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Disney and gender stereotypes now and before
Sexism in Disney movies Essay
Disney and gender stereotypes now and before
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The audience, consisting of children's movie enthusiasts, are persuaded by Stefan Babich to accept the fact that females lack importance in family-friendly films. Stefan Babich, throughout his article, “The Fall of the Female Protagonist in Kids’ Movies”, recognizes and proves through strong supporting evidence combined with pathos and logos, that women do receive less recognition and positivity than their male counterparts. Purposefully, the article criticizes the motives of companies and producers, which reinforce negative representations of women. In Culture: A Reader for Writers, the article, “The Fall of the Female Protagonist in Kids’ Movies”, written by Stefan Babich, argues female protagonists in children’s movies faced a tragic
In contrast to the twentieth century we still see some of this in our current day and ages. Contrasting portrayals of men and women in films leave us with the fact that we haven’t changed. Men and women are sought to have different gender roles within
Many of the largest children's films have been written, produced, and released by Disney for good reason. They have been able to define what childhood entertainment has been for generation after generation. Many people have been so captivated by these films that they chose to introduce their children to the films that have defined their childhoods and a vast majority of those films present masculinity as the savior and hero of the story, but recently Disney, and its subsidiary Pixar, have shifted how they present masculinity and its effects. In Post-Princess Models of Gender, Ken Gillam and Shannon Wooden lay out their interpretation of Disney’s shift in the presentation of masculinity.
I remembered when I was young, there were plenty of movie that has girls play dolls and boys play football. These movies were popular among children that day until now, girls were meant to be soft and boys were meant to be powerful and strong. Then one day, I’ve watched a movie that has a girl play in the football team and I were surprised because it’s the first time that I’ve seen a movie that shows girl can be both femininity and masculinity. This movie has a huge impact on young children behaviour and has influenced children in constructing gender roles in the society. ‘Little Giants’ has shown the characteristic of the main character to be abnormal and changing the gender stereotypes in young audiences’ perspective.
Gender role changes in The Lego Movie, start with the main character Emmet, played by Chris Pratt, starts out as a beta male. Just an average guy who conforms to all norms and goes along with all the other people without thinking twice. This is proven when he’s reading a book on how to be “normal” and how to fit in. He’s not trying to be his own person but just trying to be like everyone else and to conform to norms. Towards the end of the movie Emmet begins to lead and take charge of the group and becomes more of an alpha male.
Jess embodies all of the innate negatives of hegemonic masculinity, “characteristics that depict men as unemotional, independent, non nurturing, aggressive, and dispassionate. Which are seen as the causes of criminal behavior” (Connell 840). The audience learns that Jess has had a rough childhood due to a flighty and ditzy mother who jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend and an absent father. This glimpse into Jess’s trauma filled childhood sets the stage for the “not his fault” narrative when he becomes the love interest for Rory. Susan Jeffords, in The Curse of Masculinity, discusses this trope although she is specifically talking about Disney’s Beauty and the Beast it is easy to make parallels.
Throughout history the portrayal of gender roles have been maintained by a specific standard, specifically where the man is the main figure, and the woman is the submissive figure that is being acted upon. However, lately, specifically the last ten or so years, many movies have shifted this ideology. These movies in modern times show increasingly more women in positions of power, as well as in marriages where there is an equal amount of power between both the husband and wife. There are also more movies showcasing non-traditional relationships, such as, domestic partnerships and LGBTQ+ relationships. One movie in particular that showcases a shift in the status quo, in terms of the masculinity and femininity expected from individuals especially that of a relationships, is Tyler Perry’s
The ability to understand male role models allows for a more intelligent understanding as to why boys act the way they do, and why our conceived notion on what being a boy changes. While examining the movie Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, and the entry “Boyhood” by Eric Tribunella, manhood is defined by “the ability to dominate, care for, or exercise power over others”, while “to be a boy means to be flawed, inchoate, or incomplete” (Tribunella). The movie and the entry both enlighten audiences with examples of boyhood and how it changes and shifts from each person. Linklater’s
Animated films are products of frame by frame photograph of individual drawings, painting, or illustrations and Disney is one of the companies known to produce a number of top grossing animated films. It has been entertaining families and has become a household name. However, this multi billion company whose movies are known by children worldwide is claimed to have been distorting the young impressionable minds as they continue to produce princesses movies which reinforce negative stereotypes of women and men (Ewert). In response to these setbacks committed as critiqued by feminists, Disney has been making modifications to women’s representation starting with Mulan in 1990s down to the contemporary ones.
Orenstein writes “princesses avoid female bonding. Their goals are to be saved by a prince, get married, and be taken care of for the rest of their lives. Their values derive largely from their appearance. They are rabid materialists” (pg 23 pp 3). Orenstein describes that these portrayal of femininity and masculinity is influencing girls and boys gender identity.
The Change of Sexism in Disney Movies Disney has created many incredibly beautiful films over the years from Snow White in 1937 to The Little Mermaid in 1989 to Mulan 1998 all the way to Frozen in 2013. All these wonderfully made movies that have given many girls of all age’s dreams, aspirations and determination. But there was always something twisted in the Disney movies made back then compared to now. The main character women were portrayed as a weak, damsels in distress, always needed saving and were never were heroes.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid’s Portrayal of the Implications Gender Roles Play in Encouraging Hypermasculine Males to Sexually Objectify Their Female Counterparts Disney’s The Little Mermaid may by a failed and narrow-minded attempt to perpetuate female empowerment through a G rated film targeted at a younger audience. The film instead resultantly preserves Disney’s infamous views of traditionalism by subjecting women to submissive roles and sexual objectification by the other male characters. This sexism is directly presented through the film’s music, the appearance of the characters, and most prominently, in the behaviors and imagery utilized.
Amanda Putnam’s essay, “Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films”, is a compelling piece on gender portrayal and views in Disney films. Putnam opened the essay with a personal anecdote about her daughter. Her daughter wanted a Disney movie without a “mean lady”, as in most Disney films the villains are scary, evil women. The real life evidence strengthened her claim that children are noticing the characterization of female villains in Disney films. The antidote was brought fill circle when she referred back to her daughter in the final paragraphs of her essay.
Good morning everyone, Take a second and think about all the movies you watch and have watched, the cartoons, the Disney movies and the comedies on TV. Remember when you sang along with those Disney characters that you were so fond of, the very funny moments you watched of an overweight actor fall over because of their size, think about all those cartoons you watched when the girl with the glasses was considered the smart one and the girl with the pink outfit was the appealing one. Music, movies, tv shows, magazines, and advertisements promote gender stereotypes to children where in today 's world children are more involved with the internet, therefore, more affected by media. The images and stories, kids see in the media, play a significant role in framing their sense of what 's "acceptable" in society. How many of you watched at least 2 disney movies in your life?
So far and so, even personas in the cartoons children watch are so definitive. The distinction created between the types of cartoons boys are “supposed” to watch and girls are supposed to is so great that men who want to watch cartoons like Barbie have to do it in secrecy. As goes for expression, they have to do everything that deviates from the norm in secrecy. Whether it is liking a boy band or closet homosexuality, the emotions and actions the culture of masculinity restricts is far too great. It’s too austere.
