...Analysis of Gender Roles in Disney Princess Films Jasmit Singh 213749361 Traditional and Popular Culture – 1900 9.0 Susan Niazi – Tutorial 6 Whether it’s the colours they wear, the activities they engage in or how they behave, men and women are known to play different roles in society. These established gender roles “are not innate or natural but a product of society”. Children, adolescents and adults all learn gender roles through the environment they’re surrendered by. One of the many huge influencers that help shape gender roles is media. Although “there has been a lot of change over the years in terms of what is considered appropriate societal roles for men and women, this change is not reflected in contemporary film”. The ideology of mainstream media continues to focus on the males being the heads of society, which in result, shows an unequal representation of the females. From an early age, media puts an image into young minds, informing them how males and females should think, act, behave and appear. In many television shows and films, one can easily see the distinct difference between the role of a male and a female. Often films are enforcing stereotypical gender roles where the male is seen to holds more importance in society than the female. Amongst many film producing companies, Walt Disney Pictures for decades have been enforcing stereotypical gender roles in their princess films. Though it may not be outright obvious, Disney productions play a huge role in fostering...
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...Megan Woodrow December 10, 2012 Human Symbolic Activity Final Paper Gender and Communication: Disney Princesses Evolve Over Time Women have been around since the beginning of time, and have been stereotyped towards having “weaker natures and bodies” and “silly and emotional desires”. The women in the classic Walt Disney films are no exception to this criticism. But there is a saving grace. As women in real life have changed over time, our counterparts in fantasy film animation have also changed. The classic Walt Disney Princesses have therefore evolved through, and with, the media. After thinking back on what made Disney such a huge hit and major part of all of our lives, one answer came to mind: The Disney Princesses. Walt Disney and the Disney Company started out with young and beautiful Snow White, and then eventually moving onto the long line of famous Disney heroines such as Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, and many more to recent date. There have been so many princesses (and other strong heroines) added to the Disney list, but has anyone ever thought of how these princesses have changed over time, or how they have evolved due to how women in real life are represented in the media today? Before I go into any more on the Princesses themselves, I first need to explain what events and stereotypes have made the basis for the Disney Princesses of the past, and even the for the women of the past, due to how the media and others have portrayed...
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...August 2014 The Disney Princess Effect on Young Girls and Their Gender Role Perception The Disney Corporation has been around since 1937 when it released the first Disney Princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since then, millions of young girls have fallen in love with these characters and often see them as role models. From the dresses to the tiaras, the beauty to the fairy tale, Disney Princesses have a direct effect on young girls and their behavior. The media has been a powerful resource through which many young girls develop their identity and come to understand gender roles in society. Research indicates that watching televised gender portrayals has an effect on individuals’ gender based attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (Mastro & Morawitz 131). These are the attitudes and beliefs that young girls who watch Disney princess films would inherit. Girls enjoy watching these films and see the beautiful characters overcome difficult trials, as well as fall in love with a handsome prince in the end. The overall message is not a realistic one, leaving many girls feeling self conscious and unhappy. The idea that beauty equals good and ugly equals evil can negatively impact the way a girl looks at herself or others. Girls will ultimately learn that what is beautiful is good. Snow White and Cinderella were attractive and charismatic while the witch and two stepsisters were unattractive and vile. And in the end, the princesses lived happily ever after. The...
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...Feminism in 1990s Princess Movies In the late 1980s and 1990s, with the third wave of feminism introducing women to take actions to obtain their goals, the Disney Company experienced a renaissance by returning to its most successful genre—fairytales. After the huge success of The Little Mermaid in 1989, the Walt Disney Company released another well known story, Beauty and the Beast, in 1991. With the enormous success of the film, many scholars criticized that these princess films actually promoted an anti-feminist message and were worried that the films would influence the thoughts of young girls and women. However, these films in the late 80s and 90s evolved from previous films. In fact, Linda Woolverton, the first female Disney animation writer, was the script-writer of Beauty and the Beast. The Walt Disney Company always cared about what the fans wanted and thought. By hiring a female script writer, Disney could make audience better understand feminism, especially at the time of third-wave feminism. The 1980s and 1990s movies, especially Beauty and the Beast, convey a feminist message because of the themes of inner beauty, progressive gender roles and freedom of choice. Beauty and the Beast presents the importance of personality and ambition over physical appearance. Some people argued that the message that being pretty is very important in princess movies is anti-feminist. They thought the pretty princesses suggested to young girls that women’s appearances were the most...
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...comes to mind when the subject of Walt Disney’s animated movies comes up is the studio’s popular princesses. Ever since Snow White made her debut in 1937, Disney has cornered the market on princesses. One primary topic that critics have discussed in Disney’s films is the way princesses are portrayed. The roles of the female characters are especially drawing the interest of academic critics. Jack Zipes, author of Breaking the Disney Spell, believes that the Disney princesses have regressed. On the other hand, Libe Zarranz, author of Diswomen Strike Back? The Evolution of Disney’s Femmes in the 1990s, and Rebecca Do Rozario, author of The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, The Function of the Disney Princess, believe that the Disney princess has progressed. Another aspect of Disney’s movies that catches the eyes of critics is the moral simplification in the films. They believe that the morals from the original fairy tales are being manipulated and simplified in the Disney films. A. Waller Hastings, author of Moral Simplification in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and Finn Mortensen, author of The Little Mermaid: Icon and Disneyfication, both agree that Disney’s simplification of morals is giving viewers the wrong depiction of life. Disney’s portrayal of women and simplification of morals are giving viewers the wrong impression of life and women. Many critics call the process of simplification in Disney movies, “Disneyfication.” Disneyfication is especially shown in...
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...Gender Roles in Disney Movies It is undeniable that the company that is leading to many generations in their child age is Disney. Who does not remember Mickey and Minnie Mouse?, Who has not thrown a tear when Snow White was poisoned by the evil witch?, Who did not want to ever be in the place of handsome John Smith or Pocahontas herself to revive their love story?, that tender these films, is not it, for example the Little Mermaid and Sebastian the crab song, who does not remember that song from "under the sea”? Has anybody ever wondered why the dwarves themselves did not do the housework when they came home once Snow White "moved in" with them? Or why an Indian as Pocahontas, falls for a murderer of thousands of his countrymen as was John Smith? Or why witches are always bad? Or why women are always in the background in these films (Hubka, Hovdestad & Tonmyr, 2009)? The world of Disney Princess began in 1937 when Snow White entered the world with the Seven Dwarfs (McRobbie, 2008). Since then it continued to add princesses in this world and the most recent movie was Tangled (Rapunzel) in 2011. In the past years, due to the lack of portraying ethnicity, Disney movie makers were highly criticized by their audience. Therefore, Pocahontas appeared in 1995 and after three years in 1998 came Mulan, which created a racially diverse collection of Disney princesses. After a decade The Princess and the Frog was released in 2009. It is important to understand that Disney plays an important...
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...Aladdin is one of the tales in the book One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. There are several moral lessons in the story. The main moral lesson on Aladdin is that its best to be yourself. Greatness and strength comes from within, not from without. Its not whats on the outside that' count; what is important is what's on the inside. The moral of the original Middle-Eastern tale 'Arabian Nights' is that greatness and strength comes from within, not from without. This is demonstrated by Aladdin's bravery and intelligence despite his humble upbringing. In Disney's animated musical version of the story, the writers updated this theme to a single phrase, calling Aladdin a 'diamond in the rough'. There are many differences between the movie and the original tale of Aladdin, because the filmmakers believed that the original had an inappropriate moral message. And I have to agree with this for at least two reasons. First, Aladdin never tells the princess who he really is; he becomes a prince thanks to the jinni, but he never considers telling his wife about who he was before that. The original story doesn’t even mention this. Lying and pretending to be someone else is, indeed, something that should not be promoted in a children’s movie.Then, in the original story I really couldn’t stand the princess, Badr al-Budur. She is naïve, has no personality and no opinion, she does what she is told to, and never asks questions. She is so easily tricked, that she almost gets Aladdin killed...
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...“Behind the Fair Façade” Representations of Femininity in Three Walt Disney Animated Features Bachelor Thesis Bethany Schouten, 3278972 Media en Cultuurwetenschappen Genderstudies Supervisor: Domitilla Olivieri May 31st, 2011 “Behind the Fair Façade” Representations of Femininity in Three Walt Disney Animated Features Bachelor thesis by Bethany Schouten, 3278972 Index Introduction 3 Methodological and theoretical Framework 4 Corpus 9 The Research: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 11 The Research: THE LITTLE MERMAID 18 The Research: THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG 24 Findings and Interpretation 31 Identity Formation 35 Conclusion 38 Literature 41 Media 43 Introduction The Walt Disney Company’s cultural products have been a great influence on popular culture since the 1930s and an inspiration for generations all over the world ever since. For many, including myself, the Princes, Princesses and fantastical creatures of Disney’s animated fairy tales have become symbols of their youth. Seeing the films gives rise to a feeling of nostalgia, they become a memento of one’s childhood world. But what kind of world is this? What kind of realities do Disney’s fantastical representations construct? In my thesis, I will analyze a specific element of Disney films: gender roles constructed through the representation of femininity in their animated...
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...changes were added by Disney to make a more interesting movie, or to forward a sexist agenda. A multitude of sexist messages are present in Disney movies teaching young girls that they are expected to fill a submissive role in society. The fairy tales are symbolic of women’s lives being shaped by male influences. Over time, the sexist message in Disney movies has become less apparent, but it has never disappeared; it is merely buried within a classic fairy tale that the “magic of Disney” has transformed into a sexist lesson. Naturally, these movies must not have a traumatic affect on little girls. Parents are not actually harming their daughters by allowing them to indulge their fairy tale fantasies. Not according to Jack Zipes, leading expert on fairy tales and German professor at the University of Minnesota, the movies have “a type of gender stereotyping . . . that has an adverse effect on children, in contrast to what parents think . . .. Parents think they’re essentially harmless – they are not harmless” (Giroux, “Roared” 103). Maria Tatar, Harvard folklorist, also sees harm in the movies since “[Disney] capitalizes on the worst part of fairytales” placing the focus on the material world and removing the cunning and intelligent roles that the females once played (Healy). However, these messages surly must not be intentional, and they are open to interpretation, right? Not according to Mary Beech, director of franchise management for Disney Consumer Products, who...
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...Through media in the form of motion pictures, we are exposed at an early age, to idealized, gender-appropriate images that are eventually embedded in our minds. Even child-oriented Disney films such as Mulan and Beauty and the Beast display similar projections of the ideal male and female. The ideal male in such films is handsome, physically fit, and charismatic to attract the female protagonist while the ideal female is beautiful and captivating enough to attract the male protagonist’s attention. Such glorified projections are subtlety made but easily manipulative to prescribe to all the way to fit the role of an ideal male or female. Over the years, the media has been slowly evolving but it has become more pervasive and changed the way people perceive about their image. Many times the influence comes from what we see in innocent films but we do not recognize what the meaning is behind them. For instance, in Disney movies, the male characters come off as if they are more knowledgeable and capable of doing more than a female character can. Mia Adessa Towbin claims that men primarily use physical means to express their emotions or show no emotions, and that men are not in control of their sexuality. Men are naturally strong and heroic, men have non-domestic jobs, and overweight men have negative characteristics (Towbin 29). Disney films depict a lot of these male characteristics in characters such as Li Shang from the movie, Mulan and Beast from the movie, Beauty and the...
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...Disney characters : the reflect of women's place in the society Walt Disney, under his real name Walt Elias Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago. He founded in 1923 the famous Walt Disney Company with his brother Roy as the Disney Brothers Studios. After three years, the studios take the name Walt Disney Company. Their first animated film came out in 1937 "Snow White" inspired by a famous children's story by the Brothers Grimm. Thereafter follow many animated films like Cinderella, Mulan, or Rebel. One of the most important question in recent years is : What image Disney returns with respect to the role of women and the role that women play in society in the twenty-first century? In fact, Disney is primarily a media and integrate media stereotypes and habits of society to which they belong in their history or animated movie. Disney is the reflects of the habit of society to which they belong in their history or their short films. Thus heroines like Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora are submitted to wish than others, especially men, have chosen for her. They are docile women who spend their time dreaming. They are always save by men from a evil spell and are submit to the will of men. Instead, the heroines of the late twentieth century are beginning to take their lives and rebel against the male authority . In the twenty-first century heroines are increasingly rebelling and advocate of feminist principles : women are the equals of men. This analysis allows us to see a marked increase...
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...lots of legendary duds were original ideas. Here’s the thing though, no matter how many perfectly good movies we’re getting out of Hollywood’s current obsession with adaptations, sequels, and reboots, too much of it is bad for the soul of a movie culture. New things, new experiences,...
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...Everyone, I am sure, is familiar with gender bias. This is aimed at males and females alike. The women, in prehistoric time, were gathers while the men were hunters. In the middle ages, men were more likely to become knights than women. In more recent history, women are considered housewives and mothers while the men are considered the bread winners and career men. The women were often excited to see their husbands return after his day at a 9-5 job. The wife must make supper for the family, protect the children, instill them with values, sing good night to the baby, tuck the children in, vacuum the floors, chauffeur the children to school, wash the dog, clean the clothes, wash the floors, buy the groceries, clean the kitty litter, pack the kids lunches, and take the family to church on Sundays. This was the image of the '50s, but a very deprecating and biased image of women. The husband, on the other hand, apparently doesn't have time for this. His main priority is his job and nothing more, except continuing the traditional family name through procreation. The wife, on the other hand, is expected to obey her husband’s exact words and not disobey. She couldn't speak out, and the "be seen not heard" policy was evident. If he spoke to her, she had to say, "Yes, insert husband's name." Otherwise, if she refused to follow through, he had the right to beat or divorce or cheat on her, etc. because he's the man of the household. The wife is also expected...
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...* The word Gender, as a grammatical term has been around since the 14th century, according to Oxford dictionary as “referring to classes of noun designated as masculine, feminine, or neuter.” Gender is more commonly used now in the 21st century to describe a person’s identity. Sex is another word that is commonly used when describing gender, it is ‘the state of being male or female’. Sex is the biological difference, where as gender is to cultural or social differences. Sex could also be defined as evolution, our genetics. Where as gender, which is our nurture, our life experiences, which help us shape who we are as an individual. Sociologists argue that the relationship between sex and gender is absolutely arbitrary – there is no causative connection between sex and gender – sex doesn’t determine the type of roles you can engage in society. We announce our identities by the way that we dress, walk, talk, act etc. We convince other people that we’re the gendered person that we’re presenting ourselves to be, a product of interactions. With ones sex being defined as male or female, there are bodies that can’t be categorized under these two sexes. Hermaphrodites, now more commonly known as intersex, are becoming a commonly known and used term in society with 17 in every 1000 babies having some kind of intersex condition. Gender is only one of the fundamental principles in organisation of social life, in particular in structural organisations of; childhood, sports, media and employment...
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...Disney and the American Princess: The Americanization of European Fairy Tales [pic] Marina Alexandrova Student number 3021874 MA Thesis, American Studies Program Utrecht University Course code 200401064 23943 words 12 August 2009 Contents Title page………………………………………………………………1 Contents……………………………………………………………….2 Introduction……………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1: European Fairy Tales and Values about Gender and Class………………………………………10 Chapter 2: Disney Animation and American Culture…………………24 Chapter 3: Disney Animation and (Gender) Commodification…………………………………………..55 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...73 Bibliography…………………………………………………………78 Introduction Among the various aspects which define contemporary life, popular culture – and in particular, American popular culture – is undoubtedly one of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting. Throughout the twentieth century, people around the world have enjoyed film, music, animation, and written works by various authors and artists. One of the most famous and significant American entertainers of the lot has been Walt Disney, introducing millions of children and adults to his world of limitless (or so is widely believed) imagination and magic, from the earliest short cartoons produced in the 1920s, to full-length feature animations such as Snow White and the Seven...
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