Disney Princesses' Influence on Young Children
analytical Essay
1103 words
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. Princess films are centered around a female character who meets the love of her life and, like in other fairy tales, ends with their wedding (Ross 4). Initially, the Disney princesses’ have portrayed a typical female role in the film, showing the expected gender roles in American society (England Descartes Collier-Meek 563). These gender-based stereotypes are influenced by the time period they were made in, but also originating from old fairytales made centuries ago. “Society’s increasing reliance on the use of television and videos to occupy children warrants continued investigation of how exposure to media may affect children. Given that media portrayals like those in the animated movies of Walt Disney often reinforce societal stereotypes related to gender, ethnicity, and culture, parents may consider a more thoughtful approach to the use of television and videos” (Disney Movies 1). Critics have warned the public audience about Disney programming’s affect on the “invasion and control of children’s imagination” (Ross 5). These movies express the typical gender roles “such as males being physically strong, assertive, and athletic, and females being prone to overt emotion, inc... ... middle of paper ... ...MOVIES PROMOTE 'BEAUTIFUL AS GOOD' STEREOTYPE”. (2011, Jan 04). Proquest. US Fed News Service, Including US State News. Do Rozario, R.,C. (2004). Proquest. “The princess and the magic kingdom: Beyond nostalgia, the function of the disney princess”. Women's Studies in Communication, 27(1), 34-59. England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-meek, M. (2011). Proquest. “Gender role portrayal and the disney princesses”. Sex Roles, 64(7-8), 555-567. Ross, D. (2004). Proquest. “Escape from wonderland: Disney and the female imagination”. Marvels & Tales, 18(1), 53-66,141. Welsh, Jennifer. "Disney Princes and Princesses Still Slaves to Some Stereotypes." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 01 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Wynns, S. L., & Rosenfeld, L. B. (2003). Proquest. “Father-daughter relationships in disney's animated films.” The Southern Communication Journal, 68(2), 91.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that disney princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to today's youth. the effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience.
- Analyzes how disney princesses portray a typical female role in the film, showing the expected gender roles in american society. these gender-based stereotypes are influenced by the time period they were made in.
- Analyzes disney programming's affect on the "invasion and control of children’s imagination." the earlier films, snow white, cinderella, and sleeping beauty, showcase how women are supposed to take care of the house and children.
- Analyzes how the first three disney princess films, released during walt disney's lifetime, frequently showed the princesses doing domestic work.
- Explains that in most disney princess films, the mother is missing in the story. their void is filled with over-bearing fathers, or mother-like-figures consisting of step-mothers or fairy god mothers.
- Analyzes how in beauty and the beast, belle sacrifices herself to stay with beast instead of her father. pocahontas' father, chief powhatan, believes that her marriage to kokoum would be beneficial.
- Analyzes how ariel, from the little mermaid, showcases rebellious behavior by gambling her voice for the sake of legs. her lack of freedom by her father, king trition, reflect her behavior.
- Analyzes how the films show the princesses being conflicted on their decisions, but that selfish rebellion is essential for the plot.
- Analyzes how the effects on young children, mainly young girls, after watching these movies reflect the gender roles taught in the films.
- Analyzes how disney imbeds gender roles that are way past their prime, moving the stereotypes slower than the rest of the world, and changing them has taken a drastic overturn to make it happen.
- Cites monika bartyzel's article, "girls on film: the real problem with the disney princess brand."
- Cites england, descartes, and collier-meek for proquest's "gender role portrayal and the disney princesses".
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- Gender Identity In Walt Disney Moviesanalytical essayFairy tales have existed for hundreds of years to impart lessons to young children and teach them the importance of certain behaviors, thoughts or attitudes necessary for cultural success. These stories often give out the concept of good versus evil where goodness often triumphs with the protagonist embracing the desired societal behaviors. One of the most common ideologies that fairytales impart on its reader or listener is the idea that females should be young, pretty, helpless and submissive while males should be strong, handsome, resourceful and dominant.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that fairy tales have existed for hundreds of years to impart lessons to young children and teach them the importance of certain behaviors, thoughts or attitudes necessary for cultural success.
- Analyzes how a young girl's journey into adulthood is constrained by the constructed ideals of femininity perpetuated by cultural traditions, education, and media.
- Analyzes how disney's movies are powerful gender ideologies creating a generational time frame of attitudes and beliefs in future gender definitions and gender roles for billions of young girls and female adolescents around the world.
- Explains the aim of this paper is to examine the kinds of gendered ideas that disney films has projected to young women with regard to femininity and how they construct very specific judgments about what is or is not desirable in females in their animated movies.
480 wordsRead More - The Underlying Truth about Disney’s Princessesanalytical essayOver the years, Disney has presented many movies to their audience—most having a Princess as the protagonist. These movies became a babysitter for most parents in the early stages of their child’s life. Most people found these movies as relatively harmless. The obvious assumption about the Disney Princesses is that they only desire true love since almost every movie ends in romance. Parents just viewed these movies as romantic movies on a child’s level. However, these movies were not solely intended for an audience of an age that can be counted on both hands. They were intended to speak to “an intelligent and active audience” (Sumera 40). However, there are many people who disagree with the ways of the Disney Princess movies. The disagreements lie within the portrayal of women gender roles in these movies. It is argued that Disney portrays women as a being nurturing individuals without any control over their identity. The women are unable to think for themselves, because they are uneducated, and they are quick to fall in love with the first man that pays them any attention. However, this is not completely true. The people that are against the portrayal of women in the Disney movies are failing to recognize the underlying concepts in these movies. For example, Belle, in Beauty and the Beast, was well educated, Mulan went to war despite the consequences, and Merida, in Brave, stood up to her mother in refusal to marry. The Disney Princesses desired intelligence, bravery, strength, and independence—not true love’s kiss.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that disney princesses were harmless, but they were meant to speak to an intelligent and active audience. disney portrays women as nurturing individuals without any control over their identity.
- Explains that beauty and the beast is a disney movie that debuted in 1991. the audience enjoyed watching the relationship of belle and beast evolve from absolute disdain to pure adoration for one another.
- Analyzes how disney's belle is an educated woman who enjoys reading and can think for herself.
- Analyzes how belle's willingness to search for her father and take his place in imprisonment exemplifies her bravery, which broke her out of the "feminine" ideology.
- Analyzes how mulan exemplifies bravery in "female chauvinist pigs." she stands up for her father against the king's messenger and cuts her hair and dresses like a man to fight in the war.
- Analyzes how disney redefines strength and bravery as "womanly" traits despite society's view of them as manly traits.
- Analyzes how merida, in brave, exemplifies strength in other areas than mulan. she is able to shoot the arrows perfectly in the center of three different bull's-eyes.
- Analyzes how merida is in turmoil with her mother over her lack of desire to get married. her mother recognizes that her daughter's happiness and passion for independence is far more important than all the years of preparing for marriage.
- Explains that independence was a key factor in each of the three disney movies, not just in brave. belle, from beauty and the beast, was educated, brave, and independent.
1780 wordsRead More - Disney Stereotypesanalytical essayThe Walt Disney Company is a pillar of American culture, and has had an immense impact on society as a whole, for decades. The films created are filled with beautiful messages, catchy songs, and colorful characters. When discussing Disney films, critiques, and viewers in general, tend to focus the conversation around the portrayal of women and the influence it has on young women. There has been an unavoidable debate concerning the ideologies promoted by the Disney films, and in particular its princesses, since Snow White came out in 1937. The princesses were in fact often represented as passive characters with tiny waists, who are constantly in need of rescuing. These concepts in creating female characters contribute to societal standards of
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the walt disney company is a pillar of american culture and has had an immense impact on society.
- Explains that every walt disney prince is based off of the same archetypal character: handsome men with a tendency to be dependent, diffident, and submissive.
- Explains that disney introduced only two types of men in their films: the dashing hero and the incompetent father figure, which are stereotypical one-dimensional characters that push the story forward rather than be an inspiration or role model for male viewer.
- Analyzes how walt disney allows his male characters to develop a personality and become part of the story in their own right.
- Explains that the young attractive heroes are only one side of the male characters in early disney films, as the older characters offer the humor in the story.
889 wordsRead More - Most children grow up watching Disney princess movies. Girls want to be extraordinary, beautiful, and similar to the princesses seen in these movies in terms of behavior. These movies teach them that they must be fashionable, beautiful and be rescued by a prince in order to be happy. However, these movies have been shown to have negative impacts on these young girls’ life, often resulting in low self-esteem, disobedience, overdependence, and an unrealistic expectation of male partners. As a result, young girls should not be encouraged to watch Disney princess movies because they idolize the characters, which are simply fictitious and just meant for entertainment, and these movies also cause disobedience, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that children should not be encouraged to watch disney princess movies because they idolize the characters, which are fictitious and just meant for entertainment.
- Explains that disney princess movies display the image of extraordinary beautiful sexy girls as princesses. they define beauty as having the perfect body image, and the bad people in these movies are ugly, fat, or basically unattractive.
- Analyzes how disney princess movies teach young girls to be disobedient and weak in order to get what they want and become happy.
- Opines that disney princess movies teach young girls to be strong and independent, but this is not true, since they are weak and are often rescued by princes.
- Opines that disney princess movies are inappropriate for young girls. people blame adult media for a child's corruption, but they fail to see where it all started.
719 wordsRead More - Disney and Traditional Stereotypesanalytical essayA 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how women strive to achieve equality between the sexes, but mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in walt disney movies.
- Analyzes how disney films encourage women to maintain their beauty to capture men's attention, and have a curvy, petite body. the little mermaid is based on ron clements and john musker.
- Analyzes the stereotype of disney women not falling in love with their perfect prince in the end. aladdin, a street urchin, meets princess jasmine in 1992's "agrabah".
- Explains that in disney movies, the female character is always in need of a hero to help her out of stick situations. both male and female characters are saved by their own prince charming.
- Argues that disney movies imply that women should follow the "traditional" stereotypes of a female in society, such as looking pretty with no brains, and powerless on her own in dangerous situations.
1067 wordsRead More - Disney Argumentative Essayanalytical essayDisney promotes sexisim by forcing young girls to live in a patriarchal world. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The little mermaid, Aladdin, and Snow White are all examples of popular Disney movies that encourage young viewers that they need a man to save the day. Yes, it’s true that there are recent movies such as Moana and Frozen that prove otherwise, but how long will it take to completely get over the fact that women are mainly viewed as secondary citizens compared to the men? There are countless examples of how Disney movies influence this theme, and how much the female characters’ actions, ideas and thoughts are not included in a Disney movie.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how disney promotes sexism by forcing young girls to live in a patriarchal world.
- Analyzes how disney's frozen, the highest grossing disney film ever, had less than 50% of the lines spoken by women. even though the film is centrally based around the two sisters, male characters still take over.
- Explains that women have struggled for centuries trying to keep up with the men who seem more outspoken than women. teaching the youth of the world that the role models they look up to need a man to save the day sets women’s confidence back years.
- Explains that fought, a professor of linguistics at pitzer college, asks where girls get their ideas about being girls.
- Argues that disney princesses are role models to girls worldwide, and if they see that the people they look up to are helpless, what skills will this teach them later in life?
- Analyzes how a video of girls being told "throw like a girl" showed that girls cannot throw equally and/or as well as any boy can. aladdin saves jasmine from jafar.
- Analyzes how men saving the damsel in distress is a common theme in disney movies. cinderella is dependent on other people to save her.
- Analyzes the subliminal lessons young women learn from these films have lifelong repercussions and negatively affect the female youth.
- Concludes that disney princesses set bad examples for children nationwide. the plots of women who can’t do anything for themselves or need a man to save the day are not role models that the youth of the world should be exposed to.
810 wordsRead More - An Analysis of “Disney’s Politically Correct Pocahontas”analytical essaySince 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.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that disney's "politically correct" pocahontas failed at being historically accurate and was culturally and socially inoffensive.
- Argues that disney should be held accountable for reinforcing antiquated ideals and promote healthy, realistic gender equality.
- Explains that disney's pocahontas portrays a dreamy, idealistic situation in which early settlers and the native americans were able to resolve differences having zero causalities and an insignificant amount of confrontations
- Analyzes how kilpatrick's informal article effectively argues the always-relevant ethnic equality and gender biases in contemporary media.
1207 wordsRead More - Do Rozario, R.,C. (2004). The princess and the magic kingdom: Beyond nostalgia, the function of the disney princess. Women's Studies in Communication, 27(1), 34-59. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198270180?accountid=32521
In this essay, the author
- Explains that movies have impacted people's lives since they were first made, and continue to do so today. movies have cast women to play the roles of heroes.
- Analyzes how women have been in movies since they first started playing on the big screen. while some roles have shed bad light on women, others have set positive examples for the future generations.
- Opines that actresses have empowered young women to become something more than just the average girl. feminists call katharine hepburn a role model.
- Opines that young women of today are living the life katharine hepburn exemplified, but they might not know it. they all get to be accomplished and smart and physically active without necessarily recognizing those are hard-won rights.
- Explains that katharine hepburn was a role model for young women, and movies like cinderella have empowered women to want more than just an average life.
- Analyzes how movies have encouraged actresses to change the roles they have traditionally played, shedding light to feminist movements in the us.
- Explains that actresses, one movie at a time, have changed the way the world sees women. they helped shed light on the feminist movement in the u.s.
- Opines that some people believe women have been in roles that are less powerful than men's, and to an extent that’s true. some movies haven’t been painting women in the best light.
- Explains that in both cinderella and pretty woman the male sex is ranked higher in wealth, occupation, and status than the female. the prince's family is not wealthy but royal, making him the future king and ruler of his country.
- Opines that many movies have objectified women, such as being the first one to die, or having the woman play the domestic role of cleaning, cooking, and bearing children.
- Opines that many movies have cast women in roles that are less powerful than men's and have objectified women, but there were movies that helped women become the women they are today. actresses have empowered women and set examples for future generations.
- Opines that feminists call katharine hepburn a role model for young women.
963 wordsRead More - 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
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes jack heckel's article "are all princesses really waiting for princes to come?" he discusses some of the most common disney princess stereotypes. he uses credible, non-disney sources, discussing other fairytales besides disney.
- Analyzes how heckel uses credible non-disney sources, such as an excerpt from andrea dworkin's woman hating, to promote the hatred of women.
- Opines that the moral of the story is the happy ending. it tells us that happiness for a woman is to be passive, victimized, destroyed, or asleep.
- Argues that fairytales depict a woman's happiness by showing that happiness is being submissive, victimized, and weak. simone de beauvoir has an opposite view of how females are supposed to act.
- Analyzes how the young man is seen departing adventurously in search of a woman; he slays the dragon, battles giants, and she waits.
- Analyzes how heckel uses these examples in his article because they support his ideas and topic. in the fairytales, women are dependent on their princes to rescue them, but as time passed, they became independent.
- Explains that when a fairytale is analyzed and reviewed, the topic of gender is almost always mentioned because there are many stereotypes against men and women.
- Analyzes how mayim discusses "women as dolls" in the third issue of frozen. she states that her biggest problem with the female characters is the way they were drawn and animated.
- Analyzes how heckel discusses the "tragedy" that most of us are only aware of a minor fraction of the many fairytale stories out in the world.
- Opines that despite the wealth of material, most people would list a handful of fairytales that have been repeatedly popularized over the years- snow white, cinderella, sleeping beauty, beauty and the beast, little mermaid, rapunzel,
- Analyzes how heckel uses a technique to display the more commonly known fairytales that have grown popular over the years. in the early 1900s, women were expected to stay at home and take care of the children.
- Explains that disney's first full-length animated movie, snow white and the seven dwarfs, set the pattern for future disney movie plots.
- Concludes that heckel's article is successful in answering the question: are all princesses really waiting for a prince to come?
1711 wordsRead More - Sexism In Disney Moviesanalytical essayDisney movies have a very narrow view of what women should be like. Since the arrival of the first Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, the idea of it has expanded, but rather marginally. There is a clear distinction of what a young women should be and what she shouldn’t be. Those who do not fit the mold of Disney’s expectations are cast aside to become villains, but those who do, end up becoming the damsel in distress. Ultimately, these stereotypes are what influences young girls who watch these films, and can have devastating effects on their self worth and change their idea of what it means to be a women. Films like Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
In this essay, the author
- Explains that disney movies have a narrow view of what women should be like, and that stereotypes are what influence young girls who watch these films.
- Analyzes how the princesses have been saved by their princes in all four of their texts, including sleeping beauty, the little mermaid, and snow white.
- Analyzes how sleeping beauty, cinderella, and snow white all echo the values that were held in the early 1900's - that women are weak willed who needs to be constantly taken care of and supported by a man.
- Analyzes how princesses in disney movies are portrayed to be one dimensional and have the same talents and ambitions. they are all kind, beautiful, helpful, naive, and overall the ideal women.
- Analyzes how sexuality plays a large role in cinderella, sleeping beauty, the little mermaid, and snow white and the seven dwarfs, thus contributing to sexism.
- Analyzes how the images from snow white and the seven dwarfs, cinderella, the little mermaid and sleeping beauty reflect the values held in the 1900s.
- Analyzes how the stereotypical portrayal of disney princesses emphasizes the sexism in the films. diversity is not explored in any of these films, whether it be about race, weight, character development or personality.
1820 wordsRead More