Gender Analysis On Gender Roles In Disney Movies

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

Because of Disney’s stereotyping of gender, that little girl grew up wanting to become a perfect princess. Princesses in Disney’s movies and films gives young girls unrealistic ideas of the real word. However, some may believe that Disney princesses are a good influence on young girls and are able to show a them how to act eloquently. Gender roles, eloquence, and the beauty of the princesses are all topics that influence young girls. Even though some might believe that princesses are good role models for their child, princesses show young girls how they should interact around boys and other girls never mind the girls own opinions. An article about Children’s Responses to Gender Roles in Fairy-Tales written by Ella Westland writes, “The girls

Furthermore, Cinderella’s innocent and dreaming tendency shows that women are merely weak beings. They think with their hearts rather than with their brains and are easily influenced by their emotions. For this reason, women need men to protect and secure them. Due to this, girls are presented with the idea that they must be less than men in order to be saved by one.

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.

If the company’s largest seven films are observed, namely the classic Disney princess films, the gender stereotypes become quite apparent. A study done on sex roles of Disney princesses by Dawn Elizabeth England had examined reoccurring similarities in all of the Disney princesses. The first being the physical: these namely address the unrealistic proportions, such as the thin waists, delicate limbs, full breasts and fair skin tones. (Dawn Elizabeth England) These unattainable characteristics may lead young girls into being unsatisfied with their looks and may lead to self-esteem issues. In her book, The Sexualization of Childhood, Sharna Olfman explains the various images Disney princesses convey to children. She argues, “The female ideal is a rich white girl who lives in a big house with servants who do the work” (Olfman 40). This may give young girls the idea that the only way to get noticed or to get attention from the opposite sex is to have effortless beauty and to capture the males heart with looks alone. Young girls are thought that looks should be one of the primary methods through which a woman’s attitude and personality should be rated. This gives a shallow perception of what it takes to actually obtain a spouse. This teaches girls to be superficial and not to depend on their own personalities and mental capabilities in order to be

Bartyzel’s wide array of evidence to support her claim that princess culture narrowly defines what femininity means to young consumers makes her argument compelling. She used Disney’s unfitting princess makeover of the character Merida from Brave - who desperately fought against princess ideals in the movie - as an example of how Disney has a habit of backtracking their own progress. Bartyzel also provided accounts from mothers who support her claim by expressing that their daughters’ behavior had been shaped by princess culture. Additionally, Disney routinely overshadows the darkness of traditional fairy tales with overly idealistic narratives and has a history of depicting harmful racial stereotypes, problematic female characterizations, and unrealistic storylines (Bartyzel, 2015). Bartyzel examined these stereotypes and problematic characterizations with the design alterations made to Disney princesses; specifically, princesses of color. Finally, Bartyzel reinforced her argument by conveying that women are diverse and to overlook these differences affects how young girls view themselves. Bartyzel’s professional presentation, the various forms of evidence, her counter-arguments, and her examination of the different issues tied to princess culture helped convey a strong argument.

In Disney films, there is a lot of misogyny amongst female main characters. Many people in our society have noticed a significant difference in the speaking roles between male and female characters that Disney created, as men had way more lines than the women. Because these movies were mostly created in the mid-late 1900’s, this was the time that there was plenty of prejudice against females. Now, in the year 2017, females are getting a little more equality than before to the point where many females now have jobs that were only for males in the 1900’s. Most Disney movies for that matter involve some sort of misogyny, even the ones that recently came out such as ‘Brave’ and ‘Frozen’. Examples of various levels of misogyny can be noticed in Disney films such as Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989), directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The movie is about a 16-year-old mermaid who wants to live on land with a human Prince named Eric but is only able to after making a dangerous wish with ‘Ursula the Sea Witch’ to be a human for three days. In this movie ‘Ariel The Mermaid’, prejudice can be seen in Ursula, by a female having too much authority, Ariel cannot speak, and Ariel uses her appearance to attract others.

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.

Since the beginning of the Disney princess era in 1937 with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney princess films have been a part of children’s lives for almost a century. According to Robinson, Callister, Magoffin, and Moore, media, specifically television and films present children with images and ideas that may create, alter, or reinforce how they portray stereotypes (203). From the classic Disney princesses such as Snow White and Aurora, to today’s modern princesses such as Elsa, Anna, and Tiana, the roles of Disney princess have changed significantly since the beginning of the franchise. The evolution of gender stereotypes in Disney

Typically before feminism rose in America, girls grow up wanting to be a royal princess and one day hope prince charming comes and sweeps her off her feet and save her from her troubles. In early Disney films, the traditional fairy tale has been shown in most predictable endings. Typically the princess needs to be saved by a prince and sometimes gives something up just to be in love with a man she barely knows. This is where the saying love at first sight may come into play. Young girls who idolize these early Disney princesses are convinced the first guy who comes along will be their prince charming.

Since childhood, we are taught what norms are appropriate and meant for depending on the gender we are ascribed to. Ferris and Stein (2014), define norms as “the rules and guidelines regarding what kinds of behaviors are acceptable and appropriate within [a certain] culture (84). These gender norms are passed down to us through the culture our parents and ancestors belonged to.

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