The Little Mermaid Gender Analysis

Gender is classified in one of two ways in society: either male or female. This binary construction of gender is problematic because in any binary there is a sense of hierarchy where one is held above the other. In the case of the gender binary, it’s easy to see that more often than not it is the male being held above the female. Following this pattern, basically everything in today’s culture reinforces these two gender identities, whether it’s movies or magazines. The toy market is the most obvious market for gender-typing things. However, the movie market is also bad about reinforcing gender identities with its Disney princesses and mistreatment of women. Magazines also have a large influence on gender identities, though.

The toy market clearly

Disney princess movies are a wonderful example of these identities. While most of the princesses are docile and obedient, even the more free spirited princesses typically end up having their entire story moved along by the males. In the case of The Little Mermaid, the case is constantly that one of the men in Ariel’s life is the one bringing bad news or taking her from place to place. As Henke and Umble say, “By authorizing the male characters to act on Ariel’s behalf, Disney maintains a chauvinistic, patriarchal message about unempowered females and zpowerful males who act on their behalf.” (324) Ariel is even considered one of the more free spirited and outspoken Disney princesses and yet her story still ends with her submitting to a prince. On the opposite end of the movie spectrum, horror movies are just as bad for enforcing gender stereotypes and identities. For instance, instead of portraying women as strong heroines, any strong woman is simply masquerading as a man. As Brown states in the reading, “A central concern for critics has been the common interpretation of the action heroine as simply enacting masculinity rather than providing legitimate examples of female heroism.” (Brown 47) If not figuratively being a male, females in horror movies tend to be there simply for the male gaze. What this says is that women cannot be as strong or as tough as men; that for a women to be tough she must be

No man is going to read Cosmopolitan and no woman is going to pick up Sports Illustrated. Women’s magazines are known for reinforcing the feminine homemaker gender identity with the home decorating tips, diets, and recipes. Cosmopolitan is a very good example of a feminine magazine. It is not seen as a typical feminine magazine because of how it glorifies sex and encourages women to use their looks and sexuality to further their personal gains in life. It would be easy to see Cosmo as feminist because of this, but at the same time it’s easy to see it as reinforcing gender identity in that it implies women should be there for men to look at and that’s the only way to progress in life. Another well-known feminine magazine trope is that the women in the magazines and especially on the covers, are always impossibly thin and impossibly perfect. Sometimes magazines do vary from this and one perfect example is Glamour’s 2004 issue that featured Queen Latifa on the cover. This might seem like a brave step away from the idea that the female gender identity needs to be thin, but upon closer inspection it’s nothing more than a sad attempt. First of all, Latifa had recently lost quite a bit of weight and had undergone a breast reduction surgery prior to being on the cover and even with this they still put her in clothing that covered her stomach and any other part that might have been “unpleasant.” Secondly, all the cover talked