The First Of Disney Pixar 's Animated Films Without A Male Centered Cast Featuring A Spunky, Defiant, Essay

In the past years, Disney/Pixar has revolutionized the premise of their movies by shifting away from princesses and portraying resilient male characters as the protagonists of their highly successful animated feature films. From 1995 to 2008, Disney/Pixar released eight films, all of which included a male lead, yet these characters are arguably unlike any other protagonist in early Disney animated films. In their essay, “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden call attention to the new manner Disney/Pixar use to depict their heroic male characters in their movies. Gillam and Wooden claim that Pixar is using their movies to promote the acceptance of a new standard of masculinity capable of embracing feminine traits, as conveyed by the male characters within the films. As a viewer, it is easy to recognize the emasculation of the male protagonists within Pixar movies, however, the authors’ claim is faulty; they fail to acknowledge that society now has room for a new sympathetic man because it is straying way from a patriarchal beliefs of the past.

Disney directly exposes the idea that young girls should make their main goal in life to find their prince charming, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Making young girls’ aspiration in life revolve around finding a man of their dreams “transfix[es the] audience and divert[s] their potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images [Disney] cast[s] upon the screen” (22). Disney tells the audience that women need a man to be happy. Disney presents the idea that women are dependent on me. Just like in The Little Mermaid, Ariel goes as far as surrendering her voice, to a witch named Ursula, and abandoning her family in order to be with her prince. Ariel also trades in her life as a mermaid, drastically changes her body, and sacrifices her greatest talent all in order to win her prince. Disney sends the message that girls need to give up their talents and lives in order to be with a man. Disney suggests that a woman’s main priority is her lover, no one or nothing else. Disney effectively portrays women in a negative way, depicting them as weak and needy. No attempt to break the stereotypical gender roles of women are evident however, these stereotypes are growing as Disney instills this image of women in the minds of viewers.

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

Walt Disney over the years has impacted the lives of millions of children with his animated films. His Disney movies have evolved in the last years and have moved from the traditional damsel in distress theme. Specifically, the classic movie Cinderella gives the wrong idea about what it is to be a woman for young girls. The movie portrays a young woman facing emotional, mental, and physical abuse by her evil stepmother and later falls in love with a charming prince. However, if viewers take a closer look, Disney’s anti feminist message is firmly emphasized. The story of Cinderella is sexist due to it’s lesson to girls that beauty and submission will award them a rich bachelor. This is seen through Cinderella’s submissive behavior, Prince

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

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

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.

The allowance for stereotypes to be so common in Brave plays into the continued racist narrative that affects Scottish people to this day. A viewer should be critical of the film even if it breaks away from the patriarchal hold that has controlled Disney films for nearly a century. To illustrate that Merida is different from any princess, the film opens with her shooting arrows and riding a horse the way a man of the time might. Disney and Pixar did work together on this film that at first held quite the unique premise, Merida, instead of allowing suitors to compete for her hand in marriage, would fight for her own hand in marriage.

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.

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.

Then in Pixar’s Brave, the princess Merida does what Jeremy Adam Smith calls “the storytelling miracle…as the cortisol that feeds attention mixes with the oxytocin of care, we experience a phenomenon called ‘transportation’” (Smith, sec. 3). Twenty-three years after The Little Mermaid, in 2012 we’re introduced to Merida another red haired princess, but Merida represents a far greater shift in our perception of women and their place in society than in The Little Mermaid. As the narrative of Brave unfolds, we see that Merida like Ariel is also seeking freedom from the expectations of a parent, specifically her mother who acts as a partial representation of our conformity to the expectation of the social role of women in society. While Ariel and Merida share some commonalities, Merida self-determination isn’t intertwined in finding love in the arms of a prince, but in herself and her relationship with her

A “Brave” Difference In the movie Brave, Merida goes against tradition by not marrying a price. This upsets her mother, Queen Elinor who believes that Merida should marry into one of the other clans. Merida is a tomboyish girl who is far from being a "proper" princess that we would see in other Disney movies. To her mother's disapproval, Merida wants nothing more but to be a regular girl.

John Lasseter and his team’s wonderful diction implies the freedom and unity of family and life. In the ultimate pursuit of happiness, it is important for a person to have freedom of choice. Brave, a pixar/disney movie, is an example of a character who struggles with freedom of choice. The main character, Merida, is stereotyped as a princess and whose steps are predetermined for her. When in reality she is more of an independent spirit with a playful heart. She loved archery and enjoyed the great outdoors. She didn’t think life choices should be decided for her. Her mother felt that her daughter should follow tradition and be ladylike and proper. For example, Merida was betrothed to someone she didn’t love. She didn’t want to be married at

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.

Little girls everywhere spend their childhoods watching the princesses portrayed in Disney movies, dreaming about the day they too will meet their prince charming. They see how Sleeping Beauty is woken up by a prince, Cinderella marries a prince, Sleeping Beauty turns a beast into a prince, and countless other instances of a girl just like them meeting their perfect man. Disney is infamous for their outdated illustration of gender roles. Mulan is one of the first Disney princess movies in which, instead of waiting for her prince, the heroine actually saves the day, or in this case, China. Mulan makes a variety of statements about gender roles that can be examined through many