Disney's Influence On Identity

Introduction

We often wonder if our identity has been shaped, thought our lives. Most people will agree that yes, they are not the same person they were, let’s say, 5 years ago. To be honest, I’m not the same person I was a year ago and I’d dare say most of you would agree with me. But how and why does this happen? Well, when asked most of you would probably say because you went to university, experienced new realities and met new people, right? However, and as true as this is, there’s one thing not many of us think of when talking about identity. Let me ask you a question. How many of you have immediately connected to someone just because they like the same music you do? Or how many of you have, unconscious or consciously, borrowed some personality traits of your favorite character

One way or another, we were all exposed to Disney culture at a very young age. But how has Disney influenced our identity?

Because it influenced our youth. Children are very impressionable and their views often change depending on what they are exposed to and what we saw on TV from Disney was, for some of us at least, one of the first and only media we saw at the time. But can we honestly say that the movies we grew up watching were and continue to be good examples? From plain misogynist jokes in Peter Pan, body image issues in most Disney Princesses movies and even hyper-sexualized female characters as in Alladin a few red flags are sure to be held.

The reasons to worry only grow when we realize that studies show that female characters speak less than male characters in their own movies and that most of the compliments they receive are based on their looks and appearance than on their skills.

Of course, not all of it is bad. More recent movies show more and more strong independent female lead, sexist and misogynist issues have been properly addressed and Disney has even introduced the first LGBT