Disney Movies And The Concepts Of Sexism In Disney Movies

Not many companies can influence the childhood development of many Americans like the Walt Disney Company. Disney, named after their founder, began as just an animation studio called The Walt Disney Studios, which the company describes as “the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built”. Today, Disney produces various items targeted at children like toys, clothing, and animation (“Company”). In the paper, Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney’s Cartoon Heroines From The Little Mermaid To The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Celeste Lacroix of the College of Charleston assesses the portrayal of female heroines from Disney animated films that depicts human main characters, examining the sexualization of non-European or the “exotic” others, and brings to light Disney’s strategy to instill an attitude of consumerism in children. Despite my memorable sentiment with Disney animations as a child, I agree with Lacroix’s assertion that Disney impose consumerism onto children, especially with DVD commercials, tie-in products and “apps” on smartphones and tablets.

Disney strongly portrays gendered stereotypes using their eleven official princesses. Young children, specifically young girls in this case, are extremely susceptible to being influenced by the portrayal of these gendered stereotypes. Golden and Jacoby performed research regarding how preschool girls interpret the gendered stereotypes shown through Disney Princess media, through both the young girls’ pretend play behaviors and the discussion of the princesses. Golden and Jacoby performed this research project in order to examine the perception of young girls in relation to princesses and awareness of gender-role stereotypes, a different research study found that girls who lived and accepted gendered stereotypes, in believing that women

The website is titled “Growing Up With Disney” and covers eight Disney movies produced in 1989 to 2016. Each movie gets its own webpage that focuses on the female lead character and each webpage includes a summary of the movie and a reflection of my thoughts on the character. The reflections focus on the formations of gender roles and how Disney has changed in the span of these eight movies. The audience targeted is those who share the same love for Disney movies and grew up watching them.

The portrayal of Feminine aspects within Disney movies has been widely criticized, however the way masculinity is portrayed in films is also very controversial but infrequently discussed. My goal for this research paper is to look at two Disney films through a feminist lens and queer lens to decipher any stereotypical aspects of masculinity that are shown within the main characters. I am hopeful to find a film that breaks the norm of having a masculine main character that is hyper masculine like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast or Jaffar from Aladdin. I would also like to analyze the damsel in distress situations in films where the male role seems to always be the heroic figure even when they aren’t the main character in the story. Even though

Walt Disney over the years has impacted the lives of millions of children with his animated films. His Disney movies have evolved in the last years and have moved from the traditional damsel in distress theme. Specifically, the classic movie Cinderella gives the wrong idea about what it is to be a woman for young girls. The movie portrays a young woman facing emotional, mental, and physical abuse by her evil stepmother and later falls in love with a charming prince. However, if viewers take a closer look, Disney’s anti feminist message is firmly emphasized. The story of Cinderella is sexist due to it’s lesson to girls that beauty and submission will award them a rich bachelor. This is seen through Cinderella’s submissive behavior, Prince

Growing up watching Disney movies you never notice how sexist they really are. I always watched The Little Mermaid, but watching it now is very different. When you are younger you just watch things because you like them, you do not necessarily understand them. As you get older you realize what you were really being taught. Walt Disney’s movie The Little Mermaid displays a lot of sexism and displays how society should see women and how women should act.

1.Throughout our readings we have seen gender performed in many ways from Toddlers in Tiaras to the discussion of Feminist Masculinity and the questions of motherhood and its prices. In Cinderella Ate my Daughter, Peggy Orenstein lays out the many way we have taught our girl to be princesses and argues whether or not the princess culture is good for young girls. Orenstein talks about how toy companies are gendering not only their toys, but also their advertisements making everything glitter pink or baby blue. She even talks about how babies weren’t colored coded until the early twentieth century. Orenstein lays it all starting from the beginning with girls and the color pink and taking it to the end with female bodies and objectification.

Gender Socialization found in Disney Films Gender Socialization is happening all around without people even realizing it. For example, if a person where to walk into a toy store, there would be two separate sections, one for boys and one for girls. The female section of the toy store would most likely be pink and the males blue. The toys for the females too, would be different than of the males. The females would most likely have dolls and houses and the males would be toy cars and action figures.

“A dream is a wish your heart makes” says Cinderella in her famous fairytale. (Cinderella). Cinderella is an animated children’s film released in 1950 about a young girl, Cinderella, who lives under her cruel stepmother’s house with two of her stepsisters who constantly belittle her. She receives an invitation to attend a ball and with the help of a fairy godmother, she is able to reunite with her prince charming in the end. The Little Mermaid is also a Disney children’s animated film and it was released in 1989.

Walt Disney once said, “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.” Although Disney know this they still portray gender stereotyping in their princess movies. One example of this is Beauty and the Beast. The character name Gaston in the Beauty and the Beast it is shown that weight determines temperament. Disney would have you believe that being small and waif-ish making you, gentle and kind, and that being large makes you beastly, coarse, and/or prone to angry outbursts as demonstrated bas characters like Beast.

I will discuss some aspects related to value orientations. I will express my initial assumptions of the dominant value orientations in the United States, briefly summarize the videos and what value orientations it portray, and discuss this reaction with more details that relate with value orientations and some characteristics of cultures. Before I watched the videos, I made an assumption that the dominant value orientations in the United States were “doing”, individualism, future time orientation, low power distance, femininity, low uncertainty avoidance, and long term orientation to life. Although I might not be able to judge the accuracy of this assumption, I found out that my assumption differs from Disney films portrayal of cultures in certain aspects, especially femininity/masculinity.

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.

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.

Furthermore, Disney designs for figures of the females as having the “perfect body” in their main character roles. Body shapes come in all forms; individuals are beautiful and must feel confident in their own skin. Disney pictures need modifications in the when watching these films, they learn that it’s okay for them to be different from the Disney princess’s images. In general, the women in Disney are rightfully covered with a small waist looking as if they don’t eat anything and keep their bodies in good shape. Women come differently shaped differently, looks different but it doesn’t change a matter that some may be over weight but women are okay with their body. In today’s generation plus size is beautiful and Disney needs more form in how

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