Disney, Orientalism, and African Pride

Becoming Conscious of African Identity

Abstract

Years ago, my sisters and I were watching the Disney Channel’s Jessie, a supposedly family-friendly comedy about a small-town  Southern girl–the titular Jessie– who moves to New York City to work as a nanny for a wealthy family. In this episode, “There Goes the Bride,” Jessie is about to get married to her long-term boyfriend–until he receives a job offer and decides to move to Africa (no specific country– simply “Africa.”) Jessie, whose dream is to be a big-time Hollywood star, is forced to break up with him, because according to Disney, the only things in Africa are “ostrich burgers,” “heat strokes,” and “huge mosquitoes” (Eells et al., 2014). At this specific line my mother made us pause the show. “Africa’s not like that,” she said. “We have cities and highways. And there are over 50 countries in Africa. It’s not just a big safari with lions and cheetahs.” Until that moment, it had never previously occurred to me that my mother
was African. [...]