Disney Gender Bias

Disney has been notorious for perpetuating gender stereotypes for women through their movies, and since the

From this article, we learn how Disney characterizes different people from different cultures and times. It shows the hyper-sexualization of the “Gypsy” women, Esmeralda, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and how this is directly related to a historical misunderstanding of the Gypsy people but also the sexualization of Jasmine in Aladdin. The term “gypsy” itself is controversial as some see it as a racial slur and the people are actually Romani. The author brings up how the representations of women of color are vastly different from their white counterparts. They are perceived and portrayed in an orientalist view; “In particular, the representation of gender and race and a pattern of increasing orientalization reveal themselves in the characters' physical

For decades now, Disney Corporation has been providing us with countless films made to delight and amuse children and adults alike. But not all Disney films seem particularly appropriate for their target audience. Many of these films portray violence, gender inequality, and skewed views of leadership roles that seem altogether inappropriate for impressionable young children. Better and more contemporary heroines need to be added to Disney’s wall of princesses in order to counteract years of sexism.

Despite being one of the most popular, if not most popular, animated movies of all-time, Toy Story offers a limited perspective when it comes to gender because of manhood acts, homosociality, and stereotypes. The manhood acts in the film suppress women at the same time as they support the hegemonic masculinity, which is the masculinity that actively attempts to suppress women and inferior masculinities (Bird pg. 129). When the male characters in the movie do this, it approves of this negative behavior that limits the voice of the female characters. Additionally, the lack of female characters causes the film to portray homosociality, which prevents young girls from seeing a variety of representations of women in the toys. Also, the stereotypes in the movie reduce women to second class citizens. Both male and female stereotypes in the movie support the hegemonic masculinity. Ultimately, the depiction of manhood acts, homosociality, and stereotypes in the film, Toy Story, actively support the hegemonic masculinity at the expense of other gender identities.

According to A Dictionary of Journalism, the media is defined as journalism as part of a much broader field of public communication organizations, including newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV channels, the film industry, the music industry, websites, advertising, and public relations. For young children, media plays a predominant role in developing schemas of one’s identity, including body image, and gender roles. Young children spend the majority of their time viewing media, therefore the process of generating one’s identity based on his or her observation of media is inevitable. Disney’s princess movies have brought significant effects to children’s development of their identities. There are three main stages of Disney movies. The first stage is the “princess” stage, where the movie depicts the most stereotypes (i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). The second stage is the “rebellious” stage, where the princesses are illustrated as curious and adventurous, yet still show the aspect of female stereotypes (i.e. Jasmine in Aladdin). The third stage is the “hero” stage, where the princesses are shown to fight the female stereotypes (i.e. Mulan). Although Disney has portrayed more complex, yet evolving gender roles as time went on, Disney’s princess movies had significant effects on young audiences by planting changing gender stereotypes.

Toy manufacturers are promoting gender-biased by producing and selling more toys that are male, if they are biased towards them or if they are biased towards females then they would make, and sell more toys that are female. I believe all of the action figures in the Star Wars Monopoly are male. Also the action figures found on store shelves are male too, which can show that the Star Wars producers are clearly biased towards the men. But this time it is not really because they are biased towards male toys, but it is because they do not want to show that Rey plays a large role in the long awaited movie. Not only does she play a huge role, but she is the main protagonist in the movie, so the producers want that to stay a secret. However, there

Disney as a producer of films and tv programs is one of if not the most known media brand in the world, everyone either has seen or knows about a Disney movie. This is quite a large audience for a company to have the ability to influence. These films do all have positive messages that come from them but unfortunately due to this large audience critics have began to notice a pattern in the presentation of the films and believe that Disney's seeming innocent nature is not just that when these films are viewed more in depth. It is seen that the genders in the film are all portrayed in the same manner, females having to be kind caring, built with a small waist and that their sole purpose is to find a man and succumb to his needs. Males must be

Pixar’s oldest full length animated film is twenty years old this year. In those twenty years we have seen timeless characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc., gone on unforgettable adventures with Russell and Mr. Fredricksen in Up and with Eve and Wall-e in WALL-E, and made memories that can easily be rewound and watched again for the hundredth time. But as these movies were being released a startling trend seemed to be emerging, most of the characters were male. None of the movies seemed to have that many female characters and if they did they weren’t very memorable. So is Pixar Sexist?

“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.” - W.H. Auden. This common saying may contain some truth, but in reality if you were to throw yourself in a fairy tale what would you really be getting yourself into? Disney/Mass Media communicates negative and false ideologies related to Gender, Race, and relationships.

Sexism is an arrangement of dispositions and practices towards individuals that judge or put down them in the premise of their sex, or that sustain cliche suppositions about sexual orientation parts. These days, the term is frequently used to allude to men’s state of mind towards women, the mentality doesn’t generally need to be awful however. In the disney motion pictures the audience see today we generally observe sexism towards women, since they are never ready to ensure themselves, but instead we have the male character swoop in to allow her out, and this is the thing that surprises a few of the audience when viewers see or discuss disney movies. Disney movies are full of sexist messages which teach young girls to accomplish a submissive role in society such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, and “Snow white”. Young girls have learned to admire the Disney princesses, and have even began to look at them as the perfect role models to follow in order to achieve perfect lives. These disney movies teach young girls that they need a male figure in their lives for them to fulfil their idea of a “perfect life”. “ for the second stage of the analysis, a toy that appeared both on the list of toys disney deemed us appropriate for boys and the list of toys for girls would be categorized only as a toy for “both boys and girls” .” In this article Auster Carol concentrates on the analysis of the color and type of toys on the disney store. All the females were wrapped up in the

What young girl does not dream of becoming a princess and living in a castle happily ever after? Virtually every young girl identifies with princesses and has watched at least one Disney Princess movie. From the first movies of Snow White and Cinderella, to the later movies of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, to the most current movie Moana, Disney Princess movies permeate not only the movie theaters, but also our culture. In fact, “becoming a princess is as easy as purchasing a tiara and hosting a princess-themed birthday party or buying a Halloween costume and playing pretend” (Garabedian, 2014, p. 23). Nonetheless, as declared by Princess Merida in the movie Brave, “there comes a day when I don’t have to be a princess. No rules, no expectations. A day where anything can happen. A day where I can change my fate” (Andrews & Chapman, 2012). In other words, does the life of a princess measure up to the expectations of little girls everywhere? The Disney Princess brand has grown incredibly popular, especially with young girls. In spite of this, the franchise has also become extremely controversial due to potential gender stereotypes in the films. “Gender is one of the most discussed topics in today’s society…[it] represents and also reproduces certain attributes, expectations and roles which are associated with male and female…influencing the views and opinions of future generations” (Maity, 2014, p. 31). Yet, is the Disney Princess brand harmful to young children due to gender stereotypes? Two essays that contemplate the Disney Princess brand and gender stereotypes with opposite viewpoints on this controversial issue are “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” by writer Monika Bartyzel and “In Defense of Princess Culture” by writer and mother Crystal Liechty. However, Liechty’s essay “In Defense of Princess Culture,” is the most effective article in convincing the audience of her point of view due to the claim, support, warrant, language, and vocabulary employed.

Disney is one of the most successful and largest companies in the world. They have their hand in nearly every form of entertainment as well as media, and broadcasting. Disney is best known for their animated films, unique cartoon characters, catchy musicals, and fairy tales that most of us were first introduced to as children. They are one of the few entertainment companies in the World whose primary demographic is children and teens. Nearly everybody is familiar with the Disney name and its brand, and its realistic to suggest that nearly everybody has experienced a Disney film and animated character at some point in their lives; which may have helped to influence them or their behaviors or even their

Toy manufacturers are now starting to promote gender-biased toys by showing children that certain behaviors and actions are for their specific gender. Many toys are neutral or gender-biased but many people seem to disagree with the manufacturers of the type of toy children want to play with. In the article published by the Associated Press, “Asleep at the switch? Force Awakens heroine missing from toy line” expresses how toys, especially from Star Wars, can be played with either gender. Men and women are equally attracted to play with a toy that is intended for an opposite gender. Furthermore, children and adults should have the choice to play with any toy they decide, but toy manufacturers still produce gender-biased toys.

Specifically looking at girl stereotypes, toys targeted towards them are packaged in pink, purple and other bright colors of the rainbow. The most popular toys in this demographic are brands like Bratz, Barbie, or Disney Princesses. These dolls can push boundaries on how suggestive their marketing can get. Bratz dolls are usually dressed in skimpy clothing and adorn heavy makeup. Midge and Baby is a controversial Barbie that was pregnant with a baby to promote the idea of family planning. Yet at the same time, they deny that toys are instrumental in the formation of gender differences, claiming that their intentions are to “maximize sales and profits, not to rear children” (Cross 1997, p. 231). Inevitably, these overtly sexualized toys influence the girls at an impressionable age.

For many years, Disney has made fairy tale films that are full of lovable characters that children cannot seem to get enough of. The traits of many characters remain great models for children to watch and learn from. Adults tend to perceive a bit more than just the admirable qualities they embody, which leads to the realization that these films are far from perfect. Upon closer inspection, Disney films embrace patriarchal and sexist ideologies when it comes to their characters—something that Disney has been nearly successful in eradicating in their most recent films. From the earliest films to the most recent, the portrayal of gender roles, of both the heroine and the villain, has changed for the better.