Where Do The Mermaids Stand

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

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.

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

Disney creates gender roles, racial roles, and white supremacy through socialization within their motion pictures. For example, Walt Disney’s “Snow White”, “Fantasia”, and even “The Little Mermaid” all show females as obscenely beautiful, male dependent and flirtatious creatures who couldn’t save themselves from a Chinese finger trap. Males are the perfectly sculpted rescuers who can be easily wooed by a woman’s body; and these exaggerated roles create a false standard for children and can lead to severely underdeveloped sociological skills. Moving onto the racial roles; in the movie “All dogs go to

The articles authors’, Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo and Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo, provide an interesting and detailed account of the way race and sexuality are reinforced in Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks films. They do this through the analysis of four animated films, The Road to El Dorado, Shark Tale, Dinosaurs and Toy Story. The authors argue that these films teach children about the expectations of society’s normalized racial and sexual dynamics (166). The article does an excellent job of of describing these films as stories of socialization for both children and their parents (167).

As a child I had often enjoyed playing pretend, emulating my favorite characters from television and film. In particular, I had often imagined myself as the heroes from popular Disney films and often looked to them as role models and inspiration. Disney movies played a large role in mine and millions of others children’s development, imbedding there themes and lessons into our personalities and conscious. The problem however, laid in the fact that the majority of these classic Disney films themes and lessons are from an era that promoted sexism and negative gender roles. Disney’s misrepresentation of the role of males and females portrayed in their popular films coupled with the rapid increase of digital media and merchandise sales has distorted

Children’s television may be one of the most influential means of gendered images ( Andersen, 2011, p.65). Considering the amount of hours children spend watching television, this means that such images are a powerful source of gender socialization. Thus, Disney has enormous power to shape and transform people’s perception and attitudes. Disney is a dangerous corporation because it’s a subliminal kind of education that are observed by young infants ( movie, :30). Mickey Mouse Monopoly takes a close and critical look at the animated films produced by the Disney Company, and these films create stereotypes about race, gender, and class.

Furthermore, Disney utilizes gender by applying sexual and erotic connotation that are observe by young children which are heavily emphasized in stories and fairy tales produced by Disney Productions. Zipes continues his argument towards Disney demonstrations of hyper sexualized images and reveals, “The carefully arranged images narrate through seduction and imposition of the animator’s hand and the camera” (Zipes 351). Zipes reminds us that Disney use delightful images, humorous figures and erotic or sexual signs to deprive the audience through the production and manipulation. Audiences can no longer visualize a fairy tale for themselves as when they read because pictures and film remove the audience from envisioning their own characters, roles, and desires. Once again Disney aims for young girls with their objectification of femininity in society by incorporating

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.

As a self-identified woman, I too am simply another demeaned and discredited being in this patriarchy in which I call my world. Although certain situations may provoke a woman’s compliant submission to social conformation in order to avoid public scrutiny and deviance, it is crucial that women not let these human right violations go unnoticed without personal recognition and liability by the oppressive perpetuator. Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid discredits any acknowledgement of women’s intellectualism and spiritual depth, but rather objectively localizes their superficial features, such as their physical biology like their bodies, their appearance, and their voice. This was intensely displayed at the inaugural beginning of the film when the Prince’s conditional love for Arial was emanated by her enchanting voice despite the lack of

A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these

My research paper focuses on how the 1989 Disney film, The Little Mermaid, objectifies the female characters' value and bodies within the film's music, rhetoric, and imagery. I analyze direct examples in which the male characters, King Triton and Prince Eric, impose misogynistic and sexist attitudes towards the female characters, Ariel and Ursula, which may ultimately idealize women as weak, submissive, and objects of sex. This is a problematic theme to perpetuate within classic films viewed by all ages simply because these ideas are vital in sustaining women’s social maltreatment and demonization within society. Because the audience of this paper includes my fellow colleagues and highly skilled and trained professor, I present it in an academic

The Damsel in Distress and the Knight in Shining Armor: Gender Roles in Disney Movies

In the last 50 years, the films produced by Walt Disney Productions have become fixtures amongst what defines modern childhood, establishing Disney’s characters as some of the most prominent role models present in the lives of children. Due to the highly influential nature of these films, Disney’s characters are popular amongst young children, whom are often first introduced to concepts of good, evil and gender norms through their representations. It is established that observation is a key element in a child’s development, and with the relative ease of accessibility in the modern day, movies can prove visually influential. Teresa Thompson and Eugenia Zerbinos argue that the gender stereotypes present in the portrayal of Disney protagonists and antagonists “could impact and interact with both the expectations [children] develop about relationships and appropriate behaviour.” (429)