Ahmed Badirr
Mrs.Kim
AP Lang
17 October 2016
Disney paper rough draft #1
It is common, for young kids growing up, to want to be like those around them and draw inspiration from them. Many times young girls mimic the tendencies of those who are defined as beautiful or those who are regarded as highly popular, since that is what society tells them is the goal for women. As a result, young girls idolize Disney princesses, as they visualize them as beautiful young ladies living in a wonderful fantasy world. In today's society, a princess in a Disney movie represents a woman who has overcome struggles to find their individuality. Over time there has been a change in the role and ideals Disney princesses represent. Women’s views on their roles in
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Also, it shows how domestic work was seen to be the sole purpose woman had in their lives. The roles of women in Disney films have changed in correspondence to the beliefs of the society through different periods of time. In the beginning of the 20th Century, the role of women viewed by society was to stay home, cook, clean, and complete all the common duties of being a housewife. Their duty was to basically devote themselves to the needs of their family. For example, as stated in “A Woman’s Role in the 1950s” written by Cobbs “a diligent homemaker not only kept the house sparkling but she cooked dinner, did laundry and ran errands” (Coobs 5). Cinderella and Snow White had to do similar things as expressed and explained by Cobbs. In the movie Cinderella, throughout the movie her role is discovered as just completing the duties that were assigned to her by her evil stepmother. These duties were filled with chores such as: cleaning the house, making dinner, and more things that follow the roles of a woman’s duties, as seen in the early 20th Century. The same can be seen in the story of Snow White, throughout the movie her actions taken were cooking for the seven men she lived with and cleaning after them. The women were seen as just servants for the men during the 20th Century, which was exactly who the princesses of Disney films
Males are allowed to do much more than females, as shown in Cinderella’s curfew of midnight. However, women working has become more prevalent in the real world as have men doing household chores, but the men still earn more and the women continue to do the laundry and cleaning. Girls who are brought reading these stories and watching the movies are also being taught to be competitive for their “Prince Charming.” The film shows Danielle doing servant work and the prince having money and power but also shows that Danielle was taught how to use a sword and that the prince is not as powerful as his stereotype
Disney Princess movies target children and are none other than a transfigured fairytale story in which innocence and moral virtue are questioned. In pursuit of romance and having the mindset of doing whatever it takes for love, Disney creates this magical world and targets the youth, especially young girls. Walt Disney was a creative and “radical filmmaker who changed [one’s] ...
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.
In the 1930s, Disney’s first full length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released. This movie set the pattern for future Disney movie plots, which continues for decades. In the 1940s, Disney released 3 animated movies: Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi. However, these movies did not feature a main female character. In the 1950s, the two main movies that were released were Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. These movies picked the passive heroine trend back up and had a prince to rescue the princess from her troubles. In the 1960s, Disney brought us 101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, and The Jungle Book, none of these with a female heroine. The 1970s brought about The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The only significant female character is Maid Marian from Robin Hood, who waits for Robin Hood to “sweep her off of her feet.” In the 1980s, The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver and Company, and The Little Mermaid were released. With The Little Mermaid, Disney got back to the fairytale storyline. The 1990s brought us Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan, Pocahontas, and Mulan. This is where Disney movies start to evolve with new, women-favoring, storylines. In the 2000s, Disney laid off the fairytales for a while and
A majority of her argument is supported by her personal feelings on the issue. However, as a mother with a daughter who admires princess culture, she has her daughter’s experience to support her argument. Additionally, after examining the characteristics of princesses such as Snow White and Cinderella, she emphasized that there are less desirable role models that could influence young girls than Disney princesses. To further emphasize this point, she adds examples of pop musicians who are known for being risqué. Liechty (2015) questioned, “we don’t want our daughters learning that if you work hard and are good and sweet, even in the face of difficult circumstances, you’ll find happiness?” (p. 471). By doing so, she illustrates some of the positive effects that princess culture has on young
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. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
Disney has portrayed women in movies by the use of animation characters for over a century since the 1900s. There has been a very big change since the early 1900’s to modern day in Disney’s depiction of the personalities of the women, their attitudes and ideologies towards men, and the way they are portrayed in the movies. This progression has had a distinct development, from passive damsels in distress in need of the help of men, to being superheroes. Therefore, the evolution of women in Disney movies will be analyzed through the use of university level feminist essays, as well as a research paper written about gender roles in Disney animation. The evolution will also be analyzed through examination of the clips of the movies themselves.
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.
Disney 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.
"Disney Princesses: Classic Fairy Tales Or Gender Stereotypes?" Hartford Courant, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
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
England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-meek, M. (2011). Proquest. “Gender role portrayal and the disney princesses”. Sex Roles, 64(7-8), 555-567.
Nadeau, Leah. "Disney Princesses: Oppressive or Imaginative?" The Lilith Effect. College of Charleston, 12 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
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,