nope, I won’t get blatantly political this time. You draw your own conclusions.
Amos is a HORRIBLE shot. Aimed at that whole forever, couldn’t hit the foxes when they sat still forever. Hit half a foot ABOVE the hole. Boo, sir. You suck. Can’t even hardly hit a giant bear right in front of you.
How’d that trap get all the way up there? Unless someone other than Amos is a jerk.
Oliver and Company
This film is Disney’s attempt at the Charles Dickens Oliver Twist story, with some kinder versions of our lovable street scamps. Oliver, the only kitten in the box on a New York street corner who goes unpicked, joins Fagin’s gang of dogs after helping Dodger retrieve sausages and chasing him down for a fair cut. Fagin is apparently in debt to the cruel Sykes, who… runs a business? Or is just a mob boss? Whatever it is, somehow, Fagin was given money, and the dogs try to steal stuff that Fagin can pawn to pay Sykes back. In the process, Oliver is brought home by the incredibly wealthy Jenny, who adores Oliver and gives him his name. But this causes problems when the gang kidnaps him to bring him back to their “better life” and Fagin, in desperation, attempts to ransom him to get Sykes’ money. When he sees it’s a kid with a piggy bank instead of a wealthy Wall Street type, he relents, but Sykes kidnaps Jenny anyway.
It certainly strays from the source material a bit, especially toward the end, but the general gist of the text is there. But as the original text wasn’t very female-centric, it’s likely this version won’t have much going for it either. But let’s see.
Number of named characters with speaking lines: 13
Number of named female characters with speaking lines: 3
Does the film pass the Bechdel Test? No. None of the women really converse. Jenny talks to Georgette (who doesn’t talk back because she’s a dog) and only really talks about Oliver anyway.
Number of named non-white characters: 0
Number of named non-white female characters: 0
Number of openly non-heterosexual characters: 0
Number of openly transsexual characters: 0
Is there a heterosexual romance? Yes: Georgette and Tito
True Love’s Kiss? No.
Number of female mentors or rulers? 0
Number of named female characters wearing “men’s clothes” (pants instead of dresses): 0 (With 0 men wearing “women’s clothes”.)
Main character male or female? Male
Number of named female characters saved from peril by male characters: 1: Jenny
Number of times named female characters saved from peril by male characters: A few: Jenny is saved by the entire crew of animals and Fagin, but the crew includes two female dogs. However, during the rescue, Oliver specifically bites Sykes’ hand to force him to let go of Jenny. Oliver and Dodger later attack Sykes to force him to let go a second time, and Fagin grabs her when she leaps from Sykes’ car.
Number of named male characters saved from peril by female characters: 3: Einstein, Francis, Tito
Number of times named male characters saved from peril by female characters: 1: During the rescuing Jenny sequence, Georgette drops a tarp on Roscoe and Desoto, which is far more effective than it should be.
Number of named female characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “masculine” feats): 1-ish. You could consider Rita to generally be “one of the boys,” though there are no specific tasks she undertakes that are considered “masculine” (or “feminine” for that matter)
Number of named male characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “feminine” feats): 0
Purely by the numbers, this one does a lot better than the previously discussed film. Three talking females, with one who saves multiple male characters, and a female character who is an equal part of a group of male characters, none of whom view her as a sexual object? That’s not so bad. There’s also this positive point: We see an Asian kid and a black guy among the many white characters during establishing shots of New York. At least Disney recognized New York has diversity. Even if the story ended up focusing on white folks. Additionally, the casting has diversity. The humans were all white, but they cast two black actors and a Latinx actor in the ensemble. Most American movies, animated or otherwise, you just see white casts.
But the real discussion comes with Georgette.
Georgette is an interesting character. She is a strong female personality, and she does save three male dogs, but she plays into a lot of less generally feminist stereotypes. For example, she’s obsessed with her looks, she is easily terrified, she complains about breaking her nail, et cetera. But problematic things like this hearken back to the conflict between 2nd and 3rd wave feminism regarding objectification vs. empowerment. You can read a decent article about it here. As Georgette is a fictional character, this certainly seems incredibly questionable. I’m gonna lean on the side of her being a perpetuation of unfortunate stereotypes. That said, she certainly could have been portrayed much worse. And, as always, Rita and Georgette despite being dogs, get curvier, thinner designs, makeup, and eyelashes to indicate gender. Still, this seems at least marginally better than the other.
Fun Notes:
The box says the kittens are $5, yet there does not appear to be anyone exchanging money or watching the box. And they got discounted to $3. And then free. So there’s clearly someone supposed to be there… yet they can’t be bothered to check on the cats when it rains? Come on. As a cat dad, I’m irked.
Guy with a boombox. This movie is either a Lonely Island skit or noticeably dated.
Dodger teaching order inside chaos. I can’t tell if he’s deep or just BSing.
Not a single kid likely knew what savoir faire meant, but this was still the best song in movie.
This is the third movie with the lady dog Peg from Lady and the Tramp.
Somehow, through a brief moment, Disney managed to make Macbeth look like a tragic, sympathetic character. That takes skill.
The late and incomparable Dom DeLuise voicing Fagin is perfection, especially for translating from the original Dickensian character to this likeable bum.
Quick note: Jenny 100% just killed Oliver with that dish. Neither cats nor dogs can eat chocolate. Meaning no cocoa puffs. #CatDadProblems
Is 5th Avenue in NYC so snooty that in the 1980s children felt the need to curtsy?
I wonder who managed to convince Bette Midler to take a role where she just says “bark” a lot.
Why does Georgette have a box of chocolates. Both Oliver AND her should be dead. Jenny is a TERRIBLE pet owner.
Disney electrocutes a dog in this movie. Like… woah.
That leaves us with one last film from the 1980s… and the beginning of our Renaissance (that I already dipped into a bit). However, I don’t think I’ll end up talking about The Little Mermaid next, because there’s some academic reading I want to do beforehand. Hopefully, you’ll see the extra effort when I write that piece. For now, I’ll leave the next one a mystery and hope you stick around for our princess-heavy 1990s. Until later!
