The article “Little Girls or Little Women; The Disney Princess Effect” was written by Stephanie Hanes for the Christian Science Monitor on October 3, 2011. Hanes felt the need to address this subject due to the increase of Disney Princesses in children’s media, toys and on clothes, as well as the growing sexualization in young girls. She argues whether or not media and the Disney Princess Empire has a negative effect on the increasing sexualization in young girls.
This article can be divided into seven sections. In the introduction, the author presents Mary Finucane, a mother who is trying to break the influence of Disney Princesses in her home due to her three-year-old daughter’s increasing interest in them. When Finucane mentioned her problem
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In the fifth section, Hanes analyzes marketing techniques in media. The author explains marketers use sexual images to gain attention of young girls and violence to catch the attention of young boys. Hanes further explains how children are growing up to fast by providing evidence of the increasing numbers of eight year olds wearing mascara and the undergarments that were once made only for adults being made for children as young as five. The author then discusses how the color pink is associated for only girls and the color blue for only boys. Hanes proposes that parents increase their children’s options as far as roles for genders. In the sixth section, the author discusses Mary Finucane’s (now five-years-old) daughter’s end of her Disney Princess “phase”. Hanes states that child now likes James and the Giant Peach and the Wizard of Oz. The author then goes on to explain that parental involvement is key to changing what children see in the media and that there are organizations that fight for regulations to be put into place for ads for children, such as truechild.org. Hanes further discuss the organizations that raise awareness of sexualization and stereotypes in media …show more content…
One reason is the gender roles put into place by Disney and their Princesses. In the article Power to the Princess: Disney and the Creation of the 20th Century Princess Narrative, written by Bridget Whelan for Interdisciplinary Humanities in April of 2012, Whelan argues that although the Disney Princess Empire has changed the way their Princesses are portrayed, from stereotypical female gender roles and male dependence to modern movies where the Princess doesn’t just find love but carries out her dreams and ambitions to keep up with the changing feminist eras. The author explains how the first wave of Princesses taught little girls to rely heavily on a male to save them and make them into a princess and stick to their gender roles. Disney did however make a change with two princesses but ideas were not as well liked compared to their predecessors, based on the movies not meeting the projected domestic gross income which then creates a two steps forward, four steps back scenario. Another reason, I agree with Hanes’ thesis is self-esteem caused by the media. Whenever I go on social media or I see an ad in a magazine featuring a woman with the perfect hair, skin and body; my self-esteem instantly become low because I can always find a girl like them but I can never find a girl like me. Today, the hourglass figure is in but it’s not like
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the audience simply what they want to see. In the attempt to stick to the norm and portray stereotypical female characters, Disney created Princesses. Presented as damsels in distress and inferior beings to men, Disney Princesses give children an inaccurate portrayal of gender roles at a young age. Through Disney’s social success and intriguing films, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney Princess movies portray stereotypical representation of gender roles through the denigration of the female image, targeting and ruining the perception of youth today.
Finucane’s daughter had seemingly been robbed of her creative imagination after trying to live up to the expectations of a Disney princess. Her daughter “seemed less imaginative, less spunky, and less interested in the world” (Hanes 1) after being introduced to the Disney princess line, willing herself to be just like the princesses. Young children know no better and are very susceptible to the world around them, and are very likely to imitate what they are shown or what intrigues them. Hanes was outraged at how Disney had stripped the child of believing in other imaginative creatures and activities, and was stuck on behaving as a princess. Hanes provides research in the article that supports that Finucane’s daughter is not the only one to catch the Disney princess symptoms. There is a whole book about this “diseases” as well as much research conducted on educators that seemingly all agrees that “[teachers] are unable to control the growing onslaught of social messages shaping their…students” (Hanes 1). Through her research Hanes discovered that the Disney Princess empire is a $4 billion dollar industry that leads to “self-objectification, cyber bullying, and unhealthy body image…” (1) causing problems for young girls. These “ideals” will stay with them throughout the remainder of their life, based on decisions that were made for them, to introduce such “ideals” into their minds. Hanes’ readers are most likely to be parents or adults who will likely become parents in the near future, and this article is a great introduction to the long road of making decisions that will impact the way their children think
Orenstein explores the rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and the differences that are in today’s society. The rise and fast spreading message that girls receive from the Disney Princesses is one of her biggest issues. Not only does she disagree, but other mothers from Daisy’s preschool do as well. In the second chapter Orenstein invites all the mothers with daughters that are obsessed with Princesses to discuss the subject, one mother states that she sees no problem with encouraging being feminine and then states, “On the other hand, I a...
In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?
Your sparkling eyes gazed at the television, reading the word “Cinderella” by Disney. You had all your Cinderella toys lined up, ready to grab whenever necessary. Your Cinderella pajamas on, and your tea set is all prepared.Your mom adored your love for princesses. Didn’t we all love to sing along to the Disney movies about princesses and true love? Peggy Orenstein sure didn’t. Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter has a sharp opinion about how a “pretty and pink” culture is influencing girls in a negative way. The author proves this argument by discussing gender colorization, dolls, and princesses.
They also live happily ever-after together, just like every other Disney prince and princess in every other Disney movie. Parents should be aware of the subliminal messages that their children view in the Disney movies they are watching, and grow up to believe that is how life goes. The children that are growing up watching Disney movies with such strong gender stereotypes are learning things they may factor into their own futures, and think that acting the way the Disney roles are is the only way for them to live their life in a happy manner. The way Disney animated films assign gender roles to their characters affects young children’s views of right and wrong in society. It is wrong, and they should not be exposed to such material growing up because it is harmful to their future expectations.
The topic of gender equality, culture and environmental effects on girls and young women has brought up the discussion of princess culture - dressing up, waiting for prince charming, the importance of beauty. Both “The Princess Paradox” and “Cinderella and Princess Culture” discuss how companies such as Disney are responsible for girls falling into princess culture and influencing them. However, there is a parallel drawn between Orenstein and Poniewozik on how they feel about the effects of cinematic influence. On one hand, Orenstein believes that Disney animations push princess culture that negative impacts on mental health and development of girls. On the other Poniewozik believes that princess culture has changed to be a positive reinforcement.
Gender roles are targeted towards children through countless advertisements. “The lines, text, colors and images usually lead readers to move their eyes across…”
As the article advances and the discussion gets broadens, Hanes shifts to the thought that Disney is not the only one who is generating the issue. The author states that it is also the way females are portrayed in general on TV. It is logical to think that toddlers act out what they observe around them, and that those habits learned will develop as they do, or at least that is what Hanes believes. The author attempts to reason by describing that little girls who grow up watching such movies and TV shows are most likely drop out of a sport because of the believe their bodies do not look good playing the sport ( Hanes 3). “ Girls see cheerleaders ( with increasingly sexualized routines ) in TV far more than they see female basketball players or other athletes” ( Hanes 4). The author uses logos when discussing this to convince the reader that TV really does send a misleading message. Hanes argues that it all starts with a seed that is planted in a toddler 's eyes when she was younger. Hanes continues to say that the only way to stop this , is to completely block out Disney movies and TV shows that contain such content like this ( Hanes 3
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite their mask of progression, Disney princesses still have the potential to corrupt the minds of young children through sexism and racism.
Each Disney princess has different positive attributes that make her unique, the most recent Disney princesses are especially fitting in today’s society. In Jena Stephens’ analysis of the three most recent princesses, excluding Anna and Elsa, she describes Rapunzel by saying, “Her forward thinking, desire to prove she is just as capable as a man, and realistic dreaming make her a great role model for young girls”. Whether it is to become a princess and marry her true love like Cinderella or open a restaurant like Princess Tiana, all of the Disney princesses have aspirations. Jena Stephens says, “The words that Tiana sings about the necessary hard work it will take for her to reach her dream stand out as a message to young viewersone that does not covey that love is the only thing that will make girls happy”. Not only do Disney princesses have dreams but they make their dreams come true with hard work. As Liz Gumbinner described her trip to Disney World with her daughters, “The princess luncheon led to a great discussion later in our hotel room, in which we told our girls that it is okay to be strong, smart, hardworking and still dream of marrying a prince”. Disney princesses carry themselves in a humble and confident manner. The princesses are beautiful but they are not conceited. Lastly, they are never stuck up but rather loving and independent which makes their character so
In today’s modern age, young children are being raised by their TV screen. Reining from the original tales of Perrault and the Grim Brothers, the Disney princess line has been a staple on the screens since the 1930s (Do Rozario 1). However, these princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to todays youth. The effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience, causing them to ask themselves whether or not they should believe what the princess is expressing on the screen.
Disney and old fairytales threaten gender politics and ideal women roles by giving certain stereotypes for domestic and personality traits. Fairytales that have turned into Disney productions have sculpted domestic roles for women that consist of cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. Disney has also created these princesses with personalities that are shy, passive, and vulnerable. The cause of these stereotypes are making individuals obliterate their own identities and becoming clones from the mold that was prepared for
In society today, there is pressure from all sides to conform to a certain ideal of beauty. People are overwhelmed with the different types of images and media forms that are telling people how to act and what to look like. Media is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. It has the power to educate, affect social change, and much more, but if taken incorrectly people will take drastic lengths to change something about themselves. There have been many attempts to empower women through different types of media, but many have failed miserably. Over the last couple of years, Disney has struggled greatly with the representation of women throughout Princess movies because young girls are hounded with images of princesses,