The Effects Of Disney Movies On Children

Disney movies have been the leading outlets for child education and social learning. Due to such power of influence controversies have been raised which include the following, but not limited to, gender roles and stereotypes, issues of independence, and misrepresentation. Many people argue that despite the morals and messages that occur within such films there are still underlying messages that deal with beauty standards and norms. However, others may argue that Disney is evolutionary and evolved the imagery of male/female standards. The controversy then becomes: are Disney films doing more harm than they are good? Due to certain themes brought on by such movies, it has left younger audiences with both positive and

One of the main controversies discussed in this video is the way that Disney portrays women

Many Americans’ childhood was influenced by Walt Disney Production entertainment. Disney entertainment became one of the most well-known motion-picture production companies in the world. The founder, Disney had a talent in understanding and portraying American history, culture, and values (King, 2007, p. 266).

For my final paper where we had to pick a topic from current popular culture, I decided to write my paper with the focus on Disney movies. More particularly with the focus on the Disney princess movies. When it comes to the Disney movies they have always been and will always be such a huge part of our society. While growing up most children grow up watching these movies and get the idea that that is what they want to be when they grow up. When you ask a young girl what she wants to be when she is older there is a good chance that she will say that she wants to be a princess when she grows up. I have always been such a huge fan of Disney movies and I have a feeling I always will be. I found it very interesting this semester when we spend the short class period talking about the Disney female and male characters. It is rather interesting and something that I can say that I really never noticed before but the fact that the majority of all the female characters all had the same face shape. Whereas the males there were none two that were the same. However for this paper I will be looking into the relationship to cultural meanings about gender and other identity markers, such as race, sexuality, and cultural norms as seen in some of the more classic well known Disney movies.

Disney has been notorious for perpetuating gender stereotypes for women through their movies, and since the

Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the

In Henry Giroux’s book, “The Mouse that Roared” he argues that Disney animated movies lead to the end of innocence in children. He focuses mainly on the images that Disney portrays towards gender roles and gender stereotyping. He primarily targets the issues that women are portrayed as being subordinate to men and are viewed as property and objects of desire instead of as human beings. Giroux is unconvincing in his argument because he writes above the level of thinking and comprehension that most children who are exposed to Disney films would posses; by focusing on specific scenes, while ignoring the overall morals throughout the rest of

The representation of females in Disney films can be interpreted to be very sexist and miss-leading to young girls. In nearly all Disney films women are represented as house wives that are vulnerable and need saving. Although in our postmodern society where laws are now in place to protect females from being discriminated against (such as the equality act.) Disney has not kept up with these changes in the view of many people and still remains to include these sexist stereotypes.

When I was younger and learning about life is when I probably watched the most television. I fell in love with watching animated television shows and movies; in fact the first movie I had ever seen in theatres was Aladdin in 1992, a well-known Disney classic. Disney movies became my all-time favorite. Now watching them I have come to the realization of how they could affect how any child’s views on different gender roles. As Michael Kimmel explains “We now know that gender is one of the central organizing principle around which social life revolves. (Kimmel, 2)”

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

If you did not grow up watching Disney fairytale movies, what did you watch for the first decade of your life? Movies like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid have captured the attention of young children since the mid-twentieth century. A child’s opinion on gender roles and behaviors has been strengthened by Disney movies. Most young girls believe their lives will be incomplete without a man to protect them from all evils. Women have always felt inferior to men due to society’s interpretation of them in major motion pictures and advertisements. Society has started to realize its mistake on judging women and their ability to be independent by giving women more inspiring and uplifting roles in movies. A movie which does not focus as much on the typical stereotype of women would be the 1991 Disney fairytale classic known as Beauty and the Beast. This romantic fairytale does not identify women as powerless, but instead starts a positive trend of independence and intelligence. Beauty and the Beast wants viewers to realize the importance of inner beauty rather than external beauty, but still emphasizes gender inequality through the script and various songs.

Since 1937, Disney has been creating several animation movies for children, as well as adults, to enjoy. From Snow White to Cinderella to Tangled, Disney has produced household names and characters for children to look up to. Without disregarding the happiness Disney has brought to billions of children, it has also enforced multiple societal norms that are otherwise alarming. At first glance the typical Disney fairytale seems entertaining, but when examining closer they have portrayed patriarchy, unrealistic body images and racial stereotypes. For years Disney has portrayed woman as tall, beautiful and thin.

According to amother, her child stated “Mommy, mommy, the hyenas, the hyenas”, and she looked up and saidthere was a group of black children on the carousel and playing (Maloney; Mickey MouseMonopoly, 27). The social roles presented by Disney media embody the gendered stereotypes,which negatively affect how children learn and eventually perform gender (Heather Gutekunst,106). Disney films specifically have been shown to portray some stereotypical depictions ofgender (England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 92)EvaluationLet’s face it, the Disney Princess movies and product line are completely surrounded bythe idea of gender roles because they want to create a fairytale where boys and girls act the waythey are meant to act. According to a current study on the gender-roles in Disney Princess films,it was expected that the princesses would show more traditionally feminine than masculinecharacteristics, and the princes would show more traditionally masculine than femininecharacteristics (England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 93). Gendered stereotypes and roles aredesignated by Disney as limited rules of traditional femininity that is reiterated through andmirrored after popular culture (Gutekunst, 105). A quote by Carmen Faught written in theWashington post stated, “We don’t believe that little girls naturally play a certain way or speak acertain way, they’re not born liking a pink dress. At some point we teach them. So a big questionis where girls get their ideas about being girls” (Guo, 121). In Beauty & the Beast, you haveLumiere, the candlestick, and the broom, the feminine broom, acting out these male/femalethemes, where he’s the aggressive and she’s saying ‘oh, no, no, no’ and then by golly, he sweepsher off her feet after she said no, no, no, no (Carolyn Newberger; Mickey Mouse Monopoly,

Many young children grow up watching Disney films. Many parents do not think that these movies could have a negative impact on their children. Henry Giroux, who wrote the book, “The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence” is a firm believer that Disney films have a negative impact on the children that watch them. For several generations Disney films have been a huge part of children’s lives, but many parents do not realize how these films can negatively impact their children. Disney films can teach young children stereotypes, how to deal with life events such as death and they can learn negative ideas and values from these films.

A young girl with black hair and brown eyes sees a beautiful princess named Cinderella who has blond hair, blue eyes, and flawless skin. She believes she will never be as radiant and beautiful as the princess because they don’t look alike. Like this girl, there are many cases of Disney films having lasting negative effects on children. Disney influences children more than any other age group since most merchandise and movies are geared toward younger audiences around thirteen or younger. Walt Disney Productions have a negative effect on children through stereotypes, violent actions, and sexism presented through its characters’ physical characteristics and actions. Disney has been