The Princess Ideal Beauty And The Beast

Here and there, it is crucial that we share healthy life lessons with young girls and one of the best options to do so are through Disney princesses. First off Disney princesses show historical concepts of gender equality,

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.

In Peggy Orenstein’s article, “What's wrong with Cinderella?” she discusses the problems with princesses. The first problem being that princess merchandise is everywhere. Orenstein writes about when she took her daughter to the dentist and once the check-up was over, her daughter got a princess sticker. Princesses are embedded into a child’s everyday life, making a “princess” more of a way of living than a fantasy. To further this point, Orenstein mentions how even now, in a show that is supposed to be about teaching other languages, Dora the Explorer, has turned into Dora finding a fairy tale land where she becomes a princess at the end of her two part movie. This is only the beginning of the issues that are brought to attention in this article.

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.

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.

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.

As of lately, princesses have been under heat for teaching young girls to rely on men for everything, which I don’t see the connection. The examples that are used the most are Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora/sleeping beauty; they were made in the 50’s. Yes, they all waited for a man to save them but the moral of the story was that if you dream and you are kind to everyone, your dreams will come true; I think that lesson shines through to kids the most.

Young girls spend a majority of their childhood reading books about princesses, dressing up in pretty dresses, wearing plastic tiaras on their heads and dreaming about how one day they will grow up to live a life just as perfect. However, what they fail to realize is that these various fairy tales provide them with false hopes with regards to how their future will be. Young girls make the assumption that if they acquire the characteristics of those which the fairy tales revolve around, they will one day meet their prince charming, and live “happily ever after.” Princesses are portrayed as these women who appear to have light skin, slim waists, amazing hair and perfect skin. They watch all these movies as they get older and see how perfect these princesses are and will want to be just like them.

Love them or hate them Disney princess movies, time and time again inspire little girls to want to be just like them. So many people criticize these movies and say they aren’t the best influence on little girls. Why do people criticize these movies so much? These movies have a very inspirational narrative for young girls. Every Disney Princess movie is telling a consensus narrative using a variety of cultures, of young girls coming of age.

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.

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.

Many young girls are exposed to various Disney princess images that may guide their creation of future self-images, says Bisbo in her article, Disney Princesses’ Effect on Young Girls’ Self-Images. Disney movies have been a huge part in almost every little American girl’s childhood, Disney movies often have major female roles such as, princesses. The princesses are beautiful young ladies, escape assumed domestication and find a prince to be with for the rest of their lives. The Disney princesses Cinderella, Little Mermaid, and Snow White portray all of these characteristics in their movies. The princesses are not happy at the beginning of each movie and escape their home life situations.

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.

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.

According to Dawn Elizabeth England, Lara Descartes, and Melissa A. Collier-Meek’s article “Gender Role Portrayal and Disney Princesses”, the classic Disney Princess is embodied as being physically attractive, emotionally