ipl-logo

The Little Mermaid: Gender Stereotypes

2329 Words10 Pages

At some point in life, being a Disney princess was every females’ dream. Their kindness, courage, and beauty is thought to provide a safe culture for children (Mcbride, 2016) Not to mention, their flawless appearance and their happily ever after makes the princess culture. For these reasons, parents perceive the Disney as quality family entertainment (Buckingham, 1997). But in actuality, princesses may not be the most positive role models for young viewers.
The issue associated with Disney Princesses movies is that their usual gender stereotyped as the submissive female who falls in love with a man to live happily ever after. Birbeck and her colleagues assessed the princess culture in 198 preschoolers (male and female), 96% of females and …show more content…

Her father, King Triton, forbids Ariel from meeting a human, so she finds other ways to connect with humans. Ariel steals possessions from poor women and men lost at sea from shipwrecks. During the movie, Ariel goes to her secret grotto to store her stolen treasures. Over the a period of time, Ariel has stolen thousands of possessions. Although she is caught stealing by her friend, Sebastian, Ariel struggles to stop compulsively stealing items from humans. She simply calls the items “her collection” instead of admitting that she is a …show more content…

In this case, does not have her happy ending until she received her legs; Ariel’s a mental disorder handicapped Ariel’s ability to learn how to accept her flaws. Also, Ariel’s infatuation with humans causes her to become a kleptomaniac when stealing from shipwrecked victims. The idea of having a princess as a role model for young viewers with a chronic theft pattern should not be accepted in society.
In the movie Beauty and the Beast (1991), a princess named Belle is ostracized in her small town in France for being an illiterate woman. One day, her father, Maurice, gets lost in the woods and goes into a secluded castle for shelter. A beast resides in the castle and mistakes Maurice for an intruder, so the Beast locks him away as his prisoner. Belle goes looking for her father and goes inside the same castle only to be confronted by the beast, as well. Belle sees her father sick and weak and offers to take his place as the Beast's prisoner. The Beast accepts Belle’s

Show More
Related

  • The Myth Of American Girl By Peggy Orenstein

    378 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Peggy Orenstein’s book, she effectively argues that a princess-like society immersed in America's culture is damaging to young girls through her interviews, evidence, personal experience, and humorous tone. Starting towards the beginning of her book, Orenstein exposes to the audience that she too liked Disney. She says that "God knows I was a Disney kid. I still have my bona fide mouse ears" (Orenstein 13). By doing this, Orenstein conveys her knowledge of the two sides of her argument: Disney is damaging to young kids or vice versa.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Stereotypes In The Princess And The Frog

    1155 Words  | 5 Pages

    As one of the most influential entertainment producers, Disney dominates the global market for ages attracting the countless audience around the world. However, Disney’s most famous “‘princess’ fairy tale stories” (Barker, 2010, p. 492) are criticized for racism and sexism. In 2007, Disney confirmed production of the film, The Princess and the Frog, featuring the first African-American Disney princess, Tiana. For Disney this film was the response to the accusation of racism and sexism represented in its animation. Also, it was filled with African American parents’ anticipation and excitement who longed for a non-stereotypical black woman on the screen (Breaux, 2010, p. 399).

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Princess And The Frog

    597 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mary Pipher's Saplings In The Storm

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Examples Of Hegemonic Femininity In The Little Mermaid

    1393 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Little Mermaid: Hegemonic Femininity The transition from a girl to a woman is created by the socially constructed ideals of femininity often depicted in commercials, books, and mainly films. One of the famous animated princess Disney films, The Little Mermaid can be easily added to yet another Disney film portraying hegemonic femininity. In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, (Ron Clements, John Musker) a beautiful, young mermaid is willing to make a risky deal with an evil sea-witch because she yearns to walk on land and fall in love with a Prince, while secretly the sea-witch wishes for the mermaid to lose the deal. Ultimately, mermaid ends up achieving her dream of marrying the Prince, although the evil sea-witch tries to destroy the plan.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of What's Wrong With Cinderella

    1343 Words  | 6 Pages

    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. These films taking into account the earliest film and certain popular characters that have represented a shift from being the coy damsel in distress to a woman who plays an active role in determining her own destiny. The portrayal of the Disney princess has changed in accordance with the development of women in society over time (1937 to 2013) from demure and traditional to

    Read More

  • Disney Princesses Are Bad Role Models

    1285 Words  | 6 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Paper Bag Princess Stereotypes

    494 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Little Mermaid Gender Stereotypes

    1690 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Movie Little Mermaid

    1432 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Disney movie Little Mermaid is an unsuitable movie for the children due to its negative gender representation which overemphasizes physical appearance and stereotypical gender roles through the characters in the film. In the Disney film Little Mermaid, they over-emphasize physical appearance and stereotypical gender roles throughout the movie, which causes negative effects on children for it could discourage them their own self-image, on how they look and may despise their body appearance. Throughout the film, the vast majority of the human-like characters were depicted stereotypically. Many of

    Read More

  • The Negative Aspects Of Disney Princesses In Disney

    1025 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Masculinity In King Triton's The Little Mermaid

    1427 Words  | 6 Pages

    The characters in The Little Mermaid are stragetically designed in a way that conveniently adheres to stereotypical ideas of how males and females should behave, value, and appear according to their gender roles in a patriarchal society that demeans women. In order to do this, the main male characters, including King Triton and Prince Eric, must depict hypermasculinity to dramatically contrast from the creation of their fragile and inferior female counterparts. This is to also exhibit the men’s hypothetical ownership over these women, and using their displayed incompetence as justification of their assumed possession of Ariel. Ariel, the central female character, is depicted as beautiful, because she meets stereotypical standards of beauty

    Read More

  • Coming Of Age In Ariel's The Little Mermaid

    327 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Little Mermaid is all about coming of age. In other words Ariel the main character of the story believes that she is old enough to do as she pleases. Ariel loves going to the surface. On the other hand her dad didn’t want any humans to lay eyes on her, as a result of him thinking that they are barbarians. All Ariel wants is to do what she wants when she wants.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalytic Analysis Of The Disney Film 'Cinderella'

    1318 Words  | 6 Pages

    The story is about a young girl named Cinderella whose widowed father remarries but soon dies, leaving his daughter with the evil stepmother and her two daughters. The stepmother prefers her own daughters over Cinderella and has her perform all of the house chores. While Cinderella is kind, patient, and sweet, her stepsisters are cruel and selfish. Meanwhile, across the kingdom the King decides that his son the Prince should find a suitable bride and marry and so invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a fancy ball. Cinderella has no appropriate dress for the ball so her friends the mice namely Jaques and Gus, and the birds help her in making one, but the evil stepsisters tear apart the dress on the evening of the ball.

    Read More

  • Essay On Gender Roles In Disney Movies

    1371 Words  | 6 Pages

    DISNEY SEXISM In society, there are gender roles which put each sex in stereotypical figures. These roles affect the way how we speak, dress and act. In general, women expected to behave feminine such as being polite and fragile and on the other hand men are expected to be aggressive and stronger. All these roles are over exaggerated in Disney 's women and men figures. When we look at the society, children are the ones who are more likely to being manipulated by elements such as media.

    Read More

More about The Little Mermaid: Gender Stereotypes

Open Document