In the excerpts from both James Poniewozik's "The Princess Paradox" and Peggy Orenstein's "Cinderella and Princess Culture", the authors address the growing market of princess products and how big ticket companies are using this knowledge to turn a profit. Both authors are highly respected journalists who have been published in the New York Times multiple times. Each has done their own intensive research on the media's use of princesses and their culture to make money. While both authors address how corporations are finding profit in "princess culture", Poniewozik focuses on how movie studios found princess stories to bring money in from young audiences, while Orenstein appears more concerned with how Disney branded princesses. In "The Princess …show more content…
Poniewozik stated in his essay that, "Princess Diaries brought in $108 million, causing "Cinderella stories" to pop up everywhere (Poniewozik 666)”. By this, he may be showing the use of trends in our culture and how when something is seen being successful, people often join the bandwagon.. This shows how marketing to young children, especially girls, paid off. By seeing the success in others, competitive movie studios produced princess tales. But, instead of showing how people copy one another, Orenstein talked about how an idea came from an apparent demand for a product. She goes on to give a statement by Disney marketing executive, Andy Mooney, "I was surrounded by little girls dressed head to toe as princesses.” Then he says, “The light bulb went off. Clearly there was latent demand here (Orenstein 672)”. This could be stressing how the Princess craze began. A marketing executive saw an underlying urge in young girls that he believed could bring money to his company. According to Orenstein, Mooney was right in his assertion. Disney created a brand and then continued to market it. Eventually the company created their own line of products, branding the “princess” into a product for children. So while both authors show how the Princess trend was profitable, Poniewozik focused on others jumping on the bandwagon, while Orenstein highlighted the initial supply for a
This quote shows that Orenstein conducted interviews with teenagers, as well as adults. She gets an inside view of a teenager's mind through her interview; this boosts her credibility. All of Orenstein's research and interviews effectively argue that a princess-like culture is dangerous to
One of 1950’s most popular movies that is still around today is Cinderella, which is about “a beautiful young girl is forced into virtual slavery by her cruel, exploitative stepmother and jealous stepsisters” (“Cinderella” 2). In 1950 most movies and shows were based off a happy life and kept to the same generic styles. However, when Walt Disney released a spin on style and portrayed uniqueness with Cinderella, it roared with popularity. Cinderella sparked the movement for Disney and his successful company. Following the massive success of the famous fairytale, “he also had the foresight to pioneer ancillary merchandise and music rights from the film into major money makers, thus financing his ultimate dream project: the construction of Disneyland” (“Cinderella” 3).
In the article, “The Princess Paradox,” author James Poniewozik argues that even though girls may grow up in a household that nurtures extreme independence and feminism, some girls want to be a princess coupled with being a strong individual. Poniewozik is compelled to explain this new cultural aura concerning both feminism and the desire to be a princess. He explains that now, in opposition to the idea of a need for domesticity as well as the polar idea of feminism, girls believe that they can be a princess independent simultaneously. He also explains that the princess must fit the girl, not the other way around. The author overall adequately supports his claim, that a change in media and film has altered girls’ desire to simply be independent, with details; however, he distracts from the topic at times with unnecessary information that
The timeless tale of glamourized abuse, Perrault’s “The Little Glass Slipper” from 1697, more commonly known as the 1950 Disney classic, “Cinderella.” Lieberman claims that the formation of a child’s ‘psycho-sexual identity’ may be negatively impacted by the representation of female and male behaviour in media. “The Little Glass Slipper” follows the story of a kind and gentle Cinderella whose widowed father married a haughty woman with two daughters. Cinderella is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters repeatedly, and her father is never mentioned again in the tale. Her only solace is her godmother, who supports her throughout the fairy tale.
The core of the story has become very flexible in terms of how it can be portrayed. In the article, “A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella”, the author, Linda Holmes, talks about the durability of the story when she states “All it takes is a girl and a dress and a shoe; people get it. There are countless versions” (11). Holmes gives many examples of stories and movies that have portrayed the Cinderella Story. She stressed the work “countless” in her arguments to emphasize how far this folk tale has come.
There are a variety of facts used in Hollandsworth’s article; however there are a select few that he makes good use of for his argument. Hollandsworth states that $4 billion is annually spent on Disney Princess retail; he uses this fact to claim that girls who wanted to be like princesses did beauty
These phenomenons bring up the fact that just by them watching this they get a certain perception of a princess and how to be one. Not only does this have an effect on girls so do the approval of others as they understand
Can Every Girl Be a Princess?: Disney’s Biased Color Symbolism in Their Princess Movies If we believe Cinderella than “[e]very girl can be a princess” (Grady and Panzer). Actually, we have nothing more to do than “close [our] eyes and see” and then with a tip of the magic wand, we will be gone from “just [us] to royalty” (Grady and Panzer). But is it really this easy?
As a child, I watched countless Disney movies. I loved all of the princesses, and each one inspired me: Belle’s intelligence, Ariel’s curiosity, Jasmine’s bravery, and Rapunzel’s sense of adventure. And though I always wanted to be a princess, I never felt any of them truly represented me. My favorite princess was Ariel, mainly because she had the same color hair as me. Though the Disney princesses had admirable characteristics, I often felt that their motivations were skewed, with most of the princesses attempting to fall in love and marry a prince.
From its onset with its first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon today. But over the years, various parent groups, scholars and film critics have accused Disney for creating shallow, stereotypical princesses whose ultimate aim was to find her 'prince charming ' and live happily ever after. In her article, “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” in the New York Times, Peggy Orenstein expresses her concern over the effect of princess figures like Cinderella on young girls ' perceptions of themselves and how they should behave (“What’s Wrong With Cinderella?”).
The topic of self confidence is a subject that is heavily discussed when it comes to girls of all ages. Journalist, Stephanie Hanes, examines the current trend of sexualization amongst young girls. In the article “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Effect”, Hanes examines the current trend of sexualization amongst girls. She addresses the issue of desiring to become a women too soon. Hanes develops her article by using the literary techniques of pathos and logos to describe the emotions young girls feel when they see images of women with unattainable features.
Walt Disney has been making girls think that in order to be beautiful you have to be the perfect shape and size. (Shortridge). Some people believe that the Disney Princesses are great role models for children because Mulan teaches us to never give up on the strengths we have just because we are girls, Belle teaches us to never judge a book by its cover, and Pocahontas shows us real princesses are strong leaders. On the other hand, some individuals feel that Disney Princesses are bad role models because of their unrealistic body appearance, telling girls every marriage ends with a happily ever after when you get married at a young age, and saying every girl needs a man in order to be happy. Both sides have valid points but in reality everyone
Princesses’ in Disney movies are tied down to a recurring theme: the princess that must be saved from the evil woman by the charming prince. A significant contrast to the usually weak and easily persuaded figure of the father. Even though the women are portrayed as weak, nobody stops to think how strong they have to be to carry the responsibility of an entire household on her shoulder, while the men always seem to be traveling or ill. Fairytales are based on a patriarchal way of thinking and as time passes by, it’s proven to be detrimental to society Women and men are constantly being bound to a series of stereotypes.
People of all ages throughout the years are very familiar with the concept of Disney movies. Some notable classics of Disney are “Beauty and the Beast” which was released in 1991 and “The Little Mermaid” which was released in 1989. Among the children, the Disney princesses left a good impression on them like Cinderella from “Cinderella”, Pocahontas from “Pocahontas”, and Mulan from “Mulan”. However, many believe that Disney movies serve as a good influence to young audiences but people should know that Disney also has its flaws. Disney have showed negative portrayals of Disney princesses in their films especially when it comes to their usual unattainable beauty ideal and portraying their princesses as inferior to men.
Disney has been known for their theme parks and in producing movies and shows. They became famous starting from their first cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, and their lists of cartoons started to expand from then on. Disney started to have their own princesses which are looked up to by many young audiences and they somehow became the role model of little girls. This paper will discuss how far Disney Princesses have come in terms of gender politics and female empowerment, from princesses who are ‘damsels in distress’ to princesses who are capable of defending their selves. Renzetti said that, “Media content mirrors the behaviors and relationships, and values and norms most prevalent or dominant in a society” (1992, p. 107).