‘The image of an ideal woman’: Gender stereotypical portrayal of Disney princess movie Kyoko Tsuji University of Tokyo Abstract Gender stereotypical portrayal in Disney princess movies is often researched in several papers. However, there is only a few papers regarding Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The story of this film is that Snow White, a pretty princess, is sheltered by the seven dwarfs from her nasty stepmother. Though The princess dies of a poison in an apple given by a witch who is actually the queen, she is helped by the prince and they get married. By using pragmatic analysis and membership categorization analysis, this paper will examine carefully the data in this film and find gender stereotype …show more content…
The original work is Schneewittchen written by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. The story is as follows. A nasty queen gets envious of her stepdaughter, Snow White, because the princess is so beautiful. Although the queen orders her subordinate to kill Snow White, her attempt meets with failure. Snow White starts to live with the seven dwarfs in order to take refuge from the queen and they live happily. However, Snow White eats a poisoned apple carelessly given by a witch who is actually the queen, and she dies of the poison. Finally, the prince’s kiss revives her and he and she live together in his castle …show more content…
Pragmatic analysis focuses on “speech act” and examine what speakers mean by uttering words. Membership categorization analysis (MCA) focuses on categories speakers use unconsciously in their speech. For example, family category is composed by mother and her child. This paper will use these methods in order to show gender stereotype in 1930s. Data Analysis The four scenes in the film are picked up here. In each scene, how Snow White is portrayed (how her speech and attitude is described) shows obviously the features of an ‘ideal’ woman in 1930s. (1) 01 Snow White: Please don’t run away. I won’t hurt you. 02 I’m awfully sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. ... 03 I’m so ashamed of the fuss I made. ... 04 Maybe you know where I can stay. In the woods somewhere? 05 You do? Will you take me