Stereotypes In The Movie Brave

Stereotype; a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. In the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and in the short story, “Geeks Bearing Gifts”, written by Ron Koertge, stereotypes are defied by ordinary people. In The Outsiders, Johnny Cade and Darry Curtis face many struggles throughout their lives. Their town in separated into two: the rich and dangerous Socs, and the quiet, tough Greasers. For them, living dangerously is a reality. As a result of their lifestyle, Johnny has become fearful and Darry is considered the toughest man in the gang. In “Geeks Bearing Gifts” aspiring journalist, Renee, interviews her fellow classmates who are classified as “outcasts.” After meeting several students, she realizes her assumptions were incorrect about them. After reading both of these stories, the reader learns that our thoughts about others often revolve around stereotypes and assumptions, but most of these ideas that we have about other people are proven wrong.

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 “Brave” Merida and her mother both demonstrate the transcendental characteristic that real self is found in nature. Merida especially demonstrates this characteristic. Although many of her days are spent training to be princess, on the few days Merida has off, she goes out into the woods to pursue her true passion of archery. Merida appears happier in the woods, and only in the woods is she really allowed to pursue archery. This behavior demonstrates that Merida can only be herself in nature. Merida also demonstrates real self found in nature after fighting with her mother about being a princess. Merida and her mother have a fight about Merida finding a suitor, and to process the fight, Merida leaves and heads to the forest to contemplate. Only in the woods is she able to truly able to be happy, and the forest is her only source of clear thinking. Again, Merida demonstrates that her real self is found in nature. While Merida most strongly represents this trait, Merida’s mother does represent it as well. During the time that Merida’s mother is a bear, she spends time in the woods with her daughter, and begins fully

Janie is a black woman who asserts herself beyond expectation.  She has a persistence that characterizes her search for the love that she dreamed of since she was a girl.  Janie understands the societal status that her life has handed her, yet she is determined to overcome this, and she is resentful toward anyone or anything that interferes with her quest for happiness. "So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see, "(Page 14)  laments Janie's grandmother as she tried to justify the marriage that she has arranged for her granddaughter with Logan Killicks. This paragraph establishes the existence of the inferior status of women in Janie's society, a status which Janie must somehow overcome in order to emerge a heroine in the end of the novel.

Disney, and the princess brand in particular, enforces gender stereotypes on young girls. Monika Bartyzel, free-lance writer and mother, accuses Disney princesses of inflicting stereotypes on her daughter. Bartyzel says that her daughter does not run or jump, because it is not

The Outsiders is an action filled novel by S.E. Hinton. The story tells the tragic, beautiful, and confusing life of a greaser named Ponyboy. Ponyboy learns that stereotyping can really hurt people feelings, ruin relationships and can even be deadly. For example Ponyboy’s friend Dally dies because of stereotyping, stereotyping also might have caused Ponyboy to never meet someone who would eventually become a good friend, and Ponyboy could have died because of stereotyping.

Leslie Feinberg’s “Stone Butch Blues,” narrates protagonist, Jess Goldberg, through hirs bodily transformation as a transgender. Jess, born as a woman, went from identifying as a “he/she” to passing as a man, until ultimately identifying as neither male nor female. Jess’s journey as a trans was far from easy, due to the violence, from the police and peers, ze often fell victim to. Moreover, when growing up Jess never felt as if there was a place for hir in society. When Jess was around 16 years old, ze finally begins to search immensely for hirs “type of people.” Through the referral of a co-worker Jess was able to find a bar, Tifka’s, which possibly contained hirs “type of people.” Once inside the bar Jess describes it as “everything [ze]

The evil characters are portrayed as less “feminine” than the heroines, with curvier and heftier figures and longer noses as opposed to the slender figures and delicate faces of the princesses (Walker). In 2012. Disney released Brave, whose main character Merida was a spunky tomboy with fiery red hair, which was a step towards more realistic body types. However, after the movie’s release, Disney released a “redesigned” Merida, in which she is “sexier” with a slimmer waist and tamer hair (Perez). Merida’s creator, Brenda Chapman, supported a petition against this new design that

The “princesses” in Disney movies, if looked at their life from a realistic point of view, should not have been this happy. Most of them were very naive. They had no hope, no ambition, and no plans in life except to marry “Prince Charming”, a guy who would save them and she would take care of his house and his babies till she died. That is just sad. Is this all what women are good

Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues is a story about Jess; a masculine girl who understands from hir earliest memories that ze is different from other girls. Ze feels frustrated as Ze consistently gets asked the question,” Is that a boy or a girl?” Since ze feels that ze does not fit in the society and hir family and people around her reject hir, ze finally decides to come out as a stone butch lesbian in the gay drag bars of a blue-collar town. A stone butch has been so battered by homophobia and sexism and the intractable human fear of difference overall that her emotions have turned to stone. As ze struggles to find hir true color, ze experiences pressures and forces that influence hir social identity through out the story. In the book Stone Butch

In our modern society parents want to know who the best role models are for their children; especially parents of young girls. Most girls are introduced to Disney Princesses at a young age, but what most parents don’t know is that not all Disney Princesses are positive role models of modern society. The princesses were amazing role models for their time but since then many opinions have changed on what is expected of women and what is not some; people in society today can argue weather certain qualities that the princesses posses are acceptable for today’s youth. The most famous princesses are the “Original Disney Princesses” :(in chronological order) Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

Cassandra Stover explains in her Journal Damsels and Heroines: The Conundrum of the Post-Feminist Disney Princess, the dramatic shift with Disney princess at the peak of the late 1980s and early 1990s. She explains that the shift can derive from feminist movements and how the change can be directed to the third wave of feminism. She examines the original Disney princesses and decribes them to be more passively aggresive and unindependent, while the new princesses are more independent and brave. The author then explains if the shift from the old to new princesses are actually better, and not just different. Stover analysizes that Disney princesses evolve and are a part of the worlds change on feminism.

When most people think about Disney movies, their mind often goes to the stereotypical princess movies in which the protagonist wears a pink ball gown. Time and time again these princesses must fight their way through the story in a luxurious ball gown in order to end up with a prince. However, there are many Disney movies that work to challenge these gender stereotypes. The movie Moana is a recent example of a Disney production that works to break the imposed stereotypes placed on children from an early age.

What young girl does not dream of becoming a princess and living in a castle happily ever after? Virtually every young girl identifies with princesses and has watched at least one Disney Princess movie. From the first movies of Snow White and Cinderella, to the later movies of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, to the most current movie Moana, Disney Princess movies permeate not only the movie theaters, but also our culture. In fact, “becoming a princess is as easy as purchasing a tiara and hosting a princess-themed birthday party or buying a Halloween costume and playing pretend” (Garabedian, 2014, p. 23). Nonetheless, as declared by Princess Merida in the movie Brave, “there comes a day when I don’t have to be a princess. No rules, no expectations. A day where anything can happen. A day where I can change my fate” (Andrews & Chapman, 2012). In other words, does the life of a princess measure up to the expectations of little girls everywhere? The Disney Princess brand has grown incredibly popular, especially with young girls. In spite of this, the franchise has also become extremely controversial due to potential gender stereotypes in the films. “Gender is one of the most discussed topics in today’s society…[it] represents and also reproduces certain attributes, expectations and roles which are associated with male and female…influencing the views and opinions of future generations” (Maity, 2014, p. 31). Yet, is the Disney Princess brand harmful to young children due to gender stereotypes? Two essays that contemplate the Disney Princess brand and gender stereotypes with opposite viewpoints on this controversial issue are “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” by writer Monika Bartyzel and “In Defense of Princess Culture” by writer and mother Crystal Liechty. However, Liechty’s essay “In Defense of Princess Culture,” is the most effective article in convincing the audience of her point of view due to the claim, support, warrant, language, and vocabulary employed.

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