Take a look a this:
Princesses all have beautiful faces, with perfect hair and makeup and large, innocent eyes. They have abnormally perfect bodies as they are slim with tiny waists.
Moreover, the princesses are usually the damsels in distress, who have to be saved by the handsome prince. The movies also convey that dreams come true thanks to a man.
Cinderella is rescued from her terrible conditions by the prince, as is Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Jasmine leaves the palace walls when Aladdin arrives upon a magic carpet to show her the world, Ariel must marry Eric to live the life she's always wanted (out of sea) and Mulan only becomes happy when Shang courts her (even though she saves China from the Huns). And these are just a few examples of women that are completely dependent on men.
Furthermore, women are also expected to stick to behaviour established by society such as being obedient, silent, hard-working (especially with house-hold chores) and non-rebelious.
The Disney men on the other hand, have two options. They can either be the handsome and strong idealized man, or be portrayed as dumb which goes along with their physical appearance (for example, Mr. Smee in Peter Pan, Yao in Mulan and Lafou in Beauty and the Beast). Men are sentenced to show agressiveness and masculinity and most of the movies end with a fight between two men (or masculine characters) for the love of a woman or for their personal status.
What other problems can you see in the Disney films?
What effect can this have on the youngest and more vulnerable generations?
What conception about the world and about ourselves do we grow up with?
I couldn’t agree more with Alexia’s point of view. The simplicity presented in Disney films determines an idealized world. Everyone ends happily, however the life depicted shouldn’t be the one children aim for. Women being portrayed as vulnerable and dependent is not a positive aspect but that’s how girls end up wanting to be. There’s always been this stereotypical point of view about boys and girls and Disney makes the most of it. Understandably, children, like many adults, like to watch films with happy endings, however, they’re building their future life and statements determined in Disney films may not be the ones they should focus on.
ReplyDeleteJust as Alexia mentioned, Disney films not only establish limited characteristics to women, but also convey discrimination. Money is the one theme present in all these films and is portrayed in many ways. Women born in rich families have to marry their “prince”, which is a handsome and rich man. Them being so keen on achieving his love based on the superficial qualities he has, determines the lack of self-confidence established in women.
Children learn by imitating what they see and all of them sharing similar opinions after watching Disney films make them feel that their opinion is the correct one.
However, not all aspects in Disney films are incorrect, I must contradict Alexia’s negative statement of women having to stick with behaviour established by society. Actually, Disney focuses on social education in a good way as it helps children building up their actions when facing society. The social education conveyed in Disney films is superficial but effective and establishes the basic rules that should be followed in life.
Sincerely, I’ve never realized the real message the Disney’s films were giving to the growing up generations.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little girl I did realize that to be a “princess” it is necessary to be perfect (beautiful, slim, etc) but, is it really necessary? Well, as I just said, I've never realized the real message behind the films but now I’m kind of shocked. I have to admit that when I was a little girl I always wanted to be just like Yasmine. We all as women look for perfection; we want to look always beautiful, don’t we? But that’s the image we have been given since we were kids (as the video has proven), but what’s the cost of it? Anorexia? Bulimia? Psychological Traumas? Come on… But the negative part of all this is not just the consecuences it can have but also that little girls do what to see this kind of films: a girl who changes into a beautiful princess, a beautiful prince waiting and rescuing her. But it’s not only in films…We can also see this kind of aim for perfection in Barbies, bratz, etc.
Moreover, as Ana Recio said: “Children learn by imitating what they see and all of them sharing similar opinions after watching Disney films make them feel that their opinion is the correct one” so the conception of the world for the growing up generations is PERFECTION as it’s always been like this…
Alejandra Séculi
The effect of such stereotypes becomes more obvious in little girls, which want to be like the princess (who is beautiful and is married to a handsome, strong and rich man). Nowadays, if you ask a little girl what princess she would like to be, she will probably tell you one specifically (which I guess is normal). Consequently, I believe that it would be difficult to find a child which has no wish of becoming a Disney princess (since movies convey that being a princess should be a women’s wish in order to be perfect). This perfection in Disney movies is what children will indirectly seek in their later lives if they don’t become aware of the fact that beauty and wealth do not necessarily mean happiness. Also, the evident portrayal of men and women as being unequal does affect young children, which being innocent believe and accept what they see.
ReplyDeleteBut this does not necessarily have to happen. A little girl might watch a Disney movie and when having finished it may think that she would like to be the princess. But it doesn’t necessarily have to influence her negatively, since as children, Disney movies are not the only movies we watch. Therefore Disney may and may not have a negative effect on children and on their portrayal of women and men in society.
Ana Adán
It seems that wherever we stare we will be influenced without even realizing. I bet no one recognized this fact when they saw the Disney movies or even before reading this post.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly affects the youngest generations, as they learn that perfection is, by all means, a physical matter. It is true that Disney characters have beauty or not, depending on the role they have in the movie, which seems very unfair but if we look back to historical children’s books, it has always been this way: Witches, the wolf, stepmothers, etc. They have always been represented as ugly creatures which make little children afraid.
On the other hand, if we analyze some of the objectives, facts which appear on some movies, we can see how Pocahontas, for example, teaches John Smith how important it is to preserve nature and why he should not hunt animals such as bears. So, if the physical matters are influential for children, we should also consider this example as influential as beauty. With this point, I want to prove that not all the Disney movies have problems.
To conclude, I would like to point out that there is actually an error on the video, the Shrek movies are not from Disney, they are from DreamWorks.
Marina Segura
At a very young age, many children are exposed to movies, whether at the theater or on videos at home. One major producer of children’s movies is the Disney. These animated films are often perceived as innocent and wholesome.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that the main point of this video is to bash Disney, but merely to highlight the stereotypical gender-roles, the construction of femininity/masculinity, and the portrayal of dominant/single women in its animated feature films. It is obvious that Disney did not invent these stereotypes, but rather reinforces them in society. Media plays a huge role in socializing individuals. That is appreciated in both males and females in certain beliefs, values, and customs to live by.. Disney is at the top of the children's media industry. No other company has the influence or impact that this multinational has.
But I do agree that Disney has a big influence in how should girls look in order to achieve all their goals in life, these movies instead of promoting the importance of intelligence and cultural knowledge choose to give a confounding message with a whole different idea. They tell girls they should be pretty in order to get a “charming prince” and to live happily ever after.
Moreover, I think there's much more sexism towards women than men in Disney movies. Even as a star or main character, women are always portrayed as being weaker or unable to provide for themselves. Any woman who doesn't have a man in her life is always sad and helpless, waiting for her prince to come save her. And every woman seems to have this perfect Barbie doll figure, except for older women who are usually maids or mother figures. And why is every woman's happy ending always to get married to a ‘prince”.
Another fact I would like to highlight is that here have been many instances of racism identified in Disney movies including The Jungle Book which portrays gorillas and orangutans that sound like black people and Oliver and Company, with a Chihuahua named Alonzo that is typecast as a Latino troublemaker. At one point in the film, he talks about stealing cars. This negative stereotype is what children may remember when they hear someone speak with a similar accent.
But I would like to point out that Disney is also trying to potray traditional ideas into stories and movies, and not everything about these movies is wrong, they have also good themes that can be conceived. For example we should give credit to Mulan who was a proud warrior, The Lion King was based on hamlet, finding nemo represents a single father, caring for his kid, tarzan was representation of a time period where females behaved like that. Princesses like Belle and Ariel are especially good, because they are very independent and choose their own way. They refuse to accept society as it is, and prefer to be themselves. I think that is a great message for girls to hear.
I have to say that I could not agree more with the point Marina made about beauty determining your roll in movies. However this a problem that affects society as a whole and it is everyones duty to reject this values. Everywhere we go we are taught to think this way and it is therefore absolutely normal that it is reflected in Disney movies.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary Disney has influenced several generations and will influence the coming ones, this is why they should be more careful with the messages they give.
However, I strongly believe that Disney movies are the ones who are made more carefully and teach you moral lesson not like most of the movies we see nowadays which are very superficial.
Yes, princesses still have a lot to improve in their character because they are usually quite stupid and selfish. Nevertheless they also have positive aspects, they could be all blond with blue eyes but instead we find many different ones from different nationalities.
Like Marina said there is very good movies like Pocahontas or Mulan which teach you very important values.
To conclude I would like to say that Disney princesses can influence us either in a positive way nor a negative one, or even both. I wish princesses were not so perfect but that's hard to change so we might just stick to what we have got and try to think by ourselves and to get out the best from this movies.
Paula Navarro