There is a lot of pressure to conform to what society thinks is right. The media influences people how to look and act a certain way. One thing many people might not realize that influences children are Disney animated films. Disney animated movies are what many people grew up watching. Looking further into the popular animated movies, there is a lot to be said about the stereotypes found in them. The purpose of this research is to explain the stereotypes found in Disney animated films. Common stereotypes shown in Disney movies are the classification of gender roles and the perception of beauty. Almost every Disney movie has a villain in it. Villains are often easy to pick out because they are always portrayed a certain way. The females are …show more content…
Certainty, assertiveness, and affectionate behavior were the most commonly portrayed character traits in the princess movies. In real life, women are usually doing more housework than the men. In the princess movies this is seen as well. For example, Snow White and Cinderella, the princesses are singing and expressing happiness while doing chores (England 1). The princesses were not portrayed as physically strong, unemotional, or inspiring fear, however, these characteristics were more common among the princes (England 1). The female roles in Disney movies are often always getting saved by a young man; however, the latest Disney character, Sophia the First, has been released in Australia and is different from most storylines. The princess does not get rescued. Nancy Kanter, general manager of Disney Junior Worldwide, disclosed that the company is unlikely to create another princess who is being saved by a man (Sams 2). Gender roles are typical stereotypes shown in Disney …show more content…
Frozen tells the story of two sisters, Queen Elsa of Arendelle and her sister, Anna. Unknowing to Anna, Elsa has magical powers, where she can create snow and ice from her hands. One day, unable to control her power, her secret is revealed, and she flees the kingdom. Anna goes out into the snowy mountains to get her sister back, and on the way she meets mountainman, Kristoff, and Olaf, a friendly snowman. At first glance, Frozen seems to be another Disney princess film where the hero, the man, saves the distressed heroine. However, the love between the two sisters is more important than any man. Frozen co-director and scriptwriter, Jennifer Lee, says “I think the focus of this was really the relationship between the sisters and it’s not something we’ve really explored much at Disney” (Gee 1). Less than a half an hour into the movie, Anna meets Prince Hans and accepts his marriage proposal shortly after meeting him. This shows why the cliché is unrealistic and inane. It also shows that it is unsafe because in the end, Prince Hans turns out to be a two-faced villain. Jennifer Lee and co-director, Chris Buck, never show Anna or Elsa being rescued by men. Anna sees Kristoff from across the ice, hesitates and decides to help her sister instead. The love between Anna and Elsa is what Frozen wants its audience to see as “true love” (Leon 2). Frozen is a change from movies like The Little
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.
In their early years, Elsa and Anna were both very optimistic and energetic children. Just entering her concrete operational stage, children ages seven to eleven who cannot reason about what might be possible or abstract (Gazzangia, 2015, p. 377), Elsa did not understand the strength her powers give her and only knows the fun in which they
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.
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
Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite
Just like what John Musker says, “We thought it would be very appealing to do a female empowerment story that didn’t center on any sort of romance” (Berman 2016). The hearts of their stories focused less on finding true love and more on journeys, selflessness, and self-discovery. The first thing to point is that nobody of these leads’ – except for naïve Anna – core story aims was to fall in love. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog 2009) driven hard to become an effective business holder, Rapunzel (Tangled 2010) desired to discover the outside world, Merida (Brave 2012) wished to evade being married off in the name of practice, and Anna and Elsa (Frozen 2013) were looking to save each other, reconstruct their relationship and keep their empire from being overhauled by an outside threat. This period in Disney cinematography also took the time to highpoint relations between women for the first time. Just like in Brave, the chief bond is revolving between daughter and mother. There are plenty Disney movies to have explored love, but this one stands out and is experienced by most teenagers – the altering scene of the mother–daughter bond. Similarly, Frozen mainly focuses on the sisterly bond between Anna and Elsa. Jennifer Lee states that “She wanted to create characters they both could relate to, and felt the bond between sisters would be more accessible to a young girl than the lure of romantic love” (The Columbian 2014). Again, Disney took steps to discover something foreign to its earlier movies. By representing firm women and the inner workings of their relations, the last few Disney animated films showed a more precise reflection of the world. Based on the past of Disney Princesses above, we are sighted stronger role models creating their way into children’s
only solution whereas the women who act and are motivated are depicted as evil women that are penalized in the end. The manner in which women are represented in Disney films goes in line with the traditional patriarchal ideology that women are supposed to stay at home and take care of their family, animals or should take care of sick people. Nearly all the Disney Princesses are shown in this way. For example, Snow White takes care of the seven dwarves and their house in exchange for a place to stay.
Animated movies are, broadly speaking, known for introducing children to the amazing world of fantasy. They can help jumpstarting the young minds into learning. The problem is the harmless characters and themes are not entirely harmless as through these movies children step into learning about morals and values which are, to some extent, stereotyped. Consequently, children’s idea about these ideologies becomes distorted and damaged. The viewpoint of the child who is growing up watching these films can be affected and the child may have racialized idea of beauty imbedded into his/her mind by Disney.
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.
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
This movie is adopted from the other movie Snow Queen. Princess Anna and Elsa are sisters and also a best friend. One night Anna wakes Elsa up to go play in the snow. Elsa has magical powers that create the snow. When Anna and Elsa get too excited, Elsa accidentally hurts Anna badly.
In the current study, we sought to analyze the portrayal of gender stereotypical behaviors in Disney films. We developed this study based on previous findings from Kirsch and Murnen (2013), (Junn,1997), and Leaper et al (2002) and because of the potential implications of Disney’s portrayal of gender stereotypes in their films. We developed two hypotheses to test this. First, we hypothesized that male characters would exhibit masculine stereotypical behaviors such as giving orders and being aggressive, more often than feminine stereotypical behaviors and women would display feminine stereotypical behaviors such as performing domestic duties and primping, more often than masculine stereotypical behaviors in Disney movies. Second, we hypothesized that women would have more fluidity in these Disney films, meaning they are more likely to exhibit masculine stereotypical behaviors as compared to males demonstrating feminine stereotypical behaviors.
The Damsel in Distress and the Knight in Shining Armor: Gender Roles in Disney Movies
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
In this analysis, the chosen three Disney films were full of stereotypes which further strengthen the unrealistic expectations engraved in