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Examples Of Hegemonic Femininity In The Little Mermaid

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The Little Mermaid: Hegemonic Femininity The transition from a girl to a woman is created by the socially constructed ideals of femininity often depicted in commercials, books, and mainly films. One of the famous animated princess Disney films, The Little Mermaid can be easily added to yet another Disney film portraying hegemonic femininity. In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, (Ron Clements, John Musker) a beautiful, young mermaid is willing to make a risky deal with an evil sea-witch because she yearns to walk on land and fall in love with a Prince, while secretly the sea-witch wishes for the mermaid to lose the deal. Ultimately, mermaid ends up achieving her dream of marrying the Prince, although the evil sea-witch tries to destroy the plan. Throughout the fantasy/ melodrama film, the main protagonist Ariel reinscribes the hegemonic codes of femininity. Hegemonic femininity explicitly promotes the roles and physical attributes that women have to take in …show more content…

Provided that, this film caters to the ideal western image of beauty. Ariel along with her sisters are presented having very slim hourglass figures. These characters conform to the ideologies of beauty also by having doe-eyes, a button nose, big smiles, symmetrical faces and luscious long, voluminous hair. All essential features that can be described as “beautiful” by society’s gender norms. Ariel’s sisters are also portrayed in the beginning of the film as high maintenance gals, since they are applying makeup to always look appealing. Femininity includes the code of beauty and sexuality, which is well reinscribed in The Little Mermaid. Therefore, the flawless body images represented in the film are telling girls how they should look in order to be considered beautiful and therefore loved. The Little Mermaid reinforces the hegemonic code of femininity by making all the princesses look physically

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Gill disagrees “About 20% of the reviews studied focus solely on the heroines’ appearances rather than their personalities and do so in a way that is more demeaning than complimentary” (Gill 763). The author also emphasizes how Disney movies like to show that the women always end up needing a prince to “save them” and depend on. The article also goes in to detail on how movies stereotype each princess to look perfect, portray innocence and have the same main goal; finding their prince charming. (Gill) states, “By subtly influencing society’s view of Disney princess in a way that implies they are stereotypically feminine, these media weaken the perception of the princesses’ strengths and focus instead on traits such as beauty and domesticity” (Gill

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Many people believe Disney princesses can alter a child’s perspective about his or her self. The way princesses act and what they wear both affect children’s state of mind. The essay “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” by Monika Bartyzel claims that the image of Disney princesses changes the way both children and society feel about women.

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Women are expressing themselves more than just beauty. She strongly advises that our generation needs to improve feminine and gender based problems being faced in today’s society. The article begins with Orenstein telling her own experiences with false feminine beliefs. Everywhere they went, Orenstein’s three year old daughter was acknowledged with the same princess labels.

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However, the later Disney films have gradually attempted to break away from this stereotype resulting in stronger female characters like Ariel, Mulan, and Elsa among others. Keeping this transition in mind, this paper uses semiotic analysis of four popular Disney films, namely, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Mulan (1998) to depict the influence of societies ' changing perceptions of women on the portrayal of Disney princesses. These films taking into account the earliest film and certain popular characters that have represented a shift from being the coy damsel in distress to a woman who plays an active role in determining her own destiny. The portrayal of the Disney princess has changed in accordance with the development of women in society over time (1937 to 2013) from demure and traditional to

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The topic of self confidence is a subject that is heavily discussed when it comes to girls of all ages. Journalist, Stephanie Hanes, examines the current trend of sexualization amongst young girls. In the article “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Effect”, Hanes examines the current trend of sexualization amongst girls. She addresses the issue of desiring to become a women too soon. Hanes develops her article by using the literary techniques of pathos and logos to describe the emotions young girls feel when they see images of women with unattainable features.

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The central idea of Symbolic interactionism is symbols are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another (page 13). In The Little Mermaid, the human artifacts that Ariel collects are symbols of how she views their world. Scuttle is symbol of how she communicates with the world above her. The Disney movie also helps children establish an explanation about relationships. This guides kids to discover how society defines relationships.

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The characters in The Little Mermaid are stragetically designed in a way that conveniently adheres to stereotypical ideas of how males and females should behave, value, and appear according to their gender roles in a patriarchal society that demeans women. In order to do this, the main male characters, including King Triton and Prince Eric, must depict hypermasculinity to dramatically contrast from the creation of their fragile and inferior female counterparts. This is to also exhibit the men’s hypothetical ownership over these women, and using their displayed incompetence as justification of their assumed possession of Ariel. Ariel, the central female character, is depicted as beautiful, because she meets stereotypical standards of beauty

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She is aiming for a group that can effect change. An alternative argument is that princesses who exhibit more masculine characteristics aren't as idolized as those who exhibit more traditional characteristics. Instead of the brave traits of their male partners, this gives women the impression that they are more self-assured in stereotypical female traits. These movies may suggest that women in society are better off than how men and the media have portrayed them because the characters are weakened by their physical traits. According to Gill, “Almost 20 percent of the audits considered center exclusively on the heroine’s appearance instead of their identities and do so in a way that’s more disparaging than complimentary.

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The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).

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While many young girls love the princesses and look up to them, others view these characters as negative role models. Disney Princesses have always appeared in movies as young women who dress in elegant gowns, have sexy bodies and perfect hair. They are always paired with a prince who lives in a castle, meaning that he has a lot of money. This description of what the Disney Princess is like; give us a big concern in the influence this image is giving to the little girls. Unfortunately, what girls learn as children carries on into adulthood.

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Before she is able to meet with the Matchmaker, she must dress up and apply makeup on herself to make herself look beautiful and strong-willed. Critic, Nandini Maity, states in her article, Damsels in Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films, that Disney uses the princesses or heroines in each princess movie to demonstrate how women should act, dignified and beautiful. By doing so, it portrays how Disney has a set purpose to make society understand that women should always act this way in society, that they should be helped out by men. While Mulan is being washed and dressed, the women helping her “sing to Mulan a song called Honour us all, a song that imposes the traditional roles onto Mulan. They say that women should have tiny waists, be calm, and obedient.

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Numerous schools of criticisms have attempted to find the meaning behind most of our favorite childhood stories. From Marxist who pursue the idea of social classes portrayed in literary works, to Psychoanalysts who depict the sexual tensions and desires that are subconsciously embedded behind characters’ motives and actions, to Historicists who try to show the preservation of tradition in stories, many different concepts exist for each fairy tale. The Feminist school of criticism greatly focuses on unveiling the patriarchal system and sexist roles that are displayed in stories, and more specifically, fairytales. Four versions of the well-known fairytale of The Little Mermaid will be compared and discussed while focusing on many distinctive

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It refers to what society think is appropriate for men and woman. In many fairytales, the female character is seen as beautiful kind and compassionate. She is one who obeys her father and seeks true love from a handsome prince and live happily ever after. As scholar Kay Stone notes “heroines are not allowed any defects, nor are they required to develop, since they are already perfect.” At the end the female considered the heroine is in love and happy with the prince.

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