Princess Culture And Gender Stereotypes In Princess Movies

“Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” is an article by Stephanie Hanes which touches on the princess phenomenon many young girls are obsessed with. Stephanie Hanes concludes that the Disney Princess craze is linked to self-objectification and the growing sexualization of young girls. Although she provided numerous facts the argument was unsuccessful because it was weak and confusing. Her own personal opinion on why she blamed the Disney Empire for sexualization amongst young girls was rarely voiced. Lastly the main idea of the article gets masked by controversial expert claims that are not linked to the topic.

Disney makes over $3 billion on their Disney Princess products every year and now have over 25,000 items in their princess collection (Orenstein 2). Disney has played a big role in shaping not only societal viewpoints on what young girls should like, but also what little girls believe they should enjoy as well. Gender stereotypes have been around for a long time, but now with technology advancements, such as media in western society is able to play a bigger than ever role in influencing people’s perspectives. Not only do we see gender roles and stereotypes in television shows, but also in advertisements and in children’s toys. Although many readers of Peggy Orenstein’s “What’s wrong with Cinderella” have argued that the princess culture is corrupting today’s young girls and making them more dependent on men, a closer examination shows that many girls grow out of the princess phase with no negative repercussions and choose whatever passions they want.

They see Disney Princess products in the grocery store where there are princess balloons and princess plates and napkins. Princesses are in the local Wal-Mart plastered on pajamas and lunchboxes. The Disney Princess line is all around them and so they easily subscribe to the culture and try to emulate these female characters through costumes and play.

When the word princess is said I think everyone can come up with the same image in their head. A crown, beautiful gown and beautiful smile. In Rebecca Hain’s article “Brave Princess breaks Disney stereotypes. Or does she?” Hain’s addresses 2 critics of the movie Brave a new Disney princess film. First the unoriginality of the film and then the depiction of the main character Merida being a brat.

Her theory is that Disney has to keep up the reputation of the ideal princess “which is a representation of gender that young females should idolize” (Warner). She discovers a recurring theme within all the Disney princesses. First, Warner notices the new heroines appear more independent; however, they still represent elements that disempower women and still showcase the female image stereotypes. She argues that Disney’s main focus is on producing films that portray perfect women in a perfect world because women are the main viewers of Disney princess films. In addition, this causes women to live unhealthy lifestyles because of “body issues” and “low self-esteem” (Warner). Her article shows the reality behind society’s influences and how princesses, whether strong or weak, still have a large impact on how women should

Disney princess movies over time have followed roughly the same plot outline: the princess and her strife in finding her prince charming. However, in Disney’s latest princess movie “Moana”, the audience is exposed to a great example of leadership. Moana does not demonstrate her leadership role through defiance as seen in previous Disney movies such as the staring character Elsa in “Frozen” or Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”. Moana is driven by the desire to protect and serve her people. The movie illustrates Moana’s journey attempting to restore the ring island that her and her people inhabit. Taking matters into her one hands, Moana sets out to sea to restore the heart of the goddess Te Fiti, who reigns over the islands, and hopes to save her

The purpose for my infographic is to categorize each Princess into their generation. The reason being that the princesses would demonstrate different gender roles because of the years the films were created. By classifying the princess and then breaking down the characteristics reveals that Disney has evolved the princesses. Additionally, the breakdown also reveals that many gender roles are still being portrayed. For my title, I decided to use a white simple font hoping that it would pop. Then I used a cursive pink font for “Disney Princesses” just because pink and the font is mostly associated with a feminine look that can be connected to the princesses. The castle is meant to draw the eye of the audience. A castle is a connection to the princesses. If the reader was to glance at the infographic he/she can get an idea that it is connected to princesses or a fairytale.

Disney princess could be harmful to young girls who takes them as their role models. There are princesses better than others and some are awful role models. Some princesses instruct young girls that it’s fine to be unassertive, which is a bad thing to teach to young girls. Also, I find that some princesses modify themselves just to amuse a gentleman. Ariel the princess in “Little Mermaid” adjust each thing concerning herself for a man. She transferred up her intermediary to obtain limbs so that she could exist with a guy. As Bartzyel stated in line 468, “Taming her hair, and shrinking her breast. When a young a girl sees that they will think that’s it’s okay to give up certain things just to be with

Numerous parents would agree that Disney is the epitome of wholesome family entertainment and recall watching Disney movies growing up with fondness. However, parents have also begun to realize there is more to these movies they grew up on. With this realization has come an increase in the amount of criticism directed at Disney princess movies. Many of these critics worry how young girls are affected when their role models are helpless pushovers who are defined only by the fact that they are beautiful and helpless, left needing a man to come rescue them. Some critics like Best and Lowney (2009) believe, “Disney’s female characters are portrayed as relatively passive figures and… encourage girls to accept traditional gender roles.” This means that instead of teaching young girls to be powerful and independent we are teaching them to be docile housewives who have no voice (Ariel trading her voice for legs to be with a man just gained so much more meaning) and are showing them that their ideas and opinions don’t

As a child, I grew up with the Disney pop culture surrounding me. I constantly watched Disney movies, cartoons, and I even played with their toys like every other kid in America during the early 2000s. Not much has changed except the increase and growth of their industry. With the expanding $4 billion revenue (Hanes 510) flowing in each year, they have added more princesses along the way. While some girls are ecstatic over the new additions to the princess family, some adults are not. This is not a common opinion among many Disney fanatics to see, but the author of “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” Stephanie Hanes is one of the few that are not satisfied with the work of Walt, bringing an eccentric point of view to our attention. Parents, like Hanes, fear the psychological effect it can leave on their daughters and how it can potentially narrow their future goals. Hanes’s argument uses ethos, logos, and pathos to skillfully to argue the point of the Disney Princess effect on girls.

Written by a collaboration of research authors, Pretty as a Princess: Longitudinal Effects of Engagement with Disney Princesses on Gender Stereotypes, Body Esteem, and Prosocial Behavior in Children was published in 2016. Sarah M. Coyne (Brigham Young University), Jennifer Ruh Linder (Linfield College), Eric E. Rasmussen (Texas Tech University), and David A. Nelson and Victoria Birkbeck (Brigham Young University) discuss in writing the connotative and denotative effects of a gender stereotyped society. They research the effects of Disney Princess culture and emphasize the characteristics developed within the minority of preschool and kindergarten age children, especially females, that potentially are exposed to the Disney Princess chain. The audience for the author’s message is a wide range of groups and individuals, but, at its widest scope, the research project is intended for multinational media corporations, specifically those of whom are based in the United States, target the control group (preschoolers and kindergarteners), and have the opportunity to incorporate gender stereotypical characters into their products.

The gender role that is exemplified by Disney films is their portrayal of princesses as characters that need to be constantly saved. On this note, the producers of these films focus on showing that Princesses play the sole role of modeling their beauty and waiting for a man to rescue them. Notably, the women in the Disney films appear as queens who, though may seem not be princesses from birth, have great attributes such as strong will, skills and determination in life. At this point, it is worth noting that a princess is portrayed as a female heroine that children viewers can admire as their role models. Some of the examples

The next group of Disney Princesses start with The Princess and The Frog (2009) and go until the most recent princess film, Moana (2016). The other films that fall into this category are Tangled (2010), Brave (2012), and Frozen (2013). These princesses are described as “rebels who live on the edge, full-figured, well endowed, and sexually charged.” Tiana (The Princess and The Frog), Rapunzel (Tangled), and Anna (Frozen), still end up with a romance at the end of the film. Tiana is Disney’s first African American princess, which was important as up to this point many young girls did not have a princess that resembled them visually. Tiana exhibits both typical traits of princesses from the Classic Era, compassion and understanding, as well as traits typically viewed as masculine in the same films, enterprise, cleverness, and assertiveness. Although she finds love at the end of the film, it was due to chance and not from her actively looking for it. The film conveys an important message that wishing on a star is not going to accomplish anything, but hard work will. Tiana’s goal never changes throughout the film, even after meeting Prince Naveen and realizing she loves him, her sights always stay on owning a restaurant. Unlike the previous films that end the narrative with a wedding or presumed wedding, the narrative continues after Tiana and Naveen get married. The film ends with her working in the restaurant that she was finally able to open. Although released a year after

For many years, Disney has been 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. The problem is that 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 have been found to 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, it is clear that the portrayal of gender roles, of both the hero/heroine and the villain, has changed for the better.

Moral and valuable examples for both girls and boys can be difficult to find in society today. Amidst pop culture and societal views becoming increasingly worse, children more than ever need a respectable and moral individual to idolize and follow. In the world of Disney, princesses have become a closely enjoyed and respected view for what every girl should aspire to be. Each princess represents a different background, culture, and set of talents that express a type of woman that stands out in the world. Although many girls enjoy the princess culture and lifestyle, many parents feel this campaign is wrong for both their children and other girls. They believe the princess way of life is harmful towards girls’ images and their views towards the realistic events that accurately represent reality. Disney princesses are an encouraging example of an ethical and strong woman and, if desired, should be accepted and encouraged to follow despite views and beliefs that girls are stereotyped into gender cliques.