...Analysis of Gender Roles in Disney Princess Films Jasmit Singh 213749361 Traditional and Popular Culture – 1900 9.0 Susan Niazi – Tutorial 6 Whether it’s the colours they wear, the activities they engage in or how they behave, men and women are known to play different roles in society. These established gender roles “are not innate or natural but a product of society”. Children, adolescents and adults all learn gender roles through the environment they’re surrendered by. One of the many huge influencers that help shape gender roles is media. Although “there has been a lot of change over the years in terms of what is considered appropriate societal roles for men and women, this change is not reflected in contemporary film”. The ideology of mainstream media continues to focus on the males being the heads of society, which in result, shows an unequal representation of the females. From an early age, media puts an image into young minds, informing them how males and females should think, act, behave and appear. In many television shows and films, one can easily see the distinct difference between the role of a male and a female. Often films are enforcing stereotypical gender roles where the male is seen to holds more importance in society than the female. Amongst many film producing companies, Walt Disney Pictures for decades have been enforcing stereotypical gender roles in their princess films. Though it may not be outright obvious, Disney productions play a huge role in fostering...
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...Ever After – Still the Same Old Cinderella Story In the movie, Ever After (1998), director and co-screenwriter Andy Tennant attempts to put a spin on the fairy tale we all knew growing up, Cinderella, by trying to empower the heroine and updating the film to appeal to a modern audience. Tennant explains, "I wanted to tell a very different version of Cinderella because I have two daughters, I did not want them growing up believing you have to marry a rich guy with a big house in order to live happily ever after" (Friedmeyer, p. 4). Did he accomplish? On the surface it would seem that Ever After is a modern feminist film, empowering women, but under the disguise, it still has the underlying traditional gender roles and stereotypes that Tennant tries to discourage and remove. In both Disney’s Cinderella and in Tennant’s Ever After, the male sex is ranked higher than females and has real power and social status. Kelley (2003) explains, “Males are seen as rescuers; females are more passive" (p. 651). The King and his son Prince Henry are the two highest ranking males in the film and they are shown to have ultimate power; the power over life and death. After Danielle hits Henry with apples, making him fall off the horse she thought he was stealing, she feared for her life because she assaulted royalty and the heir to the kingdom. In the same scene, in an attempt to quiet Danielle as to not cause a ruckus which may alert the royal guards, Prince Henry drops coins to the...
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...Media is a powerful agent when it comes to entertaining children. It influences the youth in our society that they have to act gender appropriate, and act a way that the youth are socialized to learn. Media uses the gender socialization to their advantage just as how Disney production does. Movies like Cinderella, Snow White Disney movies target particularly the youth and their thinking as well as putting ideas into their head about what is to be proper man and proper women. Growing up, a lot of young children love to watch Disney movies, but they don’t realize that they are affecting them. Young girls look up to the different princesses hoping that one day when they grow up, they will meet their prince charming the way Cinderella met as...
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...publicly rejecting the societal conformations to gender roles, specifically those of women, and also function well in providing a connection between the characters of the stories and the readers. Esperanza, the main character, seems to be invested in a fantastical view of the world that she alludes to in describing her experiences and telling her stories. In the course of the development of Esperanza’s character, it can be seen that while she first admires and aspires to be the Cinderella that she feels like when the shoes given to her fit, she grows into a person that uses stories as a means of escape—her recital of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” to Ruthie—and finally, in her allusion to Rapunzel when she describes Rafaela’s marriage, it seems that Esperanza comprehends the clichéd gender roles and realizes women accept their lives as helpless objects in need of rescue. Besides these instances, various other women, such as Marin, “Waiting for a car to stop, a start to fall, someone to change her life” (27). Also, any reader who has experienced Western culture in her upbringing would either relate to and be affected by Esperanza’s changing attitude toward fairy-tales and children’s stories. Although Esperanza’s connection to such tales might be naïve and not a transformation at all, they are sure to agitate readers to the blatancy of male oppression. The theme of women admiring such patriarchal portrayals as Cinderella or accepting the role of Rapunzel, and the like, who need to be rescued...
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...Women, Girls and the Media 18 August 2014 The Disney Princess Effect on Young Girls and Their Gender Role Perception The Disney Corporation has been around since 1937 when it released the first Disney Princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since then, millions of young girls have fallen in love with these characters and often see them as role models. From the dresses to the tiaras, the beauty to the fairy tale, Disney Princesses have a direct effect on young girls and their behavior. The media has been a powerful resource through which many young girls develop their identity and come to understand gender roles in society. Research indicates that watching televised gender portrayals has an effect on individuals’ gender based attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (Mastro & Morawitz 131). These are the attitudes and beliefs that young girls who watch Disney princess films would inherit. Girls enjoy watching these films and see the beautiful characters overcome difficult trials, as well as fall in love with a handsome prince in the end. The overall message is not a realistic one, leaving many girls feeling self conscious and unhappy. The idea that beauty equals good and ugly equals evil can negatively impact the way a girl looks at herself or others. Girls will ultimately learn that what is beautiful is good. Snow White and Cinderella were attractive and charismatic while the witch and two stepsisters were unattractive and vile. And in the end, the princesses...
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...Carmen Paulino EN 101- “Cinderella” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Writing prompt #3 As children we are all taught that our prince charming will come for us in a horse carriage with white horses, but is this true? Or is this just a way of looking forward to life? We are taught to value love and that love will come to us but does it come to everyone? We have come to believe in love but does it even exist? In the fairytale “Cinderella”, Cinderella, being a filthy maid who has suffered a lot and still manages to have hope in a better tomorrow, is one of the dominant gender roles which surface in the fairytale. The Prince is the other dominant gender role who is enchanted by Cinderella’s beauty and falls in love with her in a manner of “love at first sight”. He falls in love with her and searches to find her after she is gone. He didn’t care what family Cinderella came from or the live she has had, he wanted her. Cinderella and the Prince depict an idealization of love in just the plain idea that love actually exists and will eventually come to us. Their story tells us that regardless of anything love will overcome every obstacle like their love did with Cinderella’s stepsisters and mother. Also, the idea that love is blind and that looks nor way of life matters to two people who are in love. The prince didn’t care that Cinderella was a maid or that her clothes was dirty when he found her. It also makes us idealize that at some point in life our perfect match will come and we...
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...story is a modern fairy tale with a lot of similarities with the classic fairytale Cinderella, but with a more different vision on gender roles. Some of the aspects of sandy and her beautiful sisters that characterizes it; Are for example the catch phrase - once upon a time... which often are to be find within fairy tales. Furthermore we can find several other indicators such as: the number three (a three point plan, three sisters, three kinds of cherry and three different kinds of flowers in a vast basket) and symbolic names (Mrs. Fairey and Sam Prince). The author deliberately uses those characteristics to make us think of fairy tales and thus Cinderella, because sandy and her beautiful sisters have a more modern theme and moral than the original. Cinderella’s (the Charles Perrault (and Disney) version) preaches the moral that beauty in a woman is a rare treasure that will always be admired. Graciousness, however, is priceless and of even greater value. Young women, in the winning of a heart, graciousness is more important than a beautiful hairdo. Without it nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything. The moral in sandy and her beautiful sisters however focuses a lot more of how happiness is defined and what you are going to do with your life. For example does the story end with the sentence “...And the third had everything she wanted out of her life” it stands in contrast with Cinderella where the protagonist finds the prince and they live happily ever after. In Sandy...
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... Heroine is poor, both defined by and imprisoned within the domestic space Because of her virtue, she is rewarded Goodness is always rewarded; foolishness or evil are punished Lessons are learned therefore Heroine marries into royalty Heroine is transformed into something better Good characters live happily ever after Heroine is rescued by the hero Diachronic features: What conventions are in order for the chronology of these events? Orientation Events Complications Resolution Happily-ever-after ending Now let’s vary the scenario… In this version, we hit the part of the story where the Prince comes to rescue Cinderella, and then—suddenly, she dies. Is...
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...Disney and the American Princess: The Americanization of European Fairy Tales [pic] Marina Alexandrova Student number 3021874 MA Thesis, American Studies Program Utrecht University Course code 200401064 23943 words 12 August 2009 Contents Title page………………………………………………………………1 Contents……………………………………………………………….2 Introduction……………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1: European Fairy Tales and Values about Gender and Class………………………………………10 Chapter 2: Disney Animation and American Culture…………………24 Chapter 3: Disney Animation and (Gender) Commodification…………………………………………..55 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...73 Bibliography…………………………………………………………78 Introduction Among the various aspects which define contemporary life, popular culture – and in particular, American popular culture – is undoubtedly one of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting. Throughout the twentieth century, people around the world have enjoyed film, music, animation, and written works by various authors and artists. One of the most famous and significant American entertainers of the lot has been Walt Disney, introducing millions of children and adults to his world of limitless (or so is widely believed) imagination and magic, from the earliest short cartoons produced in the 1920s, to full-length feature animations such as Snow White and the Seven...
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...In her article What's Wrong With Cinderella, Peggy Orenstein discusses the recent "princess" craze that has spread amongst young girls, and how this trend could affect their personality later on. Orenstein states that there has been an enormous spike in the commercialization of princesses by Disney and other companies, which has led to most toys that are sold to girls being princess themed. The issue with this is that the idea of being a princess causes girls to try and be "perfect" when they grow up, and Orenstein says that many girls feel immense pressure to succeed in everything they do as well as be beautiful like the princesses they grew up with. However, Orenstein is overreacting by trying to prevent her daughter from purchasing princess merchandise, because in doing so, she is also trying to confine her daughter to a certain role. Instead of doing this, Orenstein should just try to introduce her daughter to other toys, like toys for boys, because that way it is giving her daughter the freedom to choose what she wants to play with. I understand Orenstein's point about the negative influence that princesses have on young girls, but I feel like the more pressing matter is that recently children have been confined to these gender roles from an early age. In most toy stores, there are split sections between toys for girls and toys for boys, and in her article Orenstein states that the difference between the toys in these sections is incredibly visible. I agree with...
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...Gender Roles and Disney The Disney princess has become one of the most iconic symbols of Walt’s ever growing empire. The disney Princess’ franchise first began in 1937 with the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs making Snow White the first princess in the now infamous princess lineup. The franchise continues with the most recent disney princess movie Tangled ( Rapunzel) which came out in 2011. Disney and their filmmakers caused great controversy with their princess’ such as race. Disney broke their european tradition by adding their first African American Princess to the line up. Princess Tiana of The Princess and the Frog in 2009 which still caused controversy. Another one of Disney’s biggest controversial topics was gender roles and how women and men are portrayed in these disney films. Gender roles are separate patterns of personality traits, mannerisms, interests, attitudes, and behaviors that are regarded as either "male" or "female" by one's culture. They are what is considered the “ Norm” for the male and female sex. There are stereotypical behaviors normally associated with either gender such as Women are suppose to be more passive aggressive, overly emotional, and illogical, just to name a few characteristics. While men tend to be more tough or in control, leaders, Not crying or wimpy and a womanizer As suggested in Kimmel’s “ Bros before Hos”: The Guy Code in Language Awareness (469). These same messages are often presented to children through the media they...
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...Society places ideas concerning proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over the years, I noticed that society's rules and expectations for men and women are very different. Men have standards and specific career goals that we must live up to according to how others judge. Career goals are based on predetermined ideas of gender roles. I have been more than qualified for many jobs, but have lost them to women who are less capable. Jobs such as retail often choose women over men due to a stereotypical idea that women are more affable than men. Members of this society must learn what the appropriate way for them to behave is and what to expect of themselves and others. Growing up, gender roles were set on me as I played with fire trucks and cars, and my sisters played with Barbie's. The types of movies we watched were different and the types of books we read were also different. It would be thought of as bizarre for me, a male, to cry during Titanic, or to read Cinderella. Going through my years in high school, I noticed that the guys who played sports got more attention than the ones who did not. We are expected to be athletic and good in many sports. Playing a musical instrument or acting was thought of as feminine and that idea made it difficult for many males to be involved in those activities. Being a man, I have to be strong and tough through many situations. We cannot show many of our feelings like woman do because we will be considered weak. When my great grandfather...
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...maiden rescued by a vibrant man, usually her superior in either social rank or in moral standing. So many questions have been asked. But my question is: why is it that the prince always saves the princess, why doesn’t the princess ever save the prince? In fairytales, one of the common motifs used is the allocation of gender roles to the characters. Females are usually seen as feminine, submissive, weak and dependent upon the stronger males. They usually act as caregivers, enhancing the gender role stereotype which suggests that women should be stationed “behind the scene”. The males in fairytales, on the other hand, are portrayed as masculine, authoritative and are usually introduced as heroes saving the female protagonists. Fairytales are an important socializing agent accompanying young children in their childhood years. Being consistently exposed to such motifs, they are likely to view such gender role ideologies as cultural norms and subconsciously adhere to it. When it comes to the princesses there are only three princesses out of eight who actually save someone else’s life and puts theirs at risk, such as mulan, Pocahontas, and beauty. While Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, snow white, and teyona depend on the prince to save them. While Ariel puts her own life in jeopardy because she wants to live on land. As the stereotype as the princess should be saved by the prince, these three princesses do not believe in that. Pocahontas puts her life at risk to save her tribe and...
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...Gender Roles in Disney Movies It is undeniable that the company that is leading to many generations in their child age is Disney. Who does not remember Mickey and Minnie Mouse?, Who has not thrown a tear when Snow White was poisoned by the evil witch?, Who did not want to ever be in the place of handsome John Smith or Pocahontas herself to revive their love story?, that tender these films, is not it, for example the Little Mermaid and Sebastian the crab song, who does not remember that song from "under the sea”? Has anybody ever wondered why the dwarves themselves did not do the housework when they came home once Snow White "moved in" with them? Or why an Indian as Pocahontas, falls for a murderer of thousands of his countrymen as was John Smith? Or why witches are always bad? Or why women are always in the background in these films (Hubka, Hovdestad & Tonmyr, 2009)? The world of Disney Princess began in 1937 when Snow White entered the world with the Seven Dwarfs (McRobbie, 2008). Since then it continued to add princesses in this world and the most recent movie was Tangled (Rapunzel) in 2011. In the past years, due to the lack of portraying ethnicity, Disney movie makers were highly criticized by their audience. Therefore, Pocahontas appeared in 1995 and after three years in 1998 came Mulan, which created a racially diverse collection of Disney princesses. After a decade The Princess and the Frog was released in 2009. It is important to understand that Disney plays an important...
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...provide the backdrop for the development of a child’s psyche by simultaneously stimulating his imagination and “at the same time suggesting solutions to the problems which perturb him.” (Bettleheim in Tatar 270). Just as Oedipal conflicts and narcissistic dilemmas are navigated amid the fantasies of these tales, it is in the same manner that fairy tales till the soil on which the budding individual develops as a gendered and socialized member of the culture in which he lives. Folk stories, and more modernly, fairy tales, serve to influence the collective and individual unconscious in gender roles and gender identities. In examination of the various treatments of classic tales we can identify a running theme of subjugating the feminine in the service of patriarchy. Fairy tales are a specialization of folk lore, similar to myths and quests in that each subclass identify and reinforce gender roles. Hero stories accentuate the bravery and skill of the young boy who identifies with them but simultaneously reinforce that boy’s understanding of how to relate to the feminine (in many such tales the feminine is relegated to a helpless beauty he must rescue). Similarly, fairy tales, “by producing the female subject as complemented and completed by her relation to a male partner,” allow patriarchy to “naturalize sexual identity, masking the cultural construction of the feminine, thereby continually reproducing women in a subordinate position.” (Ebert) While we can recognize the voice...
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