Disney Princess Movies

Media has the capacity to capture an audience’s attention and influence someone’s thoughts and ideas. Due to their growing and innocent minds, media can be very influential to children, in some cases it can stick with them as they grow into adults. Recently, this idea has been more concerning because as society has been evolving, the messages these movies are portraying have not. The debate is not whether or not children are being affected by Disney films, but rather to do an analysis on the extent these movies affect young children. While exploring these aspects, researchers present different stances in their articles: effects on young women versus men, a teacher and parents’ role, and whether or not Disney is trying to reverse these effects.

While young girls are the main target for Disney princess movies, it has been found that young boys can take in just as much information while watching. Coyne’s article brings up the idea that both genders are affected when they watch these films: “Research has found that boys can learn gender stereotypes from watching female heroines in the media and vice versa” (1910). She explains that depending on the boy, and what characters they decide to identify with, they can start to develop feminine qualities or overly masculine qualities. But, there are many other facts that can reverse these effects, such as young boys already having stereotypes in mind, therefore being uninterested in these movies. Conye’s article, in “Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses” Dawn Elizabeth England et al., explores this factor, showing that they are not as affected, and do not develop these qualities. This is because most studies focus on: “…traditional female stereotypes more than male stereotypes” (565). They explain that while the role of the prince is important, it is less significant than the impact of princesses on young girls’. Even though these articles have contrasting ideas, they both make it clear that these movies are affecting young children in some way. While it is clear that many others believe Disney is the cause

In "Peter Pan isn't a Girls' Part: An Investigation of Gender Bias in a Kindergarten Classroom," Karyn Wellhousen and Zenong Yin evaluate how a particular teacher can impact how his or her students think and feel about gender roles due to how they present it in everyday learning. Through their research, they found that “…teachers can make these changes in their own behavior in order to be fair to both boys and girls” (38). If the teacher learns how to not be biased in the classroom when it comes to gender, they can help add in other ideas in contrast to those that are being portrayed by Disney. In contrast to their findings, in “How does it get into my Imagination: Elementary School Children's Intertextual Knowledge and Gendered Storylines," Elizabeth Yeoman does not believe teachers play a beneficial role in trying to further children’s education on gender: “They can contribute to the reproduction of limiting of meanings…” (439). These effects are mainly due teachers not having enough time to challenge these roles in the classroom. While both of these articles have different outlooks on what affects children’s ideas on gender, they both bring up how certain films are limiting their ideas on gender roles. While many have researched how films have affected children over the years, there are few