Stereotypes Of Disney Stereotypes

Throughout the last few years there has been a discussion on how Disney Princesses have a negative impact on young girls and their expectations on what lies in their future. Many Disney princess classics, although they are entertaining, send bad messages to young girls and often teach that their worth is more about beauty and less about their intelligence. The “ Disney princess effect” has impacted the way young girls grow and how they look upon their future and happy ending.

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.

“Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” is an article by Stephanie Hanes which touches on the princess phenomenon many young girls are obsessed with. Stephanie Hanes concludes that the Disney Princess craze is linked to self-objectification and the growing sexualization of young girls. Although she provided numerous facts the argument was unsuccessful because it was weak and confusing. Her own personal opinion on why she blamed the Disney Empire for sexualization amongst young girls was rarely voiced. Lastly the main idea of the article gets masked by controversial expert claims that are not linked to the topic.

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

Disney makes over $3 billion on their Disney Princess products every year and now have over 25,000 items in their princess collection (Orenstein 2). Disney has played a big role in shaping not only societal viewpoints on what young girls should like, but also what little girls believe they should enjoy as well. Gender stereotypes have been around for a long time, but now with technology advancements, such as media in western society is able to play a bigger than ever role in influencing people’s perspectives. Not only do we see gender roles and stereotypes in television shows, but also in advertisements and in children’s toys. Although many readers of Peggy Orenstein’s “What’s wrong with Cinderella” have argued that the princess culture is corrupting today’s young girls and making them more dependent on men, a closer examination shows that many girls grow out of the princess phase with no negative repercussions and choose whatever passions they want.

By doing so, Disney princess culture increases gender roles and affects how young girls view themselves.

The “Disney Princess Effect” indicates the influence of Disney franchise’s fairy-tale heroines on little girls. In specific, the ideal image of a Disney princess significantly shapes young girls in a superficial way. Girls tend to dress more girly, become less imaginative, less active and unique. It is crucial to acknowledge this effect, since it imposes subjective images and certain roles on girls, which consequently takes away their freedom to grow and express themselves. For instance, the effect could eventually lead to signs of erosion of the progress in equality, lower cognitive performance, and greater body dissatisfaction. The effect is closely related to other cultural trends, such as self-objectification, cyberbullying, unhealthy body

Since the beginning of the Disney princess era in 1937 with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney princess films have been a part of children’s lives for almost a century. According to Robinson, Callister, Magoffin, and Moore, media, specifically television and films present children with images and ideas that may create, alter, or reinforce how they portray stereotypes (203). From the classic Disney princesses such as Snow White and Aurora, to today’s modern princesses such as Elsa, Anna, and Tiana, the roles of Disney princess have changed significantly since the beginning of the franchise. The evolution of gender stereotypes in Disney

Karen Wohlwend discusses the effects of the princesses on both young boys and girls in her articles Damsels in Discourse: Girls Consuming and Producing Identity Texts Through Disney Princess Play, and The Boys Who Would Be Princesses: Playing With Gender Identity Intertexts in Disney Princess Transmedia. She discusses ideas regarding how Disney appears in many ways in a small girls’ life, beginning with watching their favorite Disney movies on repeat, and then owning every item that is possible to put a face of their favorite characters on. Disney has released items such as CD’s, bedding, Tupperware, bath toys, stuffed animals, Princess dolls, and much more; so, pretty much anything someone could think of, Disney had stuck a face of a princess or two on it. Wolhwend’s study took place in her kindergarten classroom of 21 students, and she analyzed how the children played over the course of a few weeks. She had begun to notice after several weeks that there are certain themes that certain students liked to play, ranging from playing super heroes to playing “Disney Princesses.” The group whom loved to play Princesses consisted of girls and even boys playing roles of famous, identifiable characters ranging from Snow White, to Aladdin. There was 5 children in this group, and they all played roles that had to do with family values and cultural traditions, and

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.

Another stereotype given to women in Disney movies is that every story ends with the princess falling in love with her perfect prince charming and living happily ever-after together. It is inevitable for any Disney woman not to fall in love in the end. The Disney women know exactly what the desire in a man, so that when they meet, or see them, for the first time, they know that they are in love. In the 1992 movie Aladdin, also directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, “Aladdin, a street urchin, accidentally meets Princess Jasmine, who is in the city undercover” (The Internet Movie Database). Aladdin, the

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.

According to various articles, although the Disney Princesses seem to be an innocent form of entertainment for young girls, their overall messages serve as a negative influence on how they develop into adults. This is where the unrealistic Disney Princess aspect can potentially become detrimental.

Cramped in a small Los Angeles office, Walt Disney drew a few larger than life cartoons. After Disney’s big hit Alice Comedies and cartoons of Mickey and the gang, he moved his office to Burbank, California. There, Walt and his brother, Roy, came up with their most famous movies such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland. Now with two American amusement parks, three international parks, multiple cruise lines, multiple resorts, over five hundred films, and over thirty academy award, it’s hard to not heard of Disney. Every boy or girl has at least seen or heard of Disney movies. It’s such a big part of society today that it becomes influential in a kid’s childhood. This project will look at the underlying effect of the Disney princess phenomenon and how it shapes a young girls’ perspective of herself and how she’s “supposed” to be.