Stereotypes and Role Models

I have just been watching a couple of videos on youtube about racism and stereotypes in Disney films. Whilst I can see that the person who made the film does have a point, and from todays point of view yes, some of the cartoons would be considered racist. However, I do think that you have to take into consideration the time that they were made. I am compleatly against discriminating against anyone because of what colour their skin is, or wheather they are male or female, but this has not always been the case with society in general. Some of these films (the examples given were in Dumbo and Fantasia) were made a long time ago and they reflect the veiws of the time. Yes, these views were wrong, but people at the time they were made didn't see it like that. Do these films really have to be banned?
The video on gender stereotypes, particularly talking about the way Disney films portray men, said that boys watching the films would grow up thinking that men have to be muscly, overpowering and domineering. I agree that you have to be careful of what children watch and what ideas they are picking up from what is around them. However I think that more important than making a big deal about what sumbliminal messages may or may not be being picked up from films is what example children are given from the people around them. The family is in a state of crisis. Many, many children are living without good male or female role models and people are busy worrying about what is in films?! I often feel that the content of films are a reflection of society more than they affect it. Yes if films portray certain ways of thinking in a positive light yes people may come to believe that they are a good way to think, but more often it is the other way around.
More important than changing the content of films, although this may need to be done, is to try and put back the importance on family life. I grew up watching Disney films and I know that, whatever heros and villans are like in films that is fiction, not real life. My ideas of how men and women should behave did not come from the films I watched, they came from the example of those around me, most importantly my parents. I have been blessed in having both my parents around for my childhood, together providing a united and consistant education and discipline. My idea of what men should be came from how my father, and more widely my grandfathers, and the men in my church. They showed me how real men, in real situations in the real world behave. Likewise, the woman I am today is a result of the example of my mother and the other women around me growing up. I think whoever made the film I watched had a valid point, but I think the more worrying issue is that children are so starved of good examples and role models in real life that they would take advice from films.
Besides, if you're going to pick on the mistakes in Disney films, don't be so limited! There are many many films with, lets say, questionable morals! It is concerning the messages that are conveyed thorough films, but it is an issue throughout the film industry, and so to specifically focus on Disney is a little misleading, it needs looking at in the wider context I think.

Anyway! That's enough of that! It just anoys me that people, despite their good intentions and valid points can focus so much on the symptoms of our broken society without touching the real cause. Our real problem is that we live in a sinful society and until sin is dealt with there is no hope that these things will ever really, compleatly stop being a problem.