"Family, Race and Citizenship in Disney's Lilo & Stitch" by Emily Cheng

http://getitatduke.library.duke.edu/?sid=sersol&SS_jc=TC0000205289&title=Monsters%20and%20the%20Monstrous%3A%20Myths%20and%20Metaphors%20of%20Enduring%20Evil

mla citation: Scott, Niall, ed. At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries, Volume 38 : Monsters and the Monstrous : Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil. Amsterdam, NLD: Editions Rodopi, 2007. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 3 April 2015.

"While discussions of Disney have often focused on the relationship between the corporation and the critic, in this paper my method is to address the multiple and often contradictory meanings produced by the film by considering its receptions found in print and online reviews, production, and the text itself." (123-124)

p 125 end of first paragraph, examples of the references to other cultural sites por favor?

"While in some overt ways the film's content, production, and reception may seem to serve as media for transnational tourist industry, it also sets up a discussion of the entwinement of the tourism industry with representations of exoticized culture as well as universal family values." (126)

So from this, it sounds like Cheng believes that the Hawaiian culture portrayed in Lilo & Stitch is proof of how cultures are advertised as "exotic" in order to gather interest yet they also need to portray some "good" quality, such as universal family values, to make it familiar enough for a visitor to feel comfortable there. She goes on to suggest that the production team of this movie tried to sell a superficial idea of the Hawaiian culture by claiming they researched it thoroughly but really they just said this to increase marketability.

I found it interesting that she claims the reason the family in this film is female oriented is because Hawaii is typically described as a "'Pacific woman'", I always thought it was weird that they focused this movie on two orphaned females but I just thought they were trying to emphasize the strength of their bond. When I actually take a moment to think about it, I realized that the majority of the character are females such as Lilo, Nani, Nani's potential employers, and Lilo's "friends" (we all know they kind of suck). I wonder if Pleakley dressing up as a woman adds to this "feminine" vibe that Hawaii is supposed to give off.

I then found it really interesting how she pointed out that the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) signed a $1.7 million deal with the Disney company to promote Hawaiian culture at the same time that the movie was released which was coincidentally in 2002, when tourism profits were at a low because of the tragedy on September 11, 2001.

Cheng actually appears to have strong evidence that while this movie does promote the idea of family, the reason for this message is not as heart warming as one would think. The act of forcing Stitch to basically become a dog and demanding for him to become a "model citizen" symbolizes the act of becoming a naturalized citizen in order to be accepted into society and by comparing him to a dog, it makes his character more familiar and lovable than as an alien. She also believes that the usage of Elvis Presley as Stitch's role model sends a message of American culture, patriotism and again markets Hawaii as prime tourist destination.

Her final point indicates that even though Stitch was accepted into the family, the fact remains that he is an alien which is why they adopted him as a dog and even at the end when he perform more "humanly" duties like cooking and cleaning, those are similar roles to those of current immigrants in America that are referred by some as "aliens".

I think Cheng's writing could help me bring in an aspect of how family is such a fundamental part of American cultural and its idea of belonging as citizens in the form of a happy family. Cheng sounds educated in her work which is why I think I had an easier time following and understanding her argument.