How To Raise an Insecure Child:
The exposure of Disney and Grimm Tales Creating Insecurity in Children
Girls during adolescence often start to feel insecure about their appearance or personality. They have developed the thought that they should appear a certain way or act a certain way so they can be attractive in society. The have stemmed this idea from the older generation, peers, television or books that only praise a certain type of beauty about and do not mention other types. Adolescent boys start to feel insecure about their appearance or personality. Boys who are taught this idea at a young age grow into men who can articulate emotions .The physical characteristics and mannerism that Disney have might send children the message that they might have to morph into a ‘perfect’ person or they may disrespect others that may not having a certain type feminine standards or standards of masculinity.
Young girls who idolize Disney princesses may wish to emulate the appearance of “[skin] white as snow, [lips] as red as blood, and [hair] as black as the wood in this frame,” (Grimm 250). So they can be just like a princess. But having young girls trying to morph their bodies in a hard fitting frame of a princess will cause low self-esteem because they would not be able to fully reach their goal of being a ‘princess '. In Spinning Straw into Gold, the author, Joan Gould, states that “Cinderella stepsisters would do almost anything to fit into what is beautiful to the point where
She believes that the new age media have a characteristic of oversexualizing the view of women in the society. She gives a case study of Mary Finucane, who has a three-year-old daughter who has stopped jumping, running and insisted on wearing dresses. Finucane discovered that her daughter changes drastically after she gains an interest in the Disney princesses. She believes that the consistent indulgence in these Disney princesses leads to the self-objectification (510). This seems to be true because more young boys and girls at their early stages tend to fall in love with these heroes and heroines, and they take them as their role models. Disney princesses have, therefore, developed into the cultural icons and terms of films as well as other accessories. Furthermore, Disney princesses may have an effect on the young girls because of their appearance. Their small waists, slender bodies, and beauty make young girls have self-esteem issues due to their bodies. Hanes uses a variety of statistical data to support her arguments, making her argument extremely strong. Despite the image that displays to the public of harmless cartoon characters, these Disney princesses have a profound effect on the behavior and outlook of young girls in the society
The Walt Disney Company is a well-known franchise that is specifically popular among young children. This franchise’s growing popularity is due to their heart-warming, family-friendly animated films. In any given year these animated films were released, almost always they had a common theme present throughout the movie: the classic female princess who needs to be saved by the strong, handsome prince. Due to this common prevailing theme, this essay will analyze the claim that Disney only writes its characters to follow heteronormative roles with intentions to teach young viewers that they too must follow their gender heteronormative norms to be accepted by society. To prove this claim is true, research need to be conducted.
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.
“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.
According to an article, “In fact, a 2009 experiment conducted by Professor Hayes and Professor Tantleff-Dunn revealed ‘that a third of girls under the age of six admit to worrying about being fat, and when asked to select the ‘real princess’ from a choice of ballerinas, 50% of the girls chose the thinnest one’.” (Body Image n.p.) Also, Disney films’ portrayal of the stereotypical body image negatively impacts young girls’ perception on their figure. This leads to them believing that the ideal woman is skinny-perfect, as shown by the Disney female characters; thus, their thinking becomes “[…] thin is the only acceptable type of beauty.” (Body Image n.p.). In another study, it said on how young girls wanted to change their skin color preferably lighter in order to become a princess (Mckinstry n.p.). There were also young girls who wanted to become a princess by dressing femininely. Disney have made a collaboration with Happy Skin to come p with a new lip collection in order for people to use and look like a Disney princess (Afinidad-Bernardo n.p.). According to a study, “Women are helpless and in need of protection.” (Towbin, et al 31) In Disney films, Snow White, Aurora and, Cinderella portrayed that they had to be saved by their male counterpart which gives off the message that women have to be saved by men (Johnson 15-16). Due to this portrayal
We all in some point of our lives been, so delighted with a fairy tale movie or a book, but do not think about the drastic consequence it is portraying on having an ideal body image? Over, the decades we have seen how fairy tales have impacted every individual. From having our great grandparents to our parents reading and watching fairy tales at a very young age. Fairy Tales have been a great phenomenon for a very long time. With the making of Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and much more loved by many people. As time his passing, people are realizing that fairy tales are affecting young girls at a very young age. Targeting mainly their body image. Body image is really important for many girls because they need to be up to date with the fashion trends society is putting out there. Now, a day’s many Fairy Tales movies are being created in looking slim, pretty, blonde, long beautiful dress, and perfect with no imperfection. In creating these false expectations on how a girl is supposed to look is drastically changing their minds. Also, is affecting their self-esteem in being low, due to not being satisfied with their body. Young girls want to be a princess because they have everything and receive all the attention. Having the characteristic of a princess is changing girls in evolving a false identity. In having a perfect body like a princess is causing other girls to not fit in because they do not fit in the category of perfect. Although, some accept
In The Selection, the contestants are taught that all princesses have to look perfect all the time, and they strive to be this distorted image of perfection; this relates to our culture filling the minds of young children with what “perfect” looks like. In the rising action of this book, the contestants are made over to fit their society’s view of the ideal princess. Every morning, the maids apply makeup on their faces, but instead of accepting
“ Every time she finds a minute, that's when they begin it, Cinderella ! Cinderella ! Cinderella !” Cinderella, a domesticated woman, a slave to the scrubbing brush, and the kitchen. “ Look at this stuff, isn't it neat ? Wouldn't you think my collections complete ? Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl, the girl who has everything ?” Ariel a girl who sings about all the domesticated items she has collected. “Well it’s my favourite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise.” Belle the girl who reads fairy tales and expects life to be like the stories. These are only three of the many messages these stereotypes are sending young viewers. As a little girl watching these Disney films you want to do anything and everything to become like these princesses. You want the glitz, the
Bartyzel’s wide array of evidence to support her claim that princess culture narrowly defines what femininity means to young consumers makes her argument compelling. She used Disney’s unfitting princess makeover of the character Merida from Brave - who desperately fought against princess ideals in the movie - as an example of how Disney has a habit of backtracking their own progress. Bartyzel also provided accounts from mothers who support her claim by expressing that their daughters’ behavior had been shaped by princess culture. Additionally, Disney routinely overshadows the darkness of traditional fairy tales with overly idealistic narratives and has a history of depicting harmful racial stereotypes, problematic female characterizations, and unrealistic storylines (Bartyzel, 2015). Bartyzel examined these stereotypes and problematic characterizations with the design alterations made to Disney princesses; specifically, princesses of color. Finally, Bartyzel reinforced her argument by conveying that women are diverse and to overlook these differences affects how young girls view themselves. Bartyzel’s professional presentation, the various forms of evidence, her counter-arguments, and her examination of the different issues tied to princess culture helped convey a strong argument.
Little girls? Or little women? The “Disney Princess Effect”, an article written by Stephanie Hanes was published September 4, 2011 the CS Monitor. Girls growing up in today’s society are being stripped of their childhoods. With fictional figures to dream of being, young girls aren’t falling in love with the beauty of the stories but more so they assume that they don’t look good enough to be like the world adored princesses. The author wrote this article in response to the epidemic of young girls growing up too fast and the concern it leaves. Between the Finucane Theory, the “Hottie Mystique” and the media onslaught will all reveal the beginning to a much bigger problem that these Disney princesses are creating. The author contends that young girls are losing sight of their childhoods and are becoming sexually advanced too soon.
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
Times are changing and Women are focusing more on achievements than looks. When that is happening in the real world in order to encourage young girl that is what has to happen in movies. According to The Washington Post “Women are more likely to be praised for their skills or achievements than their looks” (22). Now that in Disney Movies women are focusing less and less on there looks Disney is showing Girls that they are
The Walt Disney Company dominates the youth entertainment market and greatly impacts children around the world. Disney Princesses, the most lucrative Disney franchise, grosses billions of dollars in revenue each year (Forbes). Through this franchise, Walt Disney imposes rigid definitions of gender, masculinity and femininity on children. The media plays a large role in the construct of social norms and has a heavy influence on young kids: “children as young as three were very conscious of what they played with and appeared to have mapped out in the mind which toys and activities were ‘for girls’, which ‘for boys’ and which were gender neutral” (Browne and Ross 143). Beauty and the Beast, first released in 1991, exemplifies the rigid gender roles and stereotypes that the Disney Princess franchise embodies and imparts these values on children.
What’s important to understand is that the characters that Walt Disney created over the years, for example Mickey Mouse became icons, which had a lot of cultural significance, especially with children. The characters and their stereotypical body images, mannerisms, and behaviors were merely aspects of Walt Disney’s biased and vivid imagination and did not accurately reflect society or the culture for which they were created, but intern negatively influence his audience. Obviously, Wald Disney did not create the stereotypes, but it was the use of those stereotypes in his films that gave children the wrong impressions, specifically regarding gender roles or what it means to be a male and societies expectations of men.
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