Gender Stereotypes In Disney Movies

Most of the princesses portray women to be weak and in need of saving from a prince from a faraway land. Cinderella is one of the most well-loved and famous Disney princess but its story also serve as a classic example of how gender roles dominate Disney films. According to Mahooney, “Cinderella demonstrates the female need for a male to form her identity.” Cinderella, while shown to be kind and lovely, never did show any trace of strength in standing up for herself at all, a coincidence most of Disney princesses have in films. In light of physical appearance, one of the most controversial themes almost every Disney princess films have is the existence of “Prince Charming.”

Young girls that are inspired to have this "Disney princess effect" are not growing up to be strong, independent women that are motivated to change something in the world. In many of the Disney princess movies for example, The 1991 film, Beauty and the Beast, shows how women are not supposed to be intelligent, but should focus on fulfilling a man's needs. This has an impact on how a girl views her female position in the world.

The effects of the portrayal of the princesses can be positive or negative. Young girls have become more imaginative by watching Disney films. According to Stephanie Hanes (n.p.), “’For 75 years, millions of little girls and their parents around the world have adored and embraced the diverse characters and rich stories featuring our Disney princesses.... [L]ittle girls experience the fantasy and imagination provided by these stories as a normal part of their childhood development’.” Also, children are encouraged to believe and hope. In most Disney movies, the characters convey the message that we can believe in true love (10 DISNEY MOMENTS THAT PROVE LOVE IS ALIVE AND WELL

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.

Before she met the prince she had no individual power, as she was constantly being ordered around by her stepmother and stepsisters. Disney portrays the many stereotypical ideas of women being enslaved to a life of domestication in just this film Cinderella is commanded to do domestic work, and she is willingly accepted to do the work instead of complaining and even sings as smiles as she does the work. Even though this is also seen as a negative thing in the film, Cinderella is always obedient and never stands up for herself despite knowing the position she is in is unfair for her. At the end of the storyline Cinderella us released by the end of the storyline, but only because the prince saves her. Cinderella is portrayed as having no strength as a woman until a man comes along and helps her. Disney presents women as inferior, for they need a man to be successful in life.

Heroes are found everywhere when Disney is involved. From a prince or princess to secretive toys to the smallest forms of life on earth, a hero can be found in anyone. Being attached to one or a few is entirely common. These certain characters may be the ones they look up to. Young girls often choose to look up to a princess, although, they are not what they were over 50 years ago. The very first Disney princess, Snow White, is purely a damsel in distress. The same goes for Aurora who appeared in Sleeping Beauty years later. As the years have gone on, that weaker vision of a princess has faded. The modern day princesses are anything but damsels needing to be saved by a man. Rapunzel chooses to give up her freedom in order to save Flynn Rider’s life. Tiana works hard to provide for herself so she can chase her dream. Merida rejects what everyone else thinks she should be and is true to herself. Elsa only needs the love from her sister. This list will only get bigger as Disney continues to create these young female heroines. If anything, Disney is preaching to young girls everywhere to be strong in a world that may play on their faults or weaknesses. During a time strong feminist movements, Disney manages to satisfy demands by allowing the girl to be the hero. Though Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are still timeless classics, the princesses of today set a better example for young girls everywhere and that is why they seem to be more attractive than the originals.

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.

Karen Wohlwend discusses the effects of the princesses on both young boys and girls in her articles Damsels in Discourse: Girls Consuming and Producing Identity Texts Through Disney Princess Play, and The Boys Who Would Be Princesses: Playing With Gender Identity Intertexts in Disney Princess Transmedia. She discusses ideas regarding how Disney appears in many ways in a small girls’ life, beginning with watching their favorite Disney movies on repeat, and then owning every item that is possible to put a face of their favorite characters on. Disney has released items such as CD’s, bedding, Tupperware, bath toys, stuffed animals, Princess dolls, and much more; so, pretty much anything someone could think of, Disney had stuck a face of a princess or two on it. Wolhwend’s study took place in her kindergarten classroom of 21 students, and she analyzed how the children played over the course of a few weeks. She had begun to notice after several weeks that there are certain themes that certain students liked to play, ranging from playing super heroes to playing “Disney Princesses.” The group whom loved to play Princesses consisted of girls and even boys playing roles of famous, identifiable characters ranging from Snow White, to Aladdin. There was 5 children in this group, and they all played roles that had to do with family values and cultural traditions, and

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.

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.

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

influences around them. The role models would impart on the young girls the necessary standards to compare themselves to learn their intrinsic worth and fight the opinion that women are inferior to men. Many times they look to the media for such influences. Disney princesses have for decades been the representation little girls see; however, not all of them are positive. The Disney Princess brand is broken down into three generations, or waves. The first generation, including Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, perpetuate sexism because they teach young girls that their value lies in their beauty and their relationship with a man. The second wave

Many of the “classic” Disney movies spend a great portion of their screen time painting its leading female character as a damsel in distress. This princess culture suggests that despite other defining characteristics, a females most valuable asset is her beauty above all else. These Disney movies also imply that girls should be sweet despite the lousy hand they were dealt.