Importance of Princess Figures Isabelle Gill published an article title, “Representation of Disney Princesses in Media.” The main idea in this text it that there is a bias representation of women in many forms in the media. The article refers to how in movies and media women are shown as beautiful and how domesticated they are. This limits women to only being valued for their physical appearance and the contributions they make in the home.
In the article “The Trouble With Disney’s Teeny, Tiny Princesses” by Philip Cohen examines the reason why Disney princesses are so tiny compared to their male counterparts, and what impression it put on the general population who watch many disney movies. Disney has been known to show stereotypical women and men. The damsel in distress, and her knight in shining armor. Some people have called them out on this and they responded with some female empowerment movies. Like Frozen and Brave that do not focus on romance.
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.
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.
This response aims to reflect upon my personal engagement with Disney princesses, compare childhood perceptions with the study's findings, and explore the potential gendered messages conveyed by these characters. As a child, I was undoubtedly captivated by the enchanting world of Disney Princess movies. These films had a significant impact on shaping my perception of gender roles, and the study's findings resonate strongly with my childhood experiences. The portrayal of female
In the New York Times article “Cinderella and Princess Culture,” Peggy Orenstein investigates princess culture in today’s society. Orenstein is a successful writer for the New York Times and has published a best-selling memoir. In her investigation into the growing phenomenon of princess culture, Orenstein discovered that large companies, such as Disney, turn a substantial profit by selling costumes, dolls, and various princess themed must-haves. She argues that the princess hysteria sweeping the nation is not teaching kids life lessons, but rather further stereotyping little girls. Orenstein is a feminist herself as well as a mother.
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
Moreover, there was a study done in 2014 at Kennesaw State University, which focused on how Disney Princess films alters the mindset of young girls, and affects the way they behave when they grow up. The study compared how first generation princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora) acted versus how second generation princesses (Ariel, Belle, Aladdin, and Merida) acted. When comparing the generations, it was concluded that the producers of Disney have changed how they portrayed females. In an example, Rapunzel from Tangled and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog both had dreams and life goals unrelated to love. Second generation princesses had different dreams from first generation princesses, whose dreams were based on finding true love
The Walt Disney company is widely known for their movies starring princesses who find themselves in a dilemma and are eventually saved by a prince. They also now own Marvel and Lucasfilms which expands the media that they control. This content is beloved by much of society. However much of Disney content, that is targeted toward children, is inappropriate for younger audiences. Andrew R. Todd an assistant professor with a Ph.D in Social Psychology says “Pervasive cultural stereotypes link Black Americans with violence and criminality”(Simpson, Todd, et al.).
The newer Disney princess films break the stereotypes and gender roles, offering an insight into re-imagining childhood and childhood innocence. In contemporary society, there is enormous pressure to conform to a certain ideal of beauty and children, especially girls, has a huge impact on their life. For example, in both the films ‘The Little Mermaid and The Loin King female characters are constructed within narrowly defined gender roles’ (Giroux, 2002: 104). However, in today’s society, Disney princess movies have become increasingly more progressive, such as the more recent film Frozen. Opposing to classic Disney princess films, Frozen’s characters conflict the normative typical stereotypes portrayed in the movies.
It’s the warm summer night of a fairy tale. Cinderella had just been beautified by her fairy godmother and sent off to the ball, only to run home in rags. She will need her prince to save her from the ruins of her step-mother’s house, and he does, pursuing the lovely maiden he met that night and riding off into the sunset with her. Meanwhile, a deep sea beauty by the name of Ariel chooses to give up the life she’s always known to be with her prince. In another Disney classic, Snow White must be kissed by her knight in shining armor to regain her consciousness.
She argues how with misogyny of Disney is the misandry that accompanies it. Using the princes in classic fairy tale films, DuGar exposed
In addition, sexuality is major picture that Disney movies promote. Women sexual bodies with big breasts, tiny waists, long eyelashes, and sexy expressions are all images of all the women in Disney. To prove this, Hercules, Aladdin and pocahontas are Disney movies that sexualize the women bodies. They teach kids, especially girls that if you want something, use your body to get what you want. Unfortunately, this is a very wrong image that Disney is teaching the
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).
As young girls, we weren’t aware of the effect Disney princesses had on our self-image, view on love and our stance in society. When we were younger, our models-to-be were always Disney princesses. To us, they represented physical beauty and what someday we hoped to look like.
