Walt Disney; the Occidentalist

In class today we watched the Disney classic Aladdin. As a child, I never really liked Aladdin; I was more partial to films such as Beauty and the Beast and Snow White. However, as I aged Aladdin drew my interest, and became an interesting topic for discussion. My friends and I read and chuckled at a countdown of the 9 most racist Disney characters, the sheer racism that was fed to so many American children for the past century, was beyond disturbing.
During class, another student brought up a question that I often think of when discussing stereotypes and race in media. After watching 30 minutes of ridiculously over-sexed and offensive caricatures, she posed the question, “What should my response be to this? I can’t help but laugh at some of the characters; one in fact reminds me of family member.” Often I wonder this, as well. How do we reconcile comedic interpretations of ourselves without causing offense?

Countdown of most racist disney characters: http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_9-most-racist-disney-characters.html