Disney has received some backlash over the years for culturally insensitive films, and the portrayal of indigenous characters and cultures within these films. For example, the film 'Pocahontas'. It completely glorifies the effects colonialism had on indigenous cultures. The real Pocahontas was in fact believed to have been used as a sex slave when brought over to England at the age of around . Additionally, the idea that Pocahontas is a ‘good Indian’ is culturally problematic. In the Disney story, she admires the white man, admires Christianity, admires the culture and wants to have peace with these people. This portrayal makes people in white American culture feel good about their history. That the colonisers were not doing anything wrong to the Indians but really were saving them and the ‘good’ ones appreciated it (Manksy, 2017). Additionally, a song in which the indigenous people were called 'savages' and 'barely even human' reinforces the idea that the Europeans were helping indigenous people become civilised ignoring the mass genocide and slavery of indigenous people. This promotes the normalisation of this kind of storyline to young people and children resulting in the erasure of true indigenous and coloniser history. Another example is the heavy accents and slanted eyes of the Siamese cats in 'Lady and the Tramp', which promotes racial stereotyping (Wong, 2020). On the other hand, Dreamworks has been a lot more culturally sensitive. Films such as Kung Fu Panda and others showed research into the culture rather than the films being based on the perception of that culture from a Western point of view. For example in Kung Fu Panda, culturally sensitive jokes were made. Additionally, other issues are tackled such as the importance and role of insects and bees (The Bee Movie). To me, Dreamworks has a more mature, researched, and sensitive approach to films that both caters for children and adults. I have found that Dreamworks is not afraid to tackle issues and does not necessarily sugar-coat issues by creating a magical recovery and happy ending, which I believe Disney do. For example, the loss of Hiccup's leg in 'How to Train Your Dragon' did not result in his leg magically getting better (Wong, 2020). Instead Dreamworks portrayed the issues and the challenges faced by Hiccup due to this incident. Resources: Falker, M. (2018). 'Dreamworks is Better than Disnay: CHange My Mind', Daily Utah Chronicle. Retrieved from: https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2018/09/08/dreamworks-is-better-than-disney-change-my-mind/ Manksy, J. (2017). 'The True Story of Pocahontas', Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-pocahontas-180962649/ Wong, L. (2020) 'Dreamworks is better than Disney'. Retrieved from: http://farragomagazine.com/2020/03/23/battle-of-the-animation-studios-disney-vs-dreamworks/#:~:text=While%20Disney%20has%20a%20magical,attract%20audiences%20of%20all%20ages.

Although Disney has certainly produced a number of films which are culturally or racially insensitive in the past, the more recent films of the company are just as inclusive as DreamWorks films. I don't think it is necessarily fair to judge Disney completely on its older, insensitive films, which the company are trying to restrict today. Recently, it was announced that Disney+ is banning children under 7 from watching old Disney films which breach 'content advisories', including Peter Pan, Dumbo, and The Aristocats. [1] The most recent Disney films which were made around the same time at DreamWorks began producing movies are much more sensitive and lack the controversy that early Disney films had. Some of the most notable Disney movies which have been able to showcase different cultures or convey complex ideas that are able to teach children correctly about issues such as race and sexism include: [2] - Mulan (1998) - Lilo and Stitch (2002) - Brother Bear (2003) - The Princess and the Frog (2009) - Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - Frozen (2013) - Moana (2016) - Zootopia/Zootropolis (2016) These films are both fun and magical but also have very mature, adult themes within them, just as DreamWorks movies also do. Still, a direct comparison between Disney films from 1994 (after DreamWorks was founded) and the movies of DreamWorks highlights Disney as being a better company in terms of success. There have been 57 Academy Award wins for Disney since 1994, (these awards also include categories as ‘Best Actor’/’Best Actress’ to those participating in live-action Disney films). [3] In comparison, DreamWorks has only won 3 Academy awards, despite making 39 films in this time period whereas Disney (animation studios only) made 26. [4] The sheer amount of different popular franchises that Disney owns also makes the company better than DreamWorks, because there is more content that people can enjoy. Disney now owns Star Wars (LucasFilms), Marvel Studios, and Pixar on top of its own company’s franchises. DreamWorks only owns the franchises of its original films, Wallace and Gromet, and Captain Underpants. Additionally, Disney’s creation of a number of company specific theme parks around the world makes the company better than DreamWorks as it attaches a new form of experience for people to enjoy: rather than just watching a film, people can experience that film on a ride. Unlike DreamWorks, Disney is not only limited to animation features today. Instead, they have been able to expand to such an extent that they now produce many live-action films as well as a series of different documentaries and TV series. Disney’s victory over DreamWorks in awards also makes the company more successful in terms of statistical analysis, as well as subjective fun. [1] ‘Disney+ blocks under-sevens from watching 'racist' Peter Pan, Dumbo and The Aristocats for breaching 'content advisories'’, (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179987/Disney-blocks-sevens-watching-racist-Peter-Pan-Dumbo-Aristocats.html) [2] ‘List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films’, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_Studios_films) [3] ‘Academy Awards’, (https://d23.com/a-to-z/academy-awards/#:~:text=As%20of%202020%2C%20Disney%20has,Guinness%20Book%20of%20World%20Records.) [4] ‘DreamWorks Animation’, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation#:~:text=The%20studio%20has%20earned%20three,Golden%20Globe%20and%20BAFTA%20nominations.)

I will have to say Disney has the upper hand on this one. They're a large entity and its difficult to compete with them when it comes to animation, especially considering they have a collection of different studios; Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm. Without mentioning all the revenue at their direct disposal. Don't get me wrong though, DreamWorks's success has been often credited to their rejection of the Disney narrative and they proven to have a more diverse approach earlier on. Arguably their best film series to date Shrek was a direct satire of the fairytale Disney narrative and managed to utterly crush Disney at the box office that summer in 2001 (Reese, 2001). Other films like Chicken Run, Prince of Egypt, and Road to El Dorado also demonstrated viable alternatives to the Disney Renaissance during the 1990s. However, you have to take the good with the bad. DreamWorks' main problem arguably has been competing with Disney while balancing both film quality and box office success. One could've argued that DreamWorks was better than both Pixar and Walt Disney Studios in the mid-2000s-2010s. DreamWorks critically acclaimed animated works were outcompeting Disney's back then, but their box office success diminished since the turn of the decade. Here are some comparisons of both DreamWorks and Disney's (Pixar included) highest-grossing feature films throughout the years: (2004) Shrek 2- $920 Million (USD) The Incredibles- $633 Million (USD) (2007) Shrek The Third- $799 Million (USD) Ratatouille- $621 Million (USD) (2010) Shrek Forever After- $753 million (USD) Toy Story 3- $1.067 billion (USD) (2013) The Croods- $587 million (USD) Frozen- $1.280 billion (USD) (2017) Boss Baby- $528 million (USD) Coco- $807.8 million (USD) Dreamworks has experienced a decline in sales and also quality in some instances, while the opposite happened to Disney. Culturally inappropriate narratives seen in Pocahontas is mostly not seen anymore in Disney Animation. Films like Coco that promote different cultural themes released within the last decade have been critically praised. This is without counting Disney's on-going Academy Award success already mentioned in AnnaHubbard's counter. Dreamworks struggles with balancing their film quality while also trying to compete for box office sales. Films series like How To Train Your Dragon were critically praised but were unable to compete with Disney in the Box Office. While movies like the Boss Baby and Trolls don't have any major significance other than to sell merchandise and TV shows and shows the studio's declining quality. Disney has been able to balance its film quality along with its box office success. This is due to the sheer amount of resources Disney has available including creative staff from multiple studio's. DreamWorks at their peak were giving Disney and Pixar a run for their money, but now each Disney film earns twice as much as an entire year of DreamWorks box office revenue. I think it would be fairer to compare one Disney film studio with DreamWorks. Reese, L. (2001). ''Shrek'' is the No. 1 movie. Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://ew.com/article/2001/05/22/shrek-no-1-movie/ List of DreamWorks Animation productions. (2021, January 16). Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DreamWorks_Animation_productions List of Pixar films. (2021, January 26). Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pixar_films List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films. (2021, January 21). Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_Studios_films