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. These specifically served muses normalize a theme that demeans women’s bodies and, ultimately their