The Great American Melting Pot?

Jae Ran Kim’s “The Great American Melting Pot?” argued that the comforting, 1970’s notion of America’s “melting pot” she grew up with may not be so comforting at all. Between 1973 and 1985, Disney produced an educational, children’s show called America Rock, and upon revisiting her favorite episode, “The Great American Melting Pot,” the author noticed that Disney’s take on global diversity only included the faces of Europeans. “America was founded by the English, German, French and Dutch,” Kim quoted (699). She notes that only Russians and Italians make up the immigrant population, leaving out Korans, Iranians, the Chinese and Guatemalans, etc. The author also explains that the episode failed to address the subject of slavery, and the attempts to remove Native Americans from their land during colonial times. As an adult, Kim continued to recognize racial stereotypes in the media, and although she allowed her children to watch the Schoolhouse Rock, she encouraged them to think critically when valuing the way they and their friends are portrayed (Kim 700).

I can only agree with Kim half way. True, the series failed to mention that amongst the founding races that built the country, Native Americans were part of the initial congregation.  And immigrants were misrepresented when only Russians and Italians made it in the scene. However, the fact remains that it was a children’s show, produced in the seventies! The show was meant to target a very young audience,  and the basic concept at the time wasn’t only to celebrate diversity (however much of a failure the show proved to be) but to teach tolerance. Incorporating the brutal past of slavery and the elimination of Native Americans is too mature a content for a kid’s show, so Disney opted to teach kids to “play nice” despite their differences in religion, nationality and race. Even in the present, I’ve failed to see a children’s show that tackles the subject of slavery and the colonist’s attempts to push Native American’s out of their land. However, as I sit with my younger sister to watch “age appropriate” channels, I didn’t fail to notice that Disney’s still preaching the same message they were nearly four decades ago: Play nice, and celebrate your differences.

Work Cited

Kim, Jae Ran. “The Great American Melting Pot?” Perspectives on Argument. Eds. Leah Jewel, Craig Campanella, and Brad Potthoff. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, 2009. 698-700. Print.