Donald Duck vs his Nephew (and masculinity)

Growing up, I had a 2000s white Macbook which I used to entertain myself. I vividly remember watching cartoons on YouTube using my computer. One said cartoon was the early Disney animation of Donald Duck. Most of these animations were from the 1940s - 1950s era of animation. It was quite entertaining since Donald Duck was my favorite character from the whole Micky Mouse crew. Plus, Donald Duck would often compete against the chipmunks (Chip 'n' Dale) or his three Nephews (Huey, Dewey, and Louie). Today I'll take a look at 1942s Donald's Snow Fight. Along with the episode, we'll analyze how Donald's Masculinity is used within the 6-minute episode.

 

I'll first provide a brief description of the episode so we can best understand the context. The episode opens with Donald at his house, looking out the door to see snow all over the place. He decides to bring his sleigh up a hail. Once on top, Donald spots his nephews building a snowman. Donald decides to destroy their snowman, though his nephews get back at him by building a snowman on a rock. Once Donald hits the snowmen rock, he gets ticked off and chases his nephews towards their castle made out of snow. Donald makes himself a snow ship. Donald and his nephews exchange attacks on each other's base. In the end, Donald losses and gets frozen by the lake.

 

When we think of Donald Duck, we stereotype him to be the hot-head of the bunch since he can easily get ticked off when things don't go his way. To be fair, Donald's hot-head personality does make up most of his personality, though it's not the only characteristic that he possesses. Plus, hot-headedness could be a personality of masculinity since a men's anger is often associated with greater strength or determination. There might be a bit of othering since there's a different dynamic between Donald and his nephews. Donald would naturally inherent more power over his nephews since he's physically bigger and older compared to his nephews. In contrast, the nephews represent a young-small character who is hopeless compared to Donald. Characteristics aside, the nephews have the advantage in numbers. You've got three nephews against one Donald Duck. Othering isn't just the differences between the characters, but there's also an element between "us vs them". Donald Duck is directly competing against his three nephews; in a battle to showcase who'll come out on top. In terms of masculinity, it's clear that there's a power dynamic between the old against the young. Some may even say that it's the power between men against boys. 

 

We'll quickly go through Donald's other characteristics. We've gone through his anger and power dynamic. Donald's anger can coincide with recklessness and stupidity. There might be other tropes where men can be labeled with recklessness and stupidity, though masculinity probably doesn't fit since men shouldn't be making dumb decisions. Donald also shows signs of worry or fear when he's uncertain or under attack. We can see these emotions once his nephews counterattack with their snowballs. Again, the traits of worry and fear are the opposite of bravery (a trait of masculinity). I'll conclude with joy and laughter. In the context of Donald, he finds joy when destroying his nephew's snowmen or getting the upper hand in the snow fort battle. Regardless, masculinity is often thought of as serious. Joy and laughter might find a way towards masculinity, though seriousness is the dominant emotion compared to joy and laughter. 

 

In the end, Donald Duck is more dynamic than he gets credit for. Yes, his hot-headedness does make up most of his character, though it's not the only characteristic that he attributes. I didn't go into detail to say whether these characteristics were good or bad for Donald since (1), these characteristics make up Donald Duck's personality. (2) These characteristics aren't necessarily bad or good towards Donald Duck since (3), these characteristics are used as an entertaining factor rather than to educate or be against a certain trait. I personally like Donald Duck's 1940s characteristics since these same characteristics are what made me like the character in the first place (plus I grew up with the character). Donald Duck doesn't seem to be a masculine character, though he does have some masculine characteristics. Though masculinity itself seems to be too limiting since it's a chart of what you can and can't be. To me, masculinity isn't necessarily bad, though masculinity does suffer when you say that it's the only thing that a guy can be.



Source:

    Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald%27s_Snow_Fight

    Donald's Snow Fight: https://youtu.be/YiPN-_VvDug

    All Images: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Donald%27s_Snow_Fight