Stereotypes In Fairy Tales: Cinderella And The Little Mermaid

Both movies illustrate the mistreatment of step children, the importance of young girls having a father figure in their lives, and the hope of finding true love and living happily ever after. Numerous traditional and modern versions of the Cinderella story have been recreated. These stories depict people of different race and ethnicities from all over the world. Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella can be best described as a traditional version of the story with a cultural

Orenstein places blame on Disney, shaming them for taking advantage of the pre-existing princesses for their own profit. In becoming so focused on the negativity that she believes these princesses may impose, she doesn't realize the potential greatness that companies, like Disney, try to advocate. To some, princesses create dreams for girls and it gives them inspiration at a young age. It shows them to be brave, like Mulan or even strong-willed and persistent, like Cinderella. It gives developing guidelines for positive characteristics, this way, when they encounter difficult situations later on in life, they already have a premise for how to deal with it.

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.

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?”). However, the later Disney films have gradually attempted to break away from this stereotype resulting in stronger female characters like Ariel, Mulan, and Elsa among others. Keeping this transition in mind, this paper uses semiotic analysis of four popular Disney films, namely, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Mulan (1998) to depict the influence of societies ' changing perceptions of women on the portrayal of Disney princesses.

Abstract Most of us have grown up watching Disney films but never really thought of what they exactly mean to us. Our understanding of what it means to be a Disney princess is probably one of the reasons to what made us subject to the regulation of cultural values. Cinderella and other similar Disney princesses may be recognised as a part of an individual’s childhood but the values and ideas it conveyed can still be reflected in our decisions and behaviour as adults. Many young girls perceive Cinderella as a role model and create expectations and beliefs based on what is portrayed through her unfortunately these expectations are not fulfilled and ends in dissatisfaction. The research paper begins with a brief introduction to Psychoanalytic theory followed by an analysis of the Disney film “Cinderella” which will enable the reader to understand and relate to how the film influences and

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.

As adolescent girls grow up they start to lose their inner kid that was once inside them. The said to be nature and source of the problem with adolescent girls are the fairy tales that are read to those girls at a young age. “Fairy tales capture the essence of this phenomenon,” (Pipher 12). These fairy tales show adolescent girls that if you go through a life threatening situation your prince charming will come to save you. It also teaches girls that through all of this they transform into “passive and docile creatures” (14-15).

Paterson read a book called The Paper Bag Princess to the students and asked them why the princess was always the one captured. The children responded in a predictable way by saying that she had to be captured in order for the prince to save and marry her. She expressed her worry about children who felt differently about the social norm of heterosexuality. “It’s really important to create inclusive learning environments for everyone in the school so that those voices aren’t being lost.” (Paterson) Everyone has a right to education and part of that right is to feel included and to no be criticized by any reason. Movies based on the fairytales are made like this so they could have a moral at the end of the story and usually those morals are necessary in a child’s upbringing.

Everyone and their grandmother has watched Disney movies. Some of Disney’s most iconic movies are their modern day reinterpretations of common fairy tales and the princesses with in them such as Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White, and Rapunzel. However, anyone with eyes can notice that all of their princesses no matter their background rhave one thing in common; They are all fashionably, sometimes impossibly, skinny. And by contrast, many of the villains particularly the female ones are seen as undesirable.Being undesirable, particularly in the case of Cinderella, is shown by making her stepsisters fat and ugly. That is the issue the author, Jane Yolen, focuses on in her poem Fat is not a Fairytale.

However when gender equality, oppression, and advertising become an issue and fear over the population over those years, Disney has been hit with various claims of taking the difference between male and female, focus desires, and attracting children with amazing advertisements. They have tried to change their stories by making them fit with the new generation and include more modern understanding. Parents should know that children are like sponges; they absorb everything from their surrounding, so parents should sit down with their children and watch these Disney television shows, and films and decide whether to let there children continue watching those things or stop them. From Mickey Mouse, to sleeping beauty, to cars (CASTILLO.2006.para1) they are all common Disney cartoons that can affect children by teaching them stereotypes, Racism and violence. Firstly, when talking about stereotypes people will think directly of girls who keep on watching Disney cartoons and films that mostly includes princesses.

Disney also owns a history of controversies with their “magical” ideologies in films. In a study conducted by Chyng Feng Sun and Erica Scharrer, college students were asked to create a critique and analysis of Disney’s film, The Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Seamaid. Obviously the students were highly entertained with the colorful images and the sing alongs in Disney’s version of the story, but they’ve made crucial statements. “I know they had to have changed the story because of the portrayal of Ariel and other women and how they have stereotyped Disney thin, more developed bodies than a girl of that age” (p. 50), states a student in Sun and Scharrer’s article. Then after reading The Seamaid, another student claims, “I realized how much the Disney version influenced me .