Once upon a time, the princess doesn’t get saved, the villain isn’t an older woman and prince charming just wants to be left alone. It’s not usual to see a connection between feminism and fairy tales, but there’s a reason they both start with ‘F’. I grew up in a time where my baby pink bedroom walls were filled with VHS tapes of classic fairytale stories like Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. Yet even though I was born in the late 1990’s it wasn’t until December 11th, 2009 that I was able to see a representation of myself and my skin tone. In the release of The Princess and the Frog, Disney revealed their very first African-American princess allowing me to become even more aware of the inequality facing me, my race and my gender through media at the young age of twelve. From damsels in distress, to oversexualized drawings, to displayed over-masculinity in princes; there’s no part of fairytales that does not have a lasting effect on our youth, society and morality. In a world filled with inequality, the experiences I have had and the fairytale culture I have grown up watching and reading is why I chose to be an intersectional feminist. As an intersectional feminist, I believe in advocating and fighting for equality of the sexes while taking into account “how women's overlapping identities — including race, class, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation — impact the way they experience oppression and discrimination” (Crenshaw). And with my
I chose to analyze the movie “The Princess and the Frog” since I knew how sexist Disney princess movies in the past, such as Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, have been, but also the interesting twists that try to hide sexism in the more modern tales. “The Princess and The Frog” really is a classic Disney love story. Tiana is a woman in New Orleans who dreams of one day running her own popular restaurant along the Mississippi River. Prince Naveen travels to New Orleans with the sole purpose of marrying a rich woman to reclaim his part of his family's fortune. His greed is his downfall when he seeks the services of Dr. Facilier, a voodoo man who turns him into a frog and turns his servant, Lawrence, into the prince. In a chance meeting at a masquerade ball, Tiana and frog Naveen meet. Naveen promises to pay for Tiana's restaurant if she would kiss him to turn him back into a human. Tiana relents, kisses him, and then is also turned into a frog. It is a race against time for them to find a way to turn themselves back into humans.
When examining The Little Mermaid from a feminist perspective, it becomes clear that the little mermaid is a misogynistic tale that glorifies a woman’s dependence on men and the objectification of women.
“Oh, fairytales, where desperate, naïve girls sacrifice everything for their so-called prince charming”. The realities of these childhood classics are controversial, sexist, and dark, yet, it’s also adored by millions of young girls around the world. Cinderella, an often sugar-coated story, is a great example on how sexism and gender stereotypes prevail in literature. The Grimm Brothers touch on a variety of devices, from characterization to symbolism, all revealing the inequality in not only fictional literature but our real-life society as well. A feminist literary critic will interpret these controversial themes and apply their beliefs of equal rights into the study of the Grimm Brother’s Cinderella.
The story of Tiana in the movie The Princess and the Frog is one of Disney’s more progressive princess movies in that it moved away from the typical, cookie cutter princess story in which the woman needs saving from the handsome and charming prince. The movie is the story of Tiana, a young, African-American woman of low socioeconomic status, who lives in New Orleans. The movie centers around Tiana’s dream of owning her own restaurant named Tiana’s Palace and how she gets to her happily ever after of owning her restaurant. Though progressive the movie still contains similar traits to other Disney princess movies. The Princess and the Frog exhibits traits of Feminist theories throughout Tiana’s journey in building her restaurant while the movie still undermines the oppression of women. Moreover, in her journey aspects of Karl Marxist’s commodity theory arises when Tiana interacts with other characters in the movie.
Snow White is a fairy-tale known by many generations; it is a beloved Disney movie, and a princess favoured by many kids. But did you know the fairy-tale was made to teach young children, especially little girls, their duties in life? It also values beauty over knowledge, portrays women to be naive and incompetent, and assumes that women cannot understand anything other than common household chores. Throughout this criticism, I will be using the feminist lens to analyze the fairy-tale, Snow White, through the perspective of a feminist.
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.
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
When you think of Disney, you think about how everyone lives their happy ever after fairytale. Most Americans grew up with Disney and have a strong connection with the brand. Yet, there is a lot more to a classic Disney film, then what the average American sees the first time viewing.
Disney has been known to have racial messages located within their movies for many years. During the time period when some of the more racial films were made, racism was more common in society. It was not nearly as frowned upon and was more culturally accepted. As time has progressed, the Disney Corporation has also progressed as well. They went from being completely stereotypical and racist against African Americans in Dumbo to having an African American princess in The Princess and the Frog. Many try to find arguments that show Disney is no better today than it was in 1940’s, but it is evident that Disney no longer wants to be seen as a racist and impure company. In their newest animated film, The Princess and the Frog, the lead character
Cinderella Frozen in Time: Why Cinderella continues be portrayed as a victim in the era of feminism
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.
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.
Remarkably throughout all of history, females have encountered the issue of oppression while any form of power is ripped away from them. The concept is plainly indicated within countless fairytales, much like Cinderella as it is narrated from the female perspective. When examining and using the feminist lens for the folk tale of Cinderella, numerous power relationships were clearly viewed. In other words, the relationships correspond with both gender, and how the individual is portrayed. At the beginning of the story’s context, the power connection between Cinderella and her step-mother is rather obvious. In addition, the constant power relationships among male and females within the general public greatly influences Cinderella. Therefore every
Once upon a time in a land not so far away, the society of man created the idea that it was a woman’s job to conform to the ideologies generated in fairy tales. From women depending on their prince charmings all the way to romanticized sexual abuse and lack of consent, stories like Cinderella and Snow White radiate sexism within an array of scenes of the stories and films. Not only does this affect the way that men view women, but it has had a relatively negative effect on the ways that many women view themselves. Many fairy tales have made their way into mainstream culture, and today many young girls and boys grow up hearing and seeing the subliminal messages in fairy tales. As more and more fairy tales make their way onto the big screen, it can be seen that all princesses seem to share a common feature other than their crowns and lack of self worth without a man by their side; their tiny waists. In recent years during the 21st century more and more people in the media have been calling out fairy tales for their anti-feminist attitudes with sexism, body standards as well as societal comments about women being dependent on men.
Cramped in a small Los Angeles office, Walt Disney drew a few larger than life cartoons. After Disney’s big hit Alice Comedies and cartoons of Mickey and the gang, he moved his office to Burbank, California. There, Walt and his brother, Roy, came up with their most famous movies such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland. Now with two American amusement parks, three international parks, multiple cruise lines, multiple resorts, over five hundred films, and over thirty academy award, it’s hard to not heard of Disney. Every boy or girl has at least seen or heard of Disney movies. It’s such a big part of society today that it becomes influential in a kid’s childhood. This project will look at the underlying effect of the Disney princess phenomenon and how it shapes a young girls’ perspective of herself and how she’s “supposed” to be.