Kid's TV

For a psychology class last year we viewed a film about Disney movies and stereotypes. Surprised that I had never really thought about the topic myself, I was intrigued to see what they had to say about one of my childhood pastimes. As the movie began, it talked about how the stereotypes in Disney films have helped create these false beliefs and further prejudices and ultimately make young girls feel like they would need a man to save them. At first, I was very skeptical; my Disney didn't do that. They were just fun movies that I used to sing along to. Then I kept watching.
Using some clips and explanations, I thought maybe this could be plausible. Maybe. The movie talked about how minorities are not really shown in dominate roles, but African American voices are used for crows, monkeys, hyenas etc. They claimed this just further perpetuated the idea that African Americans are part of a lower class and really just continued prejudices. This is something I had never considered before and as I tried to think of a Disney movie with an African American as the lead and I couldn't.
A big focus of the movie however was on how Disney movies are degrading to women. Really? To women? Most of us grew up watching this. They claimed that Disney movies always have the beautiful "damsel in distress" that needs a man to save from the bad person/situation and that when this happens she'll live happily ever after. Ok, this seemed plausible although there may be an exception or two to it.
Then they continued to say that Disney movies perpetuated violence towards women and acceptance of this by women themselves. What?! That just sounds crazy. Ok, they argued, let's take Beauty and the Beast for example. Ultimately it shows a verbally and emotionally abusive guy (remember what he did to Bell's father and all the yelling), who after a long time finally came around. Ok, maybe this movie does kind of have this message, but do people really get that from it? Then, they interviewed a few young girls and asked what they thought about the movie and relations between men and women. One young girl said that even though he was a jerk, mean, and abusive, if she just stayed around and loved him enough it would get better. That made me sick. Then other girls said things similar about waiting for the guy to come around and that he would get better and that Bell could change him.
Maybe this movie is a little too extreme, but what messages are kids really getting from Disney movies? I'm not saying that they will make all women put up with domestic violence or feel like they need a man to save them. However, what about the girl from the abusive home, does this just further cement in her mind what she already knows about relationships that she learned from mommy and daddy? Who's responsibility is it clean up kid's TV?