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
Rhetorical Analysis Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and many other Disney movies all have one thing in common, they feature a female lead who need a male figure to save them. However, things started to change after the release of Mulan 1988. It changed from only having those female leads who always needed to rely on someone, to females who were able to show off their more masculine side. In the article “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Pixar/Disney,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden explored the idea that Pixar movies were starting to show male characters who weren 't afraid to show their emotions and feminine attributes, to promote the “New Man” model.
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
It treats women poorly to cause them to comply with gender expectations. Not only do women have to face pressures of conformity in real life, but they also face intimidation in fairytales. Grimm’s Snow White and Cinderella perpetuate society’s notion that a woman is the inferior being whose value lies not only in her beauty but also in her abilities to perform domestic work and satisfy men. Grimm uses the characters of Cinderella and Snow White to perpetuate the idea that women should lead quietly domestic lives. In Cinderella, Cinderella spent most of her time in a kitchen.
She is targeting an audience that has the power to create change. A possible opposing view is that the princesses with more masculine traits are less looked up to compared to the more traditional ones. She talks about how princesses in movies receive unfair criticism and why they ought to receive better praise. The essay keeps up with the author's assertions that society needs to change how women are treated in the media and in everyday life. The audience can influence how things are perceived by paying closer attention to the untrue statements, which will prevent the issue from becoming too big to
Disney Company is notoriously known for making revolutionary cartoon movies that always gets the kid’s attention and win their hearts. The vast majority of their movie are targeting kids, kids under the age of 15, who are unbeknownst to the hidden messages about the movie(s) they’re watching. For example, The Disney film Sleeping Beauty, the main character Aurora was cursed to be sleeping forever by an evil witch. And Prince Phillip is bound to kiss her for a “true love’s kiss” and wakes up. It is pretty evident at the ending that the prince kissed Aurora without consent and she had no idea that it was going to happen for she was asleep.
People of all ages throughout the years are very familiar with the concept of Disney movies. Some notable classics of Disney are “Beauty and the Beast” which was released in 1991 and “The Little Mermaid” which was released in 1989. Among the children, the Disney princesses left a good impression on them like Cinderella from “Cinderella”, Pocahontas from “Pocahontas”, and Mulan from “Mulan”. However, many believe that Disney movies serve as a good influence to young audiences but people should know that Disney also has its flaws. Disney have showed negative portrayals of Disney princesses in their films especially when it comes to their usual unattainable beauty ideal and portraying their princesses as inferior to men.
The movie “The Princess and the Frog” is not your typical “boy saves girl” movie. Instead, this Disney movie presents us with a strong female lead who doesn’t need a man to achieve her goals. In many previous Disney movies, it is demonstrated that a girl needs a man in order to get her happily ever after. Without a prince, she is nothing. In “The Princess and the Frog” the gender roles are presented to us as equal, even reverse at times.
Walt Disney has been making girls think that in order to be beautiful you have to be the perfect shape and size. (Shortridge). Some people believe that the Disney Princesses are great role models for children because Mulan teaches us to never give up on the strengths we have just because we are girls, Belle teaches us to never judge a book by its cover, and Pocahontas shows us real princesses are strong leaders. On the other hand, some individuals feel that Disney Princesses are bad role models because of their unrealistic body appearance, telling girls every marriage ends with a happily ever after when you get married at a young age, and saying every girl needs a man in order to be happy. Both sides have valid points but in reality everyone
Therefore, Princess movies have a habit of displaying sexism that affects our thinking on how women are stereotypically perceived. This sends the wrong message to young girls who look up
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).
Cinderella and Shrek both display gender expectations through fairy tale conventions, but in different contexts. The traditional version of Cinderella was written by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s, whereas Shrek, a film by DreamWorks, was released in 2001. Cultural and social values from both time periods are used in both films, through several techniques and conventions. Cinderella uses various fairy tale conventions, mainly relating to Cinderella and her home life. These include a conventional 19th century house maiden who has suffered, a handsome prince and a wicked stepmother.
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.
Similarly, Disney’s Cinderella presents a cruel and ambitious stepmother who attempts to arrange marriages for her ugly, foolish, and somewhat comical daughters. In the film, we see their miserable attempt to sing opera, (supposedly in order to appear more feminine) as the mother proudly oversees. In one of the last scenes, she desperately urges them to make the glass slipper fit, and while she doesn’t downright tell them to cut off their toes or heels as in the original (Grimm 119), the comic scene in itself seems to have a subtle layer of tragedy. While these examples prove that female ugliness in fairy tales and their adaptations corresponds to wickedness, and the latter is equivalent to ill-temper, the question of female independence still
