How Does Disney Fairy Tales Affect Women

The early films followed the traditional standards of the early twentieth-century, where the female heroine needed rescuing by her true love (Yerby, Baron, Lee). Snow White being the first animated film produced by Disney helped create the template that would be used for later movies but more importantly the role that the females would play. Snow White as described by Maio is "young, virginal, and pretty, sweet natured and obedient" qualities that all Disney princess seem to posses, but are more evident among the early princesses. Domestic work is also one of the many virtues exhibited by the early heroines, in the first three movies. All three princesses are often shown cleaning in various scenes with a smile on their faces, often sing along while they perform the task at hand, depicting an image of the happy homemaker. Neither one of them ever complains or questions their status in the world, always being very compliant, depicting the proper gender roles of the time. Even though this early heroines are more assertive when compared to their prince, they only assert their authority

When Disney introduces new princesses, the first observation made is one concerning beauty. Often times, when Disney designs princesses, the definition of beauty implies a slim waistline, big eyes, and a perfect

Characters of Walt Disney Animation Studio movies have become beloved all over the world since releasing its full-length animated feature film Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs in 1937, and all the way to the musical fantasy-adventure film, Moana. Young or children at heart, Disney has hit the hearts of many across the world but is there more behind the classic stories of Cinderella, Belle, and Mulan than first thought. As for the development of Disney female leads, Walt and his animators looked for stories to tell, from fables, fairy tales, legends, to the universal realities that can be found there. As the part of women has lengthened and altered, particularly in the twentieth century and now the twenty-first century, the stories are tending

Bartyzel’s wide array of evidence to support her claim that princess culture narrowly defines what femininity means to young consumers makes her argument compelling. She used Disney’s unfitting princess makeover of the character Merida from Brave - who desperately fought against princess ideals in the movie - as an example of how Disney has a habit of backtracking their own progress. Bartyzel also provided accounts from mothers who support her claim by expressing that their daughters’ behavior had been shaped by princess culture. Additionally, Disney routinely overshadows the darkness of traditional fairy tales with overly idealistic narratives and has a history of depicting harmful racial stereotypes, problematic female characterizations, and unrealistic storylines (Bartyzel, 2015). Bartyzel examined these stereotypes and problematic characterizations with the design alterations made to Disney princesses; specifically, princesses of color. Finally, Bartyzel reinforced her argument by conveying that women are diverse and to overlook these differences affects how young girls view themselves. Bartyzel’s professional presentation, the various forms of evidence, her counter-arguments, and her examination of the different issues tied to princess culture helped convey a strong argument.

Because of Disney’s stereotyping of gender, that little girl grew up wanting to become a perfect princess. Princesses in Disney’s movies and films gives young girls unrealistic ideas of the real word. However, some may believe that Disney princesses are a good influence on young girls and are able to show a them how to act eloquently. Gender roles, eloquence, and the beauty of the princesses are all topics that influence young girls. Even though some might believe that princesses are good role models for their child, princesses show young girls how they should interact around boys and other girls never mind the girls own opinions. An article about Children’s Responses to Gender Roles in Fairy-Tales written by Ella Westland writes, “The girls

According to an article, “In fact, a 2009 experiment conducted by Professor Hayes and Professor Tantleff-Dunn revealed ‘that a third of girls under the age of six admit to worrying about being fat, and when asked to select the ‘real princess’ from a choice of ballerinas, 50% of the girls chose the thinnest one’.” (Body Image n.p.) Also, Disney films’ portrayal of the stereotypical body image negatively impacts young girls’ perception on their figure. This leads to them believing that the ideal woman is skinny-perfect, as shown by the Disney female characters; thus, their thinking becomes “[…] thin is the only acceptable type of beauty.” (Body Image n.p.). In another study, it said on how young girls wanted to change their skin color preferably lighter in order to become a princess (Mckinstry n.p.). There were also young girls who wanted to become a princess by dressing femininely. Disney have made a collaboration with Happy Skin to come p with a new lip collection in order for people to use and look like a Disney princess (Afinidad-Bernardo n.p.). According to a study, “Women are helpless and in need of protection.” (Towbin, et al 31) In Disney films, Snow White, Aurora and, Cinderella portrayed that they had to be saved by their male counterpart which gives off the message that women have to be saved by men (Johnson 15-16). Due to this portrayal

Looking back at all the movies, the classic Disney movies were focused more on looks and the Princesses has more complements on their looks. Going to the “Renaissance “era there were less than 40% compliments on their looks and more on their abilities or deeds. And for the last batch of Disney Princess movies “The Princess and the Frog”, “Tangled”, “Brave”, and “Frozen” The pattern is finally reversed. For the first time women are more likely to be praised for their skills or achievements rather than their

Overall, the emphasis that fairy tales place on physical appearance can be very detrimental to a child (particularly a girl’s) development and ideas of reality. To add, fairy tales, although perhaps unintentionally, depict that attractiveness determines who is good and who is evil. The protagonist is often the princess, who is described as the prettiest in the land. The antagonist on the other hand is often less attractive and more than likely labeled ugly (Schussler). Because fairy tales often depict good conquering evil and evil succumbing to its immorality, this therefore shows the reader that ugly people are punished. This also can influence a girl’s self-esteem, considering that the created sense of beauty is impossible, thus they may feel inferior (Danish). Grauerholz hypothesizes that “[t]hese powerful messages that say women need to be beautiful may compel some women to seek beauty at the expense of other pursuits, such as careers or education” (Grauerholz). The exaggerated emphasis on beauty has potential to be a very limiting factor for young girls. However, the stereotypical beautiful princess is not the only gender stereotype that plagues women in the tales.

In this postmodern age, where the standard of beauty especially for women is what is on the billboard, in the music video, runway, or the movie screen, what does gender image in fairy tales teach women, especially young ladies about themselves? According to Marie Von-Franz, a foremost Jungian, “women these days seek images or representation that could define their identity (Feminine 1). And Rohrich Lutz submits that, “fairytales are one the most enduring childhood impressions that play a role in the construction of perceptions of self” (Fairytales and Society 1-9). What then does these fairy tales both women and little girls enjoy so much teach or say about the female gender image archetypes?

Tale as Old as Time: The Development and Limitations of the Disney Princess Disney has improved depictions of women in its films by including increasingly complex and independent female characters. However, negative stereotypes and misrepresentations remain in all Disney Princess films which should be acknowledged and changed. Although each era of Disney Princess films (Classical, Renaissance, and Revival) have improved in creating stronger female portrayals, these films continue to rely on traditional female tropes. Most of Disney’s popular films can be categorized into three distinct eras, The Classical Era includes the films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), and Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Growing up, all I ever did was watch Disney movies and the Disney channel. Now as I’m older, I can’t help but realize that all the movies are exactly the same. The princess is stuck in a dilemma and then a perfect prince comes along and saves her and then they marry in the end. Other than a similar plot, all the movies have very similar character traits. England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek in Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses explain the characters, “traditionally masculine (e.g., athletic, brave) and traditionally feminine (e.g., helpful, nurturing) characteristics exhibited by the prince and princess characters through

Children who read a lot of fairy tales have lower self-images than others, which isn’t surprising if they constantly compare themselves to all those ‘fairest of them all’ types. In fact, a study has shown that almost 94% of stories mention physical appearance, averaging at 13.6 times per story. 31% associate beauty with goodness, and some 17% associate ugliness with evil. And have you ever heard of a slightly overweight yet still smart and kind princess in a story? Because I certainly haven’t. Maybe we should try to give children more realistic role models, instead of stick-thin sighing and giggling princesses, who have nothing better to do than sit around talking to

Disney fairy tales, sweet and seemingly innocent tales, are they causing children to lack certain knowledge that they need or are they helping our children? When one thinks of Disney fairy tales they might think of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty and have happy thoughts, but would they have the same thoughts if they knew that these tales were derived from the rather gruesome Grimm’s Fairy Tales? Did Disney actually hinder children’s learning by watering down these tales and sheltering the children from the dark realities of the world? Does teaching little girls that princesses are treated like royalty and everything works out, in the end, make their expectations too high?

In fairy tales, female characters are objects, and their value centers around their attractiveness to men. Since fairy tales rely on cultural values and societal norms to teach morals or lessons, it is evident that fairy tales define a woman’s value in a superficial way. Fairy tales teach that, typically, beauty equates to being valuable to men because of their fertility and purity; whereas, ugliness equates to being worthless and evil, including being ruined because of their lack of virginity. Descriptions readers see from fairy tales like “Rapunzel,” and “Little Snow-White” revolve around the women’s, or girl’s, physical appearance, and both stories play out to where the women remain in a state of objectification. In addition, they are damsels

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, the society of man created the idea that it was a woman’s job to conform to the ideologies generated in fairy tales. From women depending on their prince charmings all the way to romanticized sexual abuse and lack of consent, stories like Cinderella and Snow White radiate sexism within an array of scenes of the stories and films. Not only does this affect the way that men view women, but it has had a relatively negative effect on the ways that many women view themselves. Many fairy tales have made their way into mainstream culture, and today many young girls and boys grow up hearing and seeing the subliminal messages in fairy tales. As more and more fairy tales make their way onto the big screen, it can be seen that all princesses seem to share a common feature other than their crowns and lack of self worth without a man by their side; their tiny waists. In recent years during the 21st century more and more people in the media have been calling out fairy tales for their anti-feminist attitudes with sexism, body standards as well as societal comments about women being dependent on men.