How Did Walt Disney Movies Impact Society

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

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

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

Walter Disney was the creator of the Walt Disney company who won more academy awards than anyone else for his famous cartoon motion pictures. The date that he was born was on December 5, 1901. The date of his death was December 15, 1966. When Walter Disney was a young boy his father was a prosperous farmer making good money. When he was in high school he dropped out at the age of 16 to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. When Walter Disney was in school he had a play of Peter Pan and he played the part of Peter Pan.Walt Disney is famous because he has made the best motion picture cartoons and Amusement Parks. Walt Disney helped society with a joy contact. Making the cartoons happy and exciting for little kids. Walt Disney’s first cartoon was

Disney’s princess movies from the Classic era have translated the society’s definition of women and their roles during the 1930s.

There are many iconic people during the twentieth century that changed America. But among the most iconic people, Walt Disney was considered the most iconic. He grew up in a poor family, and his studio went bankrupt and as a result, his company became successful and he became wealthy, showing that even though bad things can happen, it's still possible to rise from them. He was the co-founder of Disneyland and Disney World, two famous amusement parks of all time, along with Walt Disney Resorts. All of these parks were not just in America but in international places too. Walt Disney’s parks are iconic to many children's and families, even himself. Walt Disney was iconic during the twentieth century and even still today as his legacy passes on.

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about the impact Walt Disney has left on society and how his legacy continues on.

The Walt Disney Company dominates the youth entertainment market and greatly impacts children around the world. Disney Princesses, the most lucrative Disney franchise, grosses billions of dollars in revenue each year (Forbes). Through this franchise, Walt Disney imposes rigid definitions of gender, masculinity and femininity on children. The media plays a large role in the construct of social norms and has a heavy influence on young kids: “children as young as three were very conscious of what they played with and appeared to have mapped out in the mind which toys and activities were ‘for girls’, which ‘for boys’ and which were gender neutral” (Browne and Ross 143). Beauty and the Beast, first released in 1991, exemplifies the rigid gender roles and stereotypes that the Disney Princess franchise embodies and imparts these values on children.

“The idea that animation is an innocent medium, ostensibly for children, and largely dismissed in film histories, has done much to inhibit the proper discussion of issues concerning representation.” (Wells 1998: 187) Animated children’s films, especially those created by Disney, have been an important aspect of children’s culture for many decades. When we consider Disney, we consider Princesses and Princes. In any case, it is acknowledged that those Princesses are included in a clothes to the newfound wealth story. Even though female characters may have more screen time, in most Disney movies we don't see the female characters prevailing over the males, regarding their societal position and practices, except in the lion king.

Corporations like Disney shape our daily lives in a huge way by using unique techniques. Movies and shows created by Disney recreate history based on stereotypes and try to hide their message in the innocence of a child’s mind. The women characters in the movies are submissive to men and lack power, they must use their body to manipulate people into getting what they want. In most of these films, the woman no matter how strong they may be is always in trouble and needs to be rescued by the man. Disney influences children to dress up as the characters in the movie, this gives the children a perception of how should men and women look like in society.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. -Walt Disney Even though things may seem difficult, try new things because we are curious and we may find new paths. Walt Disney always tried new things and he wasn’t afraid to fail and he went down so many different paths in his life. Walt Disney was an important and influential person in history that had a positive impact on the world because of all his accomplishments, and his education, and trying new things.

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.

Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the

Watching Disney classics, like any other kid, was a part of my childhood. As I watch them again now that I'm older, I now realize that the princesses are always the "damsel in distress"or the "ones that needs to be saved. Lots of research has been done on this topic. The researchers have concluded that most Disney films influence young children. Most of the researchers say, “Disney teaches children bad gender stereotypes, horrible respect for their body image, and lower self esteem. (Gissell)” Also, Disney influences young children because the animations they watch teach them the first life lessons that they don’t learn from their parents. Disney Princess films negatively impact young girls lives.

For my final paper where we had to pick a topic from current popular culture, I decided to write my paper with the focus on Disney movies. More particularly with the focus on the Disney princess movies. When it comes to the Disney movies they have always been and will always be such a huge part of our society. While growing up most children grow up watching these movies and get the idea that that is what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask a young girl what she wants to be when she is older there is a good chance that she will say that she wants to be a princess when she grows up. I have always been such a huge fan of Disney movies and I have a feeling I always will be. I found it very interesting this semester when we spend the short class period talking about the Disney female and male characters. It is rather interesting and something that I can say that I really never noticed before but the fact that the majority of all the female characters all had the same face shape. Whereas the males there were none two that were the same. However for this paper I will be looking into the relationship to cultural meanings about gender and other identity markers, such as race, sexuality, and cultural norms as seen in some of the more classic well known Disney movies.