Comparing Mulan And Snow White

Introduction: Throughout history the beliefs that are thought to be normal, the distinct ways of living, are prominently changing. American families were thought to have one popular form the nuclear. The nuclear family represented a mid-class, white family, where the heterosexual parents are married and have children. In this type of family, the father was the breadwinner meaning he works outside of the household to earn money to support this family. The mother was the homemaker; she would stay at home to take care of the children and the household. Families are important for the major functions of child rearing, caring for the elderly, and providing comfort and emotional support. However, families are changing within themselves. We started

Snow White acts the mother in the film. She does domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the seven dwarfs. While completing the tasks, she hums, sings, and smiles. Although, we do not see the typical nuclear family being portrayed. We do still see some of the concepts. For example, while Snow White does the housework, the dwarfs work outside of the household to provide money. But, the feelings she has for the dwarfs are like of mother caring for her children. In the movie Mulan, the household is composed of her, her father, her mother, and her grandmother. In Pocahontas, Pocahontas was raised only by her father, there was no mother figure in her life. Tarzan presents an orphan that was cared for by gorillas when his parents dead when he was just an infant. The Lion King we get a sense of a patriarchal family and leadership. All the leaders were males: Mufasa, Scar, and

Gender roles are perceived as a set of behavioral norms associated with males and females in a society. Every society has different gender role. The behavior of individuals is socially enforced by norms within a society. Gender roles are conditioned by household structure and other factors such as access to resources. Movies like Mulan and Pocahontas convey a female heroine that many children will look up to as role models. The female leads in those movies are admired for their strong will, compassion, and determination skills. Both Mulan and Pocahontas, do not conform with traditional fairytale stories, the damsel-in-distress theme. The female leads were the heroines. For example, Mulan fought off an army of the Huns to save her country. In Mulan, women were not sent to the battle field because they had to tend to the household and their children. As well as, women were not strong enough to defend the country. Pocahontas was free-spirted and has more courage than most men. We see Pocahontas impeccable courage; she throws herself over Smith’s body to keep her father from murdering him. The men and women in Pocahontas work side-by-side. However, the women do not go into combat, they must stay at the village and care for the children. Snow White represents the how almighty a male character is. For example, when the prince kisses Snow White and she comes back to life, this shows how superior a male character is. Snow