Essay On Stereotypes In Disney Movies

While Disney animated films are the ideal family movies, it is undisclosed to many that such racism is being portrayed. "Rarely do we ask about the origins and intentions of the messages we encounter through mass media; sometimes we forget that [producers] have origins or intentions at all" (Lipsitz 5). The social inequality found in such popular culture can be due to several reasons. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes in Racial Crossroads, media content can be the reflection of producers, audience preference, or society in general (Croteau and Hoynes 352). In their films or other such media, producers often reflect on personal experiences. In other words, they may "draw on their own family lives

For my final paper where we had to pick a topic from current popular culture, I decided to write my paper with the focus on Disney movies. More particularly with the focus on the Disney princess movies. When it comes to the Disney movies they have always been and will always be such a huge part of our society. While growing up most children grow up watching these movies and get the idea that that is what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask a young girl what she wants to be when she is older there is a good chance that she will say that she wants to be a princess when she grows up. I have always been such a huge fan of Disney movies and I have a feeling I always will be. I found it very interesting this semester when we spend the short class period talking about the Disney female and male characters. It is rather interesting and something that I can say that I really never noticed before but the fact that the majority of all the female characters all had the same face shape. Whereas the males there were none two that were the same. However for this paper I will be looking into the relationship to cultural meanings about gender and other identity markers, such as race, sexuality, and cultural norms as seen in some of the more classic well known Disney movies.

According to an article, “In fact, a 2009 experiment conducted by Professor Hayes and Professor Tantleff-Dunn revealed ‘that a third of girls under the age of six admit to worrying about being fat, and when asked to select the ‘real princess’ from a choice of ballerinas, 50% of the girls chose the thinnest one’.” (Body Image n.p.) Also, Disney films’ portrayal of the stereotypical body image negatively impacts young girls’ perception on their figure. This leads to them believing that the ideal woman is skinny-perfect, as shown by the Disney female characters; thus, their thinking becomes “[…] thin is the only acceptable type of beauty.” (Body Image n.p.). In another study, it said on how young girls wanted to change their skin color preferably lighter in order to become a princess (Mckinstry n.p.). There were also young girls who wanted to become a princess by dressing femininely. Disney have made a collaboration with Happy Skin to come p with a new lip collection in order for people to use and look like a Disney princess (Afinidad-Bernardo n.p.). According to a study, “Women are helpless and in need of protection.” (Towbin, et al 31) In Disney films, Snow White, Aurora and, Cinderella portrayed that they had to be saved by their male counterpart which gives off the message that women have to be saved by men (Johnson 15-16). Due to this portrayal

Throughout the past few decades, the media has been a very sturdy driving force in directing and controlling social beliefs and behaviours. This is explained in the New York Times opinion column, "It's Racist, But Hey, It's Disney." Children are more vulnerable to the powers of the media. Disney movies are also a vehicle for spreading cultural notions, such as racism. This medium opens an avenue where children can be indoctrinated and pass questionable values on to following generations.

It seems like the entertainment icon Walt Disney Company has been around since the beginning of time, entertaining the public with its lifelike and imaginative animations and characters. Nearly every parent and child that was born in the last century has experienced a Disney animated film at some point in their lifetime, which has left either a negative or positive impression on them. The experiences with Disney films leaves most viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside or the feeling of happiness, because the films themselves take the viewer on a ride out of their reality into the World of imagination, fairytales, and fantasy. On the contrary some ethnic viewers leave Disney films feeling misrepresents, disrespected, and upset regarding the way that Disney choses to represent race and cultures other than Caucasian in their films. The Disney company discriminates against people of ethnic backgrounds, does not take into consideration the cultural differences between ethnic groups and deliberately stereotypes and homogenizes all racial groups and protagonist in their films.

There are many talent actors who cannot get a good role in the movie because they are not popular enough to play the main role. Most of the film maker just care about how much money the movie can make for them, so they just need to get the popular actor in order to get a lot of viewers. In the movies, the main character usually is White people since the writers and directors believe that they will get more audience if the main cast is White people. Some people believe that the movie is for entertain, so the writers and directors do not have a social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters. However, there are three factors that Hollywood writers and directors should take social responsibility to avoid stereotyping ethnic characters:

Parents believe these movies are giving positive messages to their children, but this is not the case. For example, in the movie Beauty and the Beast the moral of the story is that beauty comes from the inside. While this is the message that parents believe their children are receiving, there is a more deep-rooted message that young children cannot quite yet understand, but still effects their mindset as they age. Since many of the Disney princess movies were developed in the later half of the twentieth century, they often convey the stereotypical gender role messages of that time period (Bishop 2). According to author Amy Blackstone from the University of Maine, “Gender roles are the roles that men and women are expected to occupy based on their sex” (336). Therefore, during this time the gender roles were that men were dominant individuals, leading the home. On the other hand, women were depicted as fragile that were only capable of domestic work in the

Through the thousands of images, sounds, and words that viewers see flashed or play out on a screen, it impacts their identities and relationships, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy (Palmer, 2013). In other words, because television is so popular in this era, children are more susceptible to Disney’s stereotypical definition of beauty and it can cause a lot of damage to these children since “television viewing has more of an impact than just entertainment; it influences our attitudes and perceptions about ourselves and others” (Tonn, 2008). Furthermore, since all the princes in these Disney movies look similar, it sets an image of how the perfect guy is supposed to look and that everyone else that doesn’t look like that is ugly. The princes in these movies are typically tall and skinny, but slightly muscular. There has not been a Prince Charming during this era that doesn’t fit this criteria and that looks completely different then all the previous Prince Charmings. This image not only affects boys that don’t fit the criteria but it also affects girls that expect every guy to look just like the typical Prince

Happily ever after is a notion that is presented in all Disney movies, especially in Disney princess movies. Children who watch these movies grow up believe in happy endings, true love and heroic princes who save the day. However, these movies do not depict the reality of romance and marriage. Relationships do not consist only of heterosexual, cisgender, same-race couples. Interracial couples, homosexual couples, and transgender couples exist in our society, yet, they are never represented in Disney films.

As children, we have grown up watching classic movies, most likely Disney movies. As we grew up, we have come to know that boys have to brave and courageous, while girls have to be rescued or are weak. Disney movies have influenced children’s mind with stereotypes, are Disney princesses really great role models for young girls? Should young boys be “manly” or “strong” like a prince? Personally, I believe that they are not great models, the movies are a representations of how women or men should act or behave like in the past, for example, the story of Cinderella.

Introduction For many of us, Walt Disney Pictures have played a large part in our childhood. Giroux (1995) even goes as far as saying that Disney are just as useful as school teachers and parents at teaching values and morals to younger children. For the past century, many kids have looked up to Disney characters with great admiration. Although these characters may have taught us lessons and inspired us to aim for our dreams, they have also exposed us to the 'beauty goodness' stereotype (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972) Whenever we hear someone describe another person as being 'beautiful', we automatically visualize a tall, slim woman with a curvy bone structure, long, blonde, glossy hair, smooth, sallow skin, crystal blue eyes, peachy lips,

In the past decades we have been seen that marketing and films go hand in hand in order to make money, role are not only given to certain actors/actresses but rather to the people who will produce income. Because of the repeating cycles in the film industry, distinguished actors/actresses are given more roles and a small number of well-known actors/actresses are minority, and so it is hard for minority actors to become recognized in the industry. Films have become gateways, creating what sells in order to make revenue and also creating restrictions of the general public. Movies have normalized multiethnic and LGBTQ associations considerably more than in the previous years and have the potential to carry

A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these

Films have the power to both influence and reflect society. The stereotypes prevalent throughout American culture are reflected in most films. While the United States is becoming an increasingly diverse country, this diversity is not portrayed within American cinema. Minority figures often occupy

Disney. The word that is widely known all over the world and is recognized as a part of many people’s childhoods. But when one thinks of Disney movies, which movie pops up first? Is it Cinderella, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty or something else? Many movies have been released by Disney but it seems as if throughout the years only certain ones continue to thrive and have gained more popularity than others. Several of these movies have to do with the recurring theme of a Caucasian female princess and male hero. When one looks at the movies that contain ethnic characters it seems they are either stereotyped or used as background, except for the small percentage where the ethnic character is the lead role. What will be discussed is the quality, quantity, and accuracy of ethnic characters in Disney animated films.