Disney Princess Culture And Stereotypes

Disney princess could be harmful to young girls who takes them as their role models. There are princesses better than others and some are awful role models. Some princesses instruct young girls that it’s fine to be unassertive, which is a bad thing to teach to young girls. Also, I find that some princesses modify themselves just to amuse a gentleman. Ariel the princess in “Little Mermaid” adjust each thing concerning herself for a man. She transferred up her intermediary to obtain limbs so that she could exist with a guy. As Bartzyel stated in line 468, “Taming her hair, and shrinking her breast. When young girl see’s that they will think that’s it’s okay to give up certain things just to be with someone

Young girls that are inspired to have this "Disney princess effect" are not growing up to be strong, independent women that are motivated to change something in the world. In many of the Disney princess movies for example, The 1991 film, Beauty and the Beast, shows how women are not supposed to be intelligent, but should focus on fulfilling a man's needs. This has an impact on how a girl views her female position in the world.

In addition, the first idea to remember is that in classic Disney films, princesses often appear as the damsel in distress. Their submissive obedience leads to them being victimized, leading to the heroic appearance of their true love. This is seen in the classic Disney movie, Cinderella, her ultimate obedience to her stepmother transforms her into the victim or a damsel in distress in the movie. When the prince is introduced, he acts as the hero when he

Heroes are found everywhere when Disney is involved. From a prince or princess to secretive toys to the smallest forms of life on earth, a hero can be found in anyone. Being attached to one or a few is entirely common. These certain characters may be the ones they look up to. Young girls often choose to look up to a princess, although, they are not what they were over 50 years ago. The very first Disney princess, Snow White, is purely a damsel in distress. The same goes for Aurora who appeared in Sleeping Beauty years later. As the years have gone on, that weaker vision of a princess has faded. The modern day princesses are anything but damsels needing to be saved by a man. Rapunzel chooses to give up her freedom in order to save Flynn Rider’s life. Tiana works hard to provide for herself so she can chase her dream. Merida rejects what everyone else thinks she should be and is true to herself. Elsa only needs the love from her sister. This list will only get bigger as Disney continues to create these young female heroines. If anything, Disney is preaching to young girls everywhere to be strong in a world that may play on their faults or weaknesses. During a time strong feminist movements, Disney manages to satisfy demands by allowing the girl to be the hero. Though Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are still timeless classics, the princesses of today set a better example for young girls everywhere and that is why they seem to be more attractive than the originals.

Authors James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein are both concerned with the increase of princess culture among young girls. Poniewozik’s article “The Princess Paradox” and Orenstein's article “Cinderella and Princess Culture” discuss similar aspects of princess culture that could be potentially harmful to it’s audience. Both Poniewozik and Orenstein take on a feminist perspective in their articles. Specifically, both authors discuss feminist themes in princess culture but Orenstein focuses on toddler to pre-teen aged girls while Poniewozik is more concerned with specifically teenagers.

In the article “The Princess Paradox” and “Cinderella and Princess Culture” there are several different approaches that Orenstein and Poniewozik take to get their points across. Over the course of both articles there is a common theme that is displayed. While both authors address the possibility that princess culture has an effect on girls, Poniewozik uses movies to emphasis his claim, and Orenstein uses the product that disney sells to emphasize her claim.

The original three princesses were from 1937- 1959. These princesses were, Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Cinderella (Cinderella) and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). These three princesses brought to the studio a huge success in their early years. The soft and fragile characters embodied these typical princesses stereotype. From the interviewer was a young girl, she remembers watching the animated classics and with each movie she ended with the same ending, she ending wearing a beautiful gown, speaking in a high voice and always believing that her prince would arrive and pick her up on his horse and protect her from the evils in the world (Survey, 2016). The story lines were appealing to young girls because they were colourful, always

In our modern society parents want to know who the best role models are for their children; especially parents of young girls. Most girls are introduced to Disney Princesses at a young age, but what most parents don’t know is that not all Disney Princesses are positive role models of modern society. The princesses were amazing role models for their time but since then many opinions have changed on what is expected of women and what is not some; people in society today can argue weather certain qualities that the princesses posses are acceptable for today’s youth. The most famous princesses are the “Original Disney Princesses” :(in chronological order) Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

But many of the Disney princess movies have portrayed these female stereotypes. In almost all Disney princess movies, the princess ends up with a man. That’s is just how they are. This is telling girls watching the movies several different messages.

According to amother, her child stated “Mommy, mommy, the hyenas, the hyenas”, and she looked up and saidthere was a group of black children on the carousel and playing (Maloney; Mickey MouseMonopoly, 27). The social roles presented by Disney media embody the gendered stereotypes,which negatively affect how children learn and eventually perform gender (Heather Gutekunst,106). Disney films specifically have been shown to portray some stereotypical depictions ofgender (England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 92)EvaluationLet’s face it, the Disney Princess movies and product line are completely surrounded bythe idea of gender roles because they want to create a fairytale where boys and girls act the waythey are meant to act. According to a current study on the gender-roles in Disney Princess films,it was expected that the princesses would show more traditionally feminine than masculinecharacteristics, and the princes would show more traditionally masculine than femininecharacteristics (England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 93). Gendered stereotypes and roles aredesignated by Disney as limited rules of traditional femininity that is reiterated through andmirrored after popular culture (Gutekunst, 105). A quote by Carmen Faught written in theWashington post stated, “We don’t believe that little girls naturally play a certain way or speak acertain way, they’re not born liking a pink dress. At some point we teach them. So a big questionis where girls get their ideas about being girls” (Guo, 121). In Beauty & the Beast, you haveLumiere, the candlestick, and the broom, the feminine broom, acting out these male/femalethemes, where he’s the aggressive and she’s saying ‘oh, no, no, no’ and then by golly, he sweepsher off her feet after she said no, no, no, no (Carolyn Newberger; Mickey Mouse Monopoly,

Over the past century, mass media corporation Disney has created Princesses to be flawless and picture perfect, leading to much dispute over whether Disney’s portrayal of these Princesses has an effect on girls in a positive or negative way. There are many viewpoints to look at to understand how people view this discussion and how it has impacted young girls. I will discuss the viewpoint of writer, Brian Stern, and his thoughts on how the Disney Princesses give girls a negative impact on their future because it promotes gender stereotyping, writer, Pilar Clark, and how he thinks it is so much more than just the sparkles that persuade a girl to act in a certain way after seeing the princesses and Stephanie Hanes and how she believes parents are the ones that are able to determine if these princesses actually have an impact on their child’s life.

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.

According to various articles, although the Disney Princesses seem to be an innocent form of entertainment for young girls, their overall messages serve as a negative influence on how they develop into adults. This is where the unrealistic Disney Princess aspect can potentially become detrimental.

influences around them. The role models would impart on the young girls the necessary standards to compare themselves to learn their intrinsic worth and fight the opinion that women are inferior to men. Many times they look to the media for such influences. Disney princesses have for decades been the representation little girls see; however, not all of them are positive. The Disney Princess brand is broken down into three generations, or waves. The first generation, including Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, perpetuate sexism because they teach young girls that their value lies in their beauty and their relationship with a man. The second wave

Growing up, all I ever did was watch Disney movies and the Disney channel. Now as I’m older, I can’t help but realize that all the movies are exactly the same. The princess is stuck in a dilemma and then a perfect prince comes along and saves her and then they marry in the end. Other than a similar plot, all the movies have very similar character traits. England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek in Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses explain the characters, “traditionally masculine (e.g., athletic, brave) and traditionally feminine (e.g., helpful, nurturing) characteristics exhibited by the prince and princess characters through