Released in 2000, Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove is the 40th movie in the Disney animated canon. It centers around Kuzco, a vain emperor whose royal advisor seeks to get rid of him. The film clearly takes place in a fictionalized version of Peru, specifically during the Inca Empire. There has not been a lot of discussion of South American representation on this blog, but that representation is no less important. I welcome any recommendations for works set in South America.
Despite obviously being based on Peru, the film never mentions the location. It’s not necessarily strange for a film to not specify the exact location of events, but in this case, it feels significant. If Disney were to come out and say that the characters are Inca, the stakes become higher. Once audiences had that official confirmation, the movie would be held to a higher standard of accuracy and representation. By not outright saying it, Disney has given the film plausible deniability. If someone takes issue with the way that Peru is depicted, well, they never said it was Peru, did they? Disney is able to avoid criticism just by leaving out some details.
Colonization does not appear to have begun at the time of the film, so we can classify it as pre-contact. There are no European characters at any point, and there are no Spanish influences; the Spanish are known for being the primary colonizers of Peru. It’s interesting that the film would choose to have entirely indigenous characters, considering that Pocahontas, produced just a few years earlier, relied on the idea that audiences don’t want to watch Native Americans if there aren’t white characters, as well. In many works, there seems to be this notion that white audiences need a POV character, but that is not the case in this film. The conflict is very much internal, with the main problem being Kuzco’s arrogance and disregard for his subjects. Perhaps Disney learned from Pocahontas that they’re not that great at depicting racial tension.
The film’s primary plot is kicked off when Yzma, Kuzco’s advisor who wants the throne for herself, ends up accidentally turning him into a llama. While trying to hide what they’ve done, Kronk, Yzma’s dimwitted henchman, abandons Kuzco on the cart of a local peasant, Pacha. Kuzco spends the rest of the film trying to find a way to undo his transformation. Disney has an unfortunate habit of POC (person of color) protagonists spending the majority of the movie as an animal. This trope also shows up in Brother Bear and The Princess and the Frog. This film gets a slight pass, though, because even though Kuzco spends most of the film as a llama, we still have Pacha. Pacha does have significant screen-time and importance to the plot while remaining human.
Because the setting and race of the characters are more of a backdrop, there are not a lot of specific moments to highlight. Rather than focusing on South American history or politics, the film focuses more on Kuzco’s character growth and gradual friendship with Pacha. How should we interpret this? There are a couple different ways we could. 1) Disney wants an exotic location, but doesn’t want to put in the work to make that location important to the story. 2) It’s yet another tactic to maintain plausible deniability. 3) They failed to see any importance in depicting that culture in a way that was meaningful. 4) It’s a combination of any three. 5) It was simply a storytelling choice and the producers felt that characterization was the most important aspect of the film. Politics and representation don’t necessarily factor into the decision.
It’s difficult to fully analyze the impact of The Emperor’s New Groove in terms of indigenous representation, because, as stated previously, the film doesn’t explicitly say that the characters are Inca. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to analyze it. Even if Disney won’t say it, we should still examine the movie as a depiction of ancient Peru. Disney has long struggled with depicting racial minorities and The Emperor’s New Groove is not an exception, but it is an improvement.
Image from imdb.com
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