A Positive View of the Disney Princess Profile
As Miley Cyrus was seen swinging naked across her wrecking ball, parents cringed at the thought of their children idolizing the once famous Disney star. Children often idolize many things they see on television and movie productions. At the forefront of that topic is the famous Disney Princess art form. Parents, as well as psychologists, tear apart the pure aspect of Disney and the popular Princess by showing opinionated conclusions of how the Disney Princess is considered bad for the youth of America. The fact remains that if all items are looked at through the figurative magnifying glass, then each one could be considered bad in some way. Considering all the negative role models in the world
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Leichty mentions in her article, “In Defense of Princess Culture”, the love her daughter has with the princess phenomenon and later expresses her opinion on that subject (Leichty 471). The concept of young ladies idolizing a Disney Princess has been met with great reservations from many, but Leichty states, “WHAT’S SO AWFUL ABOUT THAT?” (Leichty 472). Positive attributes for a Disney Princess and their favorite movie line provide families with nights of conversation with a superior family oriented topic on the screen. A Disney Princess will provide families a sense of morality, considering the immoral items that can be viewed on many movie screens and television screens. The pure magic a Disney Princess can provide is an uplifting, enjoyable and exciting moment for all through their popular movie line or even catching a glimpse of the very popular Disney theme park. Many Scientist and parents debunk the popular princess culture and perceive that they are bad for children. Many articles have been written and several research attempts to provide proof of the destruction a Disney Princess could bring on the youth of America. That research has never provided factual regards to that topic, and one researcher could not find any evidence that a princess changed emotional behavior or that the princess could be considered as a bad role model for children (“The Princess Pride” 2). Many scientists and parents have tried to prove that a Disney Princess is a bad role model, but the magic of Disney prevails over such negative responses and one author writes, “Disney princess power is girl power, and they've got 10,000 megajoules of that zipping through them” (“The Princess Pride” 2). Considering all the negative role models in the world, a Disney Princess can provide positive family memories, morality and magical experiences for young
Are the little girl 's in America being cheated of their privilege of having a childhood? Stephanie Hanes, a freelance journalist, believes so and she decided to express her opinion in the article “ Little girls or Little women ? The Disney Princess Effect”. Hanes argues that today’s society is morally ambiguous because of the sexual messages being sent to young girls. In consequence of this , toddlers now aspire to attain the pre-teen goal to be sexy at such an early age. It all begins with the influence and example that The Disney princesses give to their young fans. For the reason that the article appeared in magazines and in the USA today , the targeted audience must be
In the article “Are All Princesses Really Waiting for Princes to Come?” Jack Heckel discusses some of the most common Disney princesses and the stereotypes that come along with them, as well as some of the stereotypes that are seen in the Disney princes. He supports his article by providing a variety of sources not only from Disney movies, but also from various authors and blogs. The analysis of Disney princess stereotypes has been a very common topic for years, and this overall analysis has revealed that a lot of Disney princesses are not good role models. Heckel uses many techniques including using credible, non-Disney sources, discussing other fairytales besides Disney, displaying a timeline of Disney
Stephanie Hanes opens up the article with an experience a woman named Mary Finucane had with her daughter. The 3-year-old, Caoimhe (Keeva), became a more passive child than she was before discovering the world of Disney Princesses, which her mother credits to be the cause. Mrs.
A. Article One: “Disney Princesses Are Not the Role Models They Appear To Be” By Cassie Schmidt
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.
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.
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.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
Since Disney’s Snow White appeared in 1937, Disney princesses have been a present in pop culture. With the release of new movies frequent and re-release of decades old movies inevitable, a continuous stream keeps Disney princesses in the foreground of adolescent society. It is with the value of entertainment they have been created and as entertainment they should be viewed.
Media plays a bigger role in influencing children’s identity. The media plays an important role in constructing ideology. However, most of the time what is produced in the media is mirroring what is already happening in the society, in other words mirroring reality. When children tend to see the same image and representation happening on television over and over again, they will become familiar with that identity (USC Anneberg, 2013) and it will spark a stereotypical thinking in them. By examining the portrayal of identity in the princesses will enable us to see that the portrayal of identities are not natural.
I can understand how many parents are blinded to the negative effects of Disney movies, and their princesses. When they get a movie for their kid they probably say to themselves, “They’re made for children, so they must be okay, right?” Wrong. Just as Henry Giroux, the writer of the book, “The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence” believes that Disney movies have a negative impact on the children that watch them, I believe that as well. Disney movies can teach young girls stereotypes of the ideal body image, how they should act, and unrealistic expectations of love.
Movies like Disney have affected our minds at our youth though movies. In Paul Castillo’s writing, the negative effects of Disney on children, he talks about how Disney is this family-friendly corporation, yet he argue, “…are we looking deep enough?” (Castillo). This makes you think, if we are just scratching the surface, who knows what would be underneath? Castillo then goes on to say, “It is from these movies that children often get their first impressions of how men and women are supposed to act.” (Castillo). People said that the first impression is important, so the first movie or show will influence that person. Knowing this, you’ll now understand Disney’s power over everyone. Everyone, know what Disney is and or of them, their influence are targeting at a young age. Sleeping Beauty, a movie created by Disney and is mostly watched by children, is “one of the archetypal Disney princesses” and Castillo have shown an interesting point, “Aurora [, the protagonist,] is described as an extraordinarily beautiful woman…however, you will notice that Aurora’s figure is as impossible as a Barbie’s for humans…” (Castillo). What Castillo is trying to say is that children’s who see this is interpreting beautiful as Aurora, a young gorgeous woman, this will only lead them to
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