The Little Mermaid: Gender Stereotypes

The movie “The Princess and the Frog” is not your typical “boy saves girl” movie. Instead, this Disney movie presents us with a strong female lead who doesn’t need a man to achieve her goals. In many previous Disney movies, it is demonstrated that a girl needs a man in order to get her happily ever after. Without a prince, she is nothing. In “The Princess and the Frog” the gender roles are presented to us as equal, even reverse at times.

Marion a real estate secretary is on the run after stealing $40,000 from her boss. She steals the money because she wants to get married to her boyfriend Sam but since they can’t afford to, Marion decides to steal money that her boss gave her to deposit in the bank. Her run away to California(where her boyfriend lives) is interrupted by a heavy rainstorm.

In this story, Liesel steals for her own benefit which inevitably leads to the people around her getting in trouble. Throughout the book Liesel steals multiple times and most of the time it is with Rudy, her best friend. Even though they have a wonderful friendship, Liesel can be selfish and disregard the fact that Rudy can be at fault. “Earnestly he said “just wait,” and hurried back around the corner.

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.

The story does not have a clear end and readers can predict any possibilities. One main prediction is Sylvia turning into a thief in the future. Sylvia isn’t new to the act of stealing as she “terrorized the West Indian kids and [took] their hair ribbons and their money too” (Bambara 1). Also greedy for money, she did not give a tip to the taxi driver as Miss Moore instructs. Sylvia now knows the value of money and the unfairness of economy through Miss Moore’s lesson of how economy is unfair.

Disney movies not only constructed my ideas of femininity, but they also imposed gendered sexuality on me at an early age through the use of patriarchy within these films. The message that a woman is lost without a man upholds the dominant social position of men and the submissive social position of women. Due to the emphasis on hetero-romantic love and the construction of heterosexual relationships as magical and natural, I learned to value my appearance as a little girl by wearing makeup, wearing nice clothes and styling my hair so that I could get my prince-charming, who would then validate my femininity. Moreover, my idolization of Disney princesses refined my knowledge on

He is the second in command of the Crown City Royals. Name: Queen Shea Released Date: 2016 Height: 5’6” Weight: 110 lbs. Friends: King Clark, Prince Hendrick Likes: Queen Shea loves her husband, King Clark.

In Rapunzel, she escapes with the prince by having the prince bring a piece of silk daily to so that Rapunzel could build a ladder. One day Rapunzel mentioned the prince to the witch and she was so angry that she cut off Rapunzel 's long hair and took her deep into the wilderness. Why would she just state her escape right in front of the witch who is holding her prisoner, she doesn 't seem like the smartest princess if she just mentioned the prince right to the witch 's face. She could have done it on accident but they never say that in the book, it would make a lot more sense if they did. Later that night when the prince called for her the witch let down Rapunzel 's hair, when he climbed up he was met by the witch.

Dinsey as a company likes to portray “traditional family values” in their productions, asserting certain gender roles and ideas. For example they female characters are seen to be a princess, queen or homemaker, never really venturing out of that role, like in the Little Mermaid, and Cinderella. They also seem to be obedient to the overly masculine character, like in Beauty and the Beast and Hercules. In a lot of these movies the female is being handed off to their husband by their father, with a lack of a mother figure at all in some of the stories. This shows that

The normalization of the impulse to deny women dominance led Disney cinema to illustrate strong women as murderers. In both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, the stepmothers are powerful, but slightly depicted as killers in the movie. This causes the Evil Queen and Lady Tremaine to be in a quarrelsome position in relation to their families, resulting in failed family relationships. This trend begins to fade well within Mulan and Maleficent, where these women gradually become nurturers of their families. In Snow White, Snow White initially tries to be caring towards the Evil Queen, but the Evil Queen has no desire to be familial.

Gender Ideology in Grimm and Disney Why are young girls in society expected to look up to perfect princesses as role models? When did singing with animals and loving to cook and clean become admirable traits? Since 1937, movies have been made about the Grimm fairy tale princesses that highlight these ideals. Not only are these things inaccurate in real life; they are also altered from their original stories.

To most little girls growing up wishing to become a princess and find their Prince Charming is nothing far from normal. From the very first Disney princess movies in the early 1900s young girls have naturally falling in love with the princess characters. However the morals of these movies are there to mask the negative impact that these movies are actually putting on young girls. For years these movies have been teaching girls to be sweet, emotional and a damsel in distress. That way their Prince Charmings will fall in love with them and save them when they are in danger, this trend is shown in multiple disney princess movies where the princesses are dependent on their prince.