Across the world, little girls and little boys are being raised on gendered norms that determine how they will behave for the rest of their lives. Exposure to various types of media during their formative years instruct children on how they should look, feel, and behave. Consequently, adult women strive to emulate the fantasies they were exposed to through the Disney Princess films they were raised on. Disney Princesses offer a mold for what a successful woman looks like in terms of size, color, and physical sexuality. In modern society, countless marginalized groups are seeking equal representation in the media to accurately reflect how diverse the world truly is.
Although the movies are magical, the messages that these princesses send to their young audiences especially girls are not as flawless as a princess’s face. In truth, these movies encourage female stereotypes, give girls unrealistic body ideals, and finally teach that girls shouldn’t be independent, and that they should let men take initiative for them. In Disney Princess movies, the princesses encourage dreadful female stereotypes. In fact, professor Sarah M. Coyne from Brigham Young University conducted a study using 198 preschoolers to figure out the impact of Disney Princesses on kids. They figured out that the more the young girls engaged with disney princesses, the more they behaved in stereotypically feminine ways.
Snow White was know for being the fairest and most beautiful for her pale complexion. Also, Cinderella was fair-skinned unlike the antagonists or her stepsisters in the film as they are dark-skinned. All three princesses are similar as each fell in love at first sight with their princes. They also had to be saved by their prince charming. Snow White had to be saved from biting into the poisoned apple and would only be saved through a kiss from a prince.
Many girls dream of their knight in shining armor, a perfect wedding, and a happily ever after ending. Disney princesses give them hope to find love and happiness along with emphasizing their want for the beauty and grace princesses illustrate. Authors of “Cinderella and Princess Culture” and “The Princess Paradox,” Peggy Orenstein and James Poniewozik respectively, agree that most girls like princesses. However, these articles convey differing parental opinions on lessons girls learn from princesses and the unfavorable effects this has at their young age. Orenstein describes her negative views on princesses through her experiences with her daughter and the knowledge of Andy Mooney’s business decisions on princesses.
Alternate Views on Disney Princess Culture Monika Bartyzel wrote an article called Girls on Film: The real problem with the Disney Princess Brand asserts Disney Princess motion pictures are pernicious to young ladies since they do not grasp diversity among their princess’s persona and beauty throughout their line of movies. Their films spread the message to younglings that the single way a princess could ever discover bliss happiness is through conforming to a distorted old fashioned restricted womanism. Crystal Liechty, on the other hand, claims that there is nothing erroneous with the Disney Princess Culture, in fact Disney princess films convey awesome messages to little children, for example, in the event that one is kind and tries their
She gives Cinderella a dress and shoes. The fairy godmother also transforms a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen. In “Aschenputtel,” the bird only gives Cinderella a dress and shoes. She does not get a coach and footmen. “The Little Glass Slipper” had more magic in the story and provided Cinderella with resources to get to the
What are some ways that the real Pocahontas differed from the Disney representation? In the article The Pocahontas Paradox, Cornel Pewewardy writes that the real Pocahontas was lured onto a British ship, dressed in English clothes, and held captive for over a year. She was baptized as a Christian before marrying John Rolfe, getting pregnant with his baby, and travelling back to England where she died shortly thereafter. Pewewardy includes testimony from the Mattoponi people about the true character of Pocahontas. She was loyal to her people and served as an ambassador between the Native Americans and the Europeans.
These concepts are depicted within the classic Disney princess film Cinderella directed by Clyde Geronimi. This film has ‘taught’ and/or shown little girls to stop everything they are currently doing and to become dependent on a man to save the day. Cinderella can be seen as the ultimate example of a “damsel-in-distress” because she gets saved from being “abused, humiliated and a servant in her own house to her stepmother and stepsisters” (Cinderella). However, the film does not fail to mention how despite this Cinderella still remains “gentle” and “kind.” The usage of ‘gentle’ and ‘kind’ rather than ‘understanding’ pinpoints the societal gender norms in action— according to these, a woman should be compliant and quiet. Professor Jane Ward
The movie may seem like an innocent story about about a helpless girl who meets a prince and falls in love. However, the movie has many stereotypes embedded into it. For example Cinderella is a servant to her own family who falls in love with her prince charming at first sight. Her life improves the minute she meets him sending across the message that women need to be rescued by men. The last words that are seen in the Disney fairytale are, “and they lived happily ever after.” Cinderella goes from a miserable life to a picture perfect life just by
You do not have to wear a dress, and have a perfect body to be a Princess. All girls are princesses in their own beautiful way. Disney should express different is beautiful. I believe when young girls watch a Disney Princess movie they compare their selves to them, and that should not be the case. Disney should not keep a certain label on the princesses.