Gender Stereotypes In Disney

One of the main controversies discussed in this video is the way that Disney portrays women

Disney has been notorious for perpetuating gender stereotypes for women through their movies, and since the

For most of society, the word Disney elicits warm feelings: memories of early Saturday mornings with family watching cartoons, family trips to Disney World, or a movie that was so encapsulating it was watched over and over again. Disney achieves a high level of regard from most of society unparalleled by other companies. Penn State education professor, Henry A. Giroux, accompanied by Grace Pollock, argues in his book The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence that society is blinded by Disney’s façade of “childhood innocence” and that Disney’s marketing tactics are far from innocent at all.

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.

The representation of females in Disney films can be interpreted to be very sexist and miss-leading to young girls. In nearly all Disney films women are represented as house wives that are vulnerable and need saving. Although in our postmodern society where laws are now in place to protect females from being discriminated against (such as the equality act.) Disney has not kept up with these changes in the view of many people and still remains to include these sexist stereotypes.

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

Walt Disney once said, “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.” Although Disney know this they still portray gender stereotyping in their princess movies. One example of this is Beauty and the Beast. The character name Gaston in the Beauty and the Beast it is shown that weight determines temperament. Disney would have you believe that being small and waif-ish making you, gentle and kind, and that being large makes you beastly, coarse, and/or prone to angry outbursts as demonstrated bas characters like Beast.

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.

In the newer Disney princess movies, the princesses are presented as more independent than the princesses in earlier. There is a greater focus on their skills instead of their appearance which had been the tendency earlier – Sleeping Beauty is an example of that. In a study on Disney’s princess movies, Carmen Fought and Karen Eisenhauer found that male characters speak more than the female characters, and this is both in older and newer Disney movies (Guo). So even though the newer Disney princess movies, like “Brave” and “Frozen” have more focus on the female characters, the percent of words spoken is higher for men than for women. In all the Disney princess movies that were made between 1989-1998, men have more words than women.

“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.” - W.H. Auden. This common saying may contain some truth, but in reality if you were to throw yourself in a fairy tale what would you really be getting yourself into? Disney/Mass Media communicates negative and false ideologies related to Gender, Race, and relationships.

“She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily” (Woolf, 1931).

My thoughts surrounding Disney films have definitely changed since week one. While I was aware of race and gender issues in the films, I never really thought about the impact of these issues on our society. I had no idea how hurt some people of color were that their representation in Disney films consisted of mostly animals like Chihuahuas, monkeys and hyenas. I still remember watching Mickey Mouse Monopoly and hearing the people speak about the hurt they felt by the portrayal of people like them in these films. I learned so many new things about the films each week, but what stands out to me the most is that in Mickey Mouse Monopoly, one person talked about Disney films as a fantasy and an escape from reality. I agree that the films are definitely part of the fantasy genre. However, if they are supposed to be an escape or fantasy for everyone, then why is there not a better representation of what our society really is in terms of racial and cultural diversity? Why can’t they portray all races in a positive light so that we all can have that chance to “escape” while watching the film? If Disney filmmakers cannot portray racial acceptance and diversity in a “fantasy” world, then what happens back in reality? I think that Disney sends a strong message through films, whether intentional or not, and many young children are swayed by these messages. Their impressionable young minds then see the world through a different lens, and one that may not be particularly accurate. I still love a lot of Disney films, but I have learned to not take them so seriously and learn to accept that they are just part of someone’s

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.

In this New age, there are proposition how each gender should conduct oneself, dress, and accord themselves. Kids that are growing up in the area have a person that they think are superhuman. For young girls their role models are Disney princesses. Disney princesses make great role models for girls they teach girls to have hope and courage. All the princesses have different stories and that makes it better for girls to understand. Although it may seem great parents think otherwise. Parents think they promote damaging stereotypes of women.