Gender Roles In Disney Princess Movies

Disney movies have been the leading outlets for child education and social learning. Due to such power of influence controversies have been raised which include the following, but not limited to, gender roles and stereotypes, issues of independence, and misrepresentation. Many people argue that despite the morals and messages that occur within such films there are still underlying messages that deal with beauty standards and norms. However, others may argue that Disney is evolutionary and evolved the imagery of male/female standards. The controversy then becomes: are Disney films doing more harm than they are good? Due to certain themes brought on by such movies, it has left younger audiences with both positive and

Gender roles have been a hotly debated topic in the most recent years, especially the role of women in society. Women have had set expectations that they are believed to conform to, which is shown in many pieces of film and literature. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the life of a man in the upper class in the 1920’s, as well as women in the 1920’s. The movie The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman, visually explains the treatment and expectations of women, and especially focuses on the “damsel in distress” stereotype.. Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” explains the stereotypes against women and ways women can come together and fight these constraints. Based on these sources, societal expectations take away from each individual’s identity, forcing women to conform to society's standards. In order to fight against these expectations, women have banded together and formed movements against these standards.

Not many companies can influence the childhood development of many Americans like the Walt Disney Company. Disney, named after their founder, began as just an animation studio called The Walt Disney Studios, which the company describes as “the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built”. Today, Disney produces various items targeted at children like toys, clothing, and animation (“Company”). In the paper, Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney’s Cartoon Heroines From The Little Mermaid To The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Celeste Lacroix of the College of Charleston assesses the portrayal of female heroines from Disney animated films that depicts human main characters, examining the sexualization of non-European or the “exotic” others, and brings to light Disney’s strategy to instill an attitude of consumerism in children. Despite my memorable sentiment with Disney animations as a child, I agree with Lacroix’s assertion that Disney impose consumerism onto children, especially with DVD commercials, tie-in products and “apps” on smartphones and tablets.

In the article, “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar,” written by Gillam and Wooden, they argue that Disney's line of animated movies depict a “new man.” Their argument is based around three movies: Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Cars. Gillam and Wooden then state that all three of the movies start with a traditional alpha male character who, throughout the movie, begins to accept his more “feminine” aspects. The idea that the two present is that the lead characters show traits of “acute loneliness and vulnerability.” From there, Pixar emasculates the character through some type of disempowerment that then leads to the overall maturing of the characters (Gillam and Wooden). Throughout the article they bring up many great arguments of which I agree to. However, Gillam and Wooden only cite the three movies mentioned above, when in fact Disney/Pixar has continued with the trend of having an “alpha male” character who throughout the film becomes more mellowed out and less dominant. The idea of emasculation can be carried into the Pixar movie “Up,” where the viewer can witness acute loneliness, slight depression, and eventually the admittance of defeat, where the character is forced to take on help and accept the “emasculation”.

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.

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.

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a princess. A beautiful ballgown dress, a golden crown, and a perfect family. When I was a going through puberty, I was over working for a educations and wanted to become a housewife and be the leading woman in “Housewifes of Hawaii”. Ever since I was a child, misogyny has been ingrained in my mind, I’ve been taught to grow up to have the perfect life with a perfect husband and perfect kids. Growing up and watching Disney movies, Little girls are taught that they’re life isn’t complete until they meet a man who will rescue them whether it's from a towering castle, their wicked stepmother, or a curse that can only be broken from true love’s first kiss. Whatever the situation girls will always know that on a handsome man will come in and save the day, so there is no reason to fight for your fights just stay in the tower, or continue cleaning your floors, or wait everyday for your prince to come. Out of the thousands of years that humans have existed, not only has media convinced woman to follow their husbands and wait on them hand and foot, but the Bible says that woman will work under men and submit to them. Even our parents, who we look up to, have taught us that the men handle finances and the woman have to clean, cook, and take

Secondly, those who can't read or compose can be profoundly impacted by publicizing to buy certain items or build up a certain way of life esteems especially watching Disney films or reading books about them. In an article, “ Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar,” the authors Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden state that their son, Oscar “ mispronunciation held the first clue. To him, an individual from the film's intended interest group, the character surrounding the title long held by “The King” is not “Lightning McQueen” but “Lightning the queen.” Pixar was given its initial shot at a motion picture in 1995. They released their first full-length motion picture titled "Toy Story" and the motion picture picked up footing through its every single male lead, and began an upheaval in the enlivened movies industry. Out of the blue, they exhibited the post-princess model of sex and it was a hit. It is this media picture that depicts, and really shape, the general public's esteem framework. Basically, media is passing on what individuals should purchase, who they ought to be, or who they ought to end up, so as to be “glad.” Lamentably, regardless of whether youthful or old, this is by all accounts working.

“It’s not right for a woman to read… soon she starts getting ideas and thinking.” This quote is from one of the most famous Disney movies Beauty and the Beast. Gender stereotypes are nothing new for Disney movies, especially Princess movies (Neff, 90). We have seen over and over the helpless, simple girl and the arrogant, masculine man. The new Beauty and the Beast movie is no exception to this, even 20 years later.

Disney is known for fairy tale films that are full of lovable characters that children cannot seem to get enough of. The traits of many of the characters are great models for children to watch and learn from. Adults tend to see a bit more than just the good qualities they embody, which leads to the realization that these films are far from perfect. Upon closer inspection, Disney films embrace patriarchal and sexist ideologies when it comes to their characters—something that Disney has been nearly successful in eradicating in their most recent films. From the earliest films to the most recent, the portrayal of gender roles, of both the hero/heroine and the villain, has changed for the better.

The Disney film “The Lion King” is a great example of how females are seen as subordinate to males. Giroux states, “All of the rulers of the kingdom are men, reinforcing the assumption that independence and leadership are tied to patriarchal entitlement and high social standing” (Greene 582). This is the case for most Disney films that the male characters have power over the female characters. The female characters are depicted as weak and dependent on the male characters. This can give young girls the wrong idea of what type of roles they should take on. If they keep seeing female characters being portrayed as weak and dependent on males they may think that they should be the same way. However, not all of the female characters in these movies are portrayed the same way.

Changing Gender Role Disney movies have without a doubt always be known for the stereo type of a damsel in distress meeting their prince charming and falling in love. The morals of these stories have always taught children that young girls main purpose in life is to find the perfect guy and fall in love. Every “happy ending” ends with a married couple riding off into the sunset. Only recently has Disney started to stray from these customs. The movies Frozen and Brave break these conventional ideas and branch out through the idea of family and independence.

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