In his debut in the animated short Steamboat Willie (Disney, US, 1928), Mickey Mouse was criticized in a Nazi Journal Pomerania ‘The Dictatorship’ (1931) – in an article called ‘The Mickey Mouse Scandal’.
While Mickey Mouse as a character was generally welcomed in America, he created uproar in Europe and in particular became a target for Nazi Germany. The reality of prejudice and racism is that it has a darker side. While many audiences would have found Ratatouille comedic and charming, Disney has not always had it so good. Remy is challenging the old order and in the words of Arnold Krupat, he is epitomizing Krupat’s view of multiculturalism where Krupat states that ‘multiculturalism refers to an order of instruction concerned to present that which a dominant culture has defined as “other” and “different” – usually, of course, minor and inferior as well – in such a way that it may interrogate and challenge that which the dominant culture has defined as familiar and its own’ (Goldberg 1994: p.374) Django represents an older generation of rats that only believes the worst in humans and attempts to enforce his views on Remy his son rejects his father’s views because his most recent experience of humans – particularly Linguini – tells him something different. This is illustrated in the scene where Remy’s father, Django, takes him to see a shop with dead rats hanging from various traps. But there is more to Remy and Ratatouille that challenges the audience to think less about normative rat behaviour and more about long held perceptions of people or animals not like them. As Ella Shohat and Robert Stam explain ‘stereotypes of some communities merely make the target group uncomfortable, but the community has the social power to combat and resist them stereotypes of other communities participate in a continuum of prejudicial social policy’ (1994: p.183). I would argue that because Remy is a rat, the film challenges the audience to examine their own perspective of how as individuals they apply and/or perpetuate stereotypes and labels – whether they are human or animal. However, and perhaps this is an ‘off the wall’ argument, Paul Wells states that ‘animation “penetrates” into the areas.which cannot be conceptualised and illustrated in any other form’ (2002: p.59). With this in mind, it is very easy to say that if Remy were a human, Ratatouille would be a film about prejudice and unacceptance within the work place.
The underlying theme of Ratatouille – chasing a dream and believing in yourself despite what others may think of you – or as Gusteau puts it ‘you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from’ is a theme that has universal resonance with people of all ages, faiths and races.