Masculinity In Disney Movies Essay

In their journal article of “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children's G-Rated Films,” Karin Martin and Emily Kazyak discussed how the animated Disney films as well as G-rated movies construct heterosexuality to young viewers – children, as they should not contain any of heterosexual scenes. According to the authors, young children are seemingly involved deeply in media world as it is a fruitful chapter of their sexual socialization; animated Disney films or other G-rated movies are what they are oftentimes engaged and attracted. It is always plotted as a stunning, beautiful lady waits for a brave, handsome guy to come to her life, then they would live happily ever after since the movies mark relationships between opposite sex repeatedly,

Not only do Disney princesses result in bad self esteem, they also encourage passiveness and reliance on others. The feminine and vulnerable side of these princesses, reflect the reliance on their hero and true love. The Disney princess stereotype insinuates that girls should be sweet and submissive, and should fully rely on a male-counterpart. Conversely, new characters, such as Elsa (Frozen), Rapunzel (Tangled), and Merida (Brave), do not express this passive characteristic. At the same time, these princesses continue to need assistance to reach the desired solution. For instance, Princess Rapunzel still needed hero Flynn Rider, in order to navigate her to her parents throughout the movie. None of these princesses independently found a solution to the main conflict in any of these Disney films.

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.

While Snow White is a European fairy tale, its dichotomy of female roles is a common theme in

She does not question nor challenge the dwarves and is willing to provide whatever duties they ask for. Snow-white is incapable of defending and looking after herself, and is dependant on the company and care of men. In contrast to men, who in traditional fairy tales are seen as strong, selfless and handsome. They have roles as warriors while achieving their goals with persistence and resilience. Snowwhite and other innocent women act as the damsel in distress as they cannot rescue themselves and require assistance from men. This teaches young audiences that girls are expected to play a submissive role, in a patriarchal society, and that Snow White amongst other traditional fairy tales represent women’s lives being influenced by men. On top of all of this, it is passively conveyed that male figures only help the beautiful women, who are worthy of marriage. The prince took Snow-white and her glass coffin when she was in her deep slumber as she was beautiful. If Snow-white had been unattractive, or ugly, he would not taken her and the coffin, as a woman’s beauty was one of her best features, and made her eligible for a wealthy marriage. This gives the impression that men value vanity and a woman’s house skills, which would make her worthy of marriage and bearing his children.

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.

Apart from the stereotypes, recent Disney princesses have been counteracting the stereotypical images of a Disney princess. They are no longer waiting around for their prince to come and be with them. Instead, they are using their intelligence to achieve their dreams and aspirations. Also, they can be independent and that they don’t always need a man (Bowser n.p.). The portrayal of love in these films are different from the others. The characters are not focused in waiting for their prince. Rather, they were trying to achieve their dreams. In "The Princess and the Frog", Tiana pursues her dream in becoming a restaurant owner. She didn't need a male counterpart to be able to feel happy but only wanted to fulfill her dream to feel happiness.

In the first Disney animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, many of the same stereotypes that are presented in the film Cinderella where first presented in this film as well. In the film, Snow White is taking refuge in the forest where she lives with seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother who also happens to be the evil Queen. The queen is jealous of Snow White because Snow Whites fairness surpasses the Queens. Snow White ended up eating a poisoned apple which makes her fall in a curse and is later on saved by a

In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. During that era, “[t]he implication for women was that work outside the home was a stage, not a right, and that the mature woman belonged at home (Strom 363).” Women worked only until marriage and then they dedicated themselves to their husbands and children. Snow White personifies this role. She is adventurous and self-sustained after she runs into the forest, and helps the dwarves with housework, yet she desperately waits for the moment a prince will save her. In that era, “[w]omen saw themselves as powerless in the world outside the home, and they relinquished any notions of rebelling against male coworkers or bosses in order to inherit their traditional authority at home as wives and mothers (Strom 359).” We can see this in the film when Snow White is powerless while running through the forest, but becomes an authority figure once she is at the dwarves’ home. Once the prince saves her, she becomes powerless, fully dependent on him, and no longer has to worry about sustaining herself. Her stepmother, on the other hand, does not have a prince to depend on, and has ill self-esteem. She values self-image but is not as beautiful as Snow White, who is youthful and pure. Snow White’s character is rather one-dimensional, with no other purpose than to be married, but she is naïve, submissive, nurturing and organized, the

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 young girl see’s that they will think that’s it’s okay to give up certain things just to be with someone

Throughout the course of Western civilization and the colonization of the Americas, a particular set of ideologies and customs has evolved that holds a very Eurocentric and patriarchal perspective. This perspective continues to dominate the macroculture of the United States in the present day. These ideologies are constantly recycled and continuously influence social norms as they relate to our concepts of feminine beauty, acceptable gender roles, and many other aspects of modern society. It is easy to overlook these biases if we choose not to question the status quo. However, when examined further, such biases are detectable and in many cases are blatantly apparent. An investigation

I thought this source gave many verifiable points, but I believe that the author should have included other people’s viewpoints about gender roles instead of keeping it as a one-sided conversation based on the author’s beliefs. This article describes how the Disney Princesses have evolved since Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Sleeping Beauty to Brave and Frozen (Nusair). Traditionally speaking, these princesses were written as these helpless and passive women that was always in dire need of the help of their prince to come rescue them from their troubles. In today’s Disney Princess movies, the characters are meant to be self-reliant and strong just as any other character within the town. As you can tell, this is vastly different than eighty years ago when these movies first depicted their stories. According to David Nusair, who graduated with a degree in Film Studies and in Journalism writes movie-related articles for numerous publishers, stated “…Disney unleashed their most independent and downright fierce princess to date in nineteen ninety-five with the release of Pocahontas. In addition to fighting side-by-side with her male counterparts, she even plays a pivotal role in saving the life of the man she loves…” (Nusair). In other words, this is quite the turnaround from what we are normally used to from these

Disney princesses are saved by the prince; this portrays the idea that men must represent the warrior and tough character, while the women are believed to be fragile and dependent. Maleficent represents a dichotomy that is not widely used within the cinema, in which Maleficent becomes the hero of the film. Unlike many other Disney films, this film portrays the woman as a powerful individual, she is not afraid of fighting in order to save her land and will not give up until she achieves her goal. Her courage is illustrated when King Henry (Kenneth Cranham) wants to invade Moors, the realm that Maleficent rules, and she stays strong and does not let them take over her world. She did not hide from them, instead she confronted them, and was willing to protect her world with her own life. Additionally, she is not depending on a male character to come and save her, instead she uses her own strength, intelligence, and courage, and becomes the savior in the film. (More examples) (More

Snow White is a fairy-tale known by many generations; it is a beloved Disney movie, and a princess favoured by many kids. But did you know the fairy-tale was made to teach young children, especially little girls, their duties in life? It also values beauty over knowledge, portrays women to be naive and incompetent, and assumes that women cannot understand anything other than common household chores. Throughout this criticism, I will be using the feminist lens to analyze the fairy-tale, Snow White, through the perspective of a feminist.

While she herself is not necessarily a man’s ideal woman, the act of saving her and being a hero is one aspect of male fantasy. It dates as far back as the Ancient Greeks, the naked image of Andromeda chained to a rock before Perseus saves her is a classic example. (Grant & Hazel) The concept of the damsel in distress is still highly prevalent, particularly in movies marketed to young children. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, as well as many other films based on fairy tales, feature the damsel in distress being saved by a prince. Young girls are taught from an early age that only a man will save them. Worse yet, they’re taught to expect to be victimized, all in the interest of giving a man a dragon to slay and a princess to save.