Gender Roles In Disney Movies

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

Her mother made few plans such as poison apple, bodice to kill her. But at the end, she didn’t succeed because the prince charming rescued her from the coffin and punished the evil Queen. Also, in the Japanese version of “White Snow Princess,” this story is connected to the Grimm version. The author Kurahashi Yumiko is discussing how Snow White turned into a fool and got sympathy by a man; how she persecuted by her stepmother. However, I want to focus on women's roles in each, or on inequality between men and women in the two versions of the story; in real life there is still women are humiliating by their identity. Men are always the head of the household and women have no choice to make a decision in their family as in the story if Snow White’s father won’t die then her stepmother wouldn’t have that much power to oppress

From eye catching castles to talking animals, the everlasting excitement of Disney films has grown up with us since childhood, but has this influenced our lives as we know it? Many young children, over many generations have been exposed to a series of unrealistic expectations since the release of the Disney classic, Snow White and the Seven-Dwarfs, in 1937. The buried truth hidden deep within these magnificent, mesmerising Disney films is a representation of obscure gender expectations. This has led to a major negative impact on many young children which has shaped and influenced their childhood lives. Disney Productions have always stuck to a specific stereotype when it came to the three main characters, the prince, princess, and villain;

Instead she depends on kindness, humor and being a “good American” to ultimately triumph the evil in this movie. In contrast to the powerful, witty, strong willed wicked Queen, Snow white remains everlastingly idle in pursuit of what she wants in life. Snow White yearns for a handsome horseman to come rescue and marry her, however she lacks the ambition needed find the man of her dreams. Instead, Snow White sings about the day her love will come to her; setting an example for young children that women are not

As mentioned before, Cinderella acts like normal women who waits for her dream man and the prince looks for the ideal women to married. An important point to mention is when all the women of the town who are invited to the banquet to choose the wife of the prince are encouraged to get beautiful and wear their best clothes. This type of scenes transmits the message that women should wear elegant and should be beautiful to impress a man. Moreover, the movie inadequately addresses identities such as race, class sexuality, and social class differences as well as gender stereotypes. For example, in the film, the only race that is seen is white, which diminishes racial minorities.

A routine pattern in Disney movies is the inclusion of a prince to save their princess from danger. This repeated relationship between the two love interests is a major reason why Snow White is not only illustrated with mother-esque traits but is constantly seen child-like; a scared and passive girl who never acts to save herself. Disney deems it obligatory to the plot to depict a female character whose survivals relies on a man. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs depends on this theme heavily by having the life of Snow White hang on a thin thread if not saved by the prince and his non-consensual kiss of true love.

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.

Representation is significant to our personal development, and the lack of positive and non-stereotype confining female roles in movies has impacted how we view rape and define femininity . Disney movies have played a role in many childhoods since its first release of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, and the fact that Disney World is considered “The Happiest Place on Earth” demonstrates the influence that Disney has had on us for several generations, but many of Disney’s productions embraces stereotypes concerning femininity and condoning the idea of no consent. According to Emma Hatheway in the “Deconstruction of Disney Princesses: Perpetuation of Rape Culture”, the idea of women vulnerability and weakness is enforced through the princesses in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Sleeping Beauty”; a common theme found in these movies is the ideal woman, a damsel in distress, a woman that is frail and needs to be rescued by a man is the only type of woman that would live in the

These stereotypes were upheld in Disney animations such as Snow White and the seven Dwarfs. Snow White, who is kicked out by her stepmother, stays in the woods. During this residency, she takes care of seven men,

Despite being the protagonist, Snow White is never given a chance to lead her own life. From the very beginning of the film, she is always owned by someone else. First her stepmother controls her life, then the huntsman orders her to leave, then it is the dwarfs (sic) who control and care for her well-being, and then it is the prince. Never once does she resist or attempt to go out on her own. By the end of the film, she does not even protest a near stranger kissing her as she sleeps. In fact, she figures that 's reason enough to run away with him!

It is a tale of friendship, love and jealousy, but it is also ridden with hegemony and female gender stereotypes. Snow White, the protagonist, much to her evil stepmother’s envy is deemed “ the fairest in the land”, a title given to her based solely on her beauty rather than her personality. Out of jealously and desire to be the fairest of them all, the evil queen devises a plan to kill snow white with a poison apple. The entire plot of this children’s movie revolves around beauty and what is considered ideal. It preaches that beauty is the only trait that is valuable and should be sought after.

Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite

Disney has been stuck in the same “normal gender roles” from days past. With movies like Snow White, the gender roles are clear. Snow is a dainty, small girl who dreams of a handsome prince to save her from loneliness. She is considered a very relatable character, but the only reason we think of her that way is because we, as people, have always been conditioned to think like this. In the past, we thought that the woman was feminine, dainty and, some would even say, weak.

“Through the cheerful music, funny characters, and happy ending, the character of Snow White starts the Disney trend of a domestic woman who becomes a damsel-in-distress relying on a prince to come and save her” (Barber, 2015). The original 1812 tale of Little Snow White by the Brothers Grimm portrays Snow White as a small, naive, self centered little girl who can’t seem to listen to anything she is told, and who has to rely a prince she doesn’t even know to wake her up from the dead. Two hundred years later, in the 2012 movie version Snow White and the Huntsman, the director Rupert Sanders revisits the original tale of Snow White, but decides to change it up a bit. In this version of the tale, Snow White is a strong, independent young woman who seems to be able to do anything she decides to do. In Sander’s version, Snow White not only conquers the cruel queen, but she conquers the labels society often places on women. Unlike the Grimms Brothers, Sanders develops his Snow White's character in a way that fits with women’s empowerment that the current generation now fights for everyday.

Upon examining representations of femininity of Disney characters, it is evident there is a stark focus on the dichotomy of good girls and bad women. In other words, their behavioral characteristics and prevailing climactic outcomes in the films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, reinforce the idea that claiming agency, is not only associated with evil but also posits a representation of femininity that women are discouraged from emulating. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an influential purveyor of gendered images and this is observed through the charming heroine who fulfills the rewards of marriage as the happiest of endings juxtaposed with the Evil Queen who is left without reward and encounters her ultimate fate of doom. Elizabeth