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Gender Stereotypes In Mulan And Cinderella

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Almost all kids grow up watching innocent little fairytales by the production company Walt Disney. But what is Disney really conveying about women in these movies? "Collectively, the critics—many of them feminists—believed that [Disney] films set up false expectations of womanhood, as each female protagonist takes little action and relies upon her own beauty … in pursuing her primary objective of finding and marrying her ‘Prince Charming.’" For many years Disney has highlighted the oppressive ideology of gender roles and sexism through movies like Mulan and Cinderella.
The fairytale Cinderella is filled with the with sexist innuendos that highlight gender stereotypes. The movie may seem like an innocent story about about a helpless girl who meets a prince and falls in love. However, the movie has many stereotypes embedded into it. For example Cinderella is a servant to her own family who falls in love with her prince charming at first sight. Her life improves the minute she meets him sending across the message that women need to be rescued by men. The last words that are seen in the Disney fairytale are, “and they lived happily ever after.” Cinderella goes from a miserable life to a picture perfect life just by …show more content…

Disney’s two movies Mulan and Cinderella have a couple gender stereotypes in common. For example both movies hint that all women want is to have strong man who can make their lives better. In Cinderella it was more obvious, with Cinderella being whisked away by prince charming. In Mulan it is more discreet, as sexist remarks are embedded into song lyrics. In the song “Honor to us All,” an older woman, who seems to be a hairdresser talks about how men want girls who are “Obedient / who work fast / … And [a girl with] a tiny waist.” This is sexist because it implies that women are meant to stay at home, obey their husband, and look

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