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Disney's popularizing animated films impact on the world
Gender roles in disney movies essays
Gender roles and stereotypes in disney movies
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We have all grown up watching Disney animated films and for most of us, it was the most memorable part of our childhood. What we didn’t and don’t realize till this moment is that almost all the disney animated movie portray stereotypes such as racism, gender stereotypes and the. Through its atrocious stereotypes, Disney animated films such as Lion King, Snow White and The Little Mermaid suggests that women are less in power than a man, skin color plays an important role in determining the character of a person and transformation a princess goes through, in order to get the “prince” of her dreams. Even though Lion King is a common children’s movie it is also one of the most racist disney movies around. The antagonist of the …show more content…
Snow White is a representation of fake beauty because she is just another young princess with red lips, black hair, white skin, skinny body, and a beautiful face. This is a great example that exhibits how a women should typically be, but that is not reality. Even the mirror describes her as the girl with “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937). Disney always uses the same type of characters. The same scenario repeats itself constantly: a young lady who is or becomes a princess waiting for her dream man to rescue her and marry her. According to “Poer To The Princess” (Bridget Whelan, 1998) “Disney’s first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), set a high standard for full-length animation and established a pattern for later Disney heroines to follow.” All of the princesses in the Disney animation films look innocent and show femininity because of their gentleness. Disney girls are incomplete without a man. They constantly need to be rescued by the man of their dreams and enter their prince’s life instead of creating their own. The idea of females being incapable to live without having a man in their lives might affect young girls because it emphasizes the idea that women are weak and that they should get married to find true happiness. Most importantly every single princess in Disney ends up marrying the love of her dreams. This is not reality because it is not always applicable to everyone. Everyone has their own way of living and not all of them will have a fairytale ending because not all women end up getting married. Snow White always longs for her man to find her and this is emphasized when she sings “I’m wishing for the one I love to find me”(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes,
The two Disney films that I decided to watch and research are Robin Hood from 1973 and Toy Story 3 from 2010. I decided to choose these movies because they both have a good amount of action and adventure in them, which is what I like best in movies. Stereotypes are very common in todays’s society according to Robert Sapolsky who states, “Face it, we all do it—we all believe in stereotypes about minorities. These stereotypes are typically pejorative and false, but every now and then they have a core of truth.”(Sapolsky,1997) The Disney animated films Robin Hood and Toy Story 3 portray many issues and gendered and racial stereotypes that are still present in society today.
Almost 100 years ago Walt Disney created what would later become one of the biggest multimedia empires in the nation. Since then, Disney has become a common household name around the world. Some of the company’s earlier animated films include Snow White, Cinderella, and Lady and the Tramp. When you think of Lady and the Tramp you most likely picture two lover dogs eating a bowl of spaghetti when they both just so happen to choose the same noodle and kiss as if they were humans. Looking past this cute yet somewhat unsettling scene, the viewer can see Disney’s attempt at stereotyping not one, but at least four different ethnicities depicted throughout the film through the form of animals. The stereotypes range from social class types, feminine
Presently, Disney known for its mass media entertainment and amusement parks technically bring warm feelings to many children and some adults. Personally, Disney elicits magical fantasies that children enjoy and further encourages imagination and creativity. For decades Disney has exist as an unavoidable entity with its famous global sensation and reach. Furthermore, Disney is a multibillion dollar empire with an unlimited grasp on individuals and territories. An empire per se, since they own many media outlets, markets, shops, etc., you name it they got it. However, the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly presents an entirely new perspective on the presumed innocence projected in Disney films. This film exposes certain traits Disney employs and exclusively portrays through its media productions, specifically cartoons for directing and nurturing influence beginning with children. Mickey Mouse Monopoly points out camouflaged messages of class, race, and gender issues in Disney films that occur behind the scenes intended to sway viewers towards adopting Disney values.
For several years now, Disney seems to be determined not to offend anyone in order to keep its audience; indeed we are confronted with animation films full of compromises; they are not as degrading for women as Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), but they are nonetheless still filled with clichés. Films such as The Princess and The Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Wreck-it Ralph (2012), have in common the sense of being progressive and however we can notice the resurgence of harmful gendered stereotypes on the subjects of the social scale, women’s role in society, or the status quo. Frozen comes in and turns out to be no exception. Though it includes several encouraging and gratifying elements, it contributes insidiously to spread numerous
When we typically think of racial tropes in popular culture, we often don’t look towards animated G-rated movies. The film The Princess and the Frog released by Walt Disney Animated Classics in 2009 created by John Musker, Ron Clements and Rob Edwards is a perfect contemporary example of a film that shows images of pre-constructed racial tropes. Though Disney has produced multiple films based on past fairy tales, The Princess and the Frog was the first animated Disney princess film that featured an African American woman in a leading role. Often times regarded as a turning point in Disney’s movie production career, the film’s representation of African Americans proves to be regressive of racist politics surrounding the 21st century. The design
Although the fairytale does a good job at separating male and female roles. It is clear that the creation of Snow White and the Evil Queen are quite different (as far as stereotypes go). Snow White, having typical feminine stereotype, is portrayed as gentle, kind, sensitive, and dependent by not being able to protect herself from the Evil Queen. On the other hand, the Evil Queen is more masculine because she is aggressive, independent, insensitive and cruel because of her confrontations with Snow
All of Pixar’s iconic films are inspired from small ideas drawn from aspects of everyday life. One of the most prominent inspirations was channeled into the film Finding Nemo. Andrew Stanton, a high ranking director and producer for Pixar, used his memories of a fish tank in a dentist’s office from his childhood as half of the story in Finding Nemo. Stanton’s sympathy for the fish and being an overprotective father served as the other half of the basic story and together the two memories formed the emotional anchor for the film. Another idea that spawned from a staff member helped create the unforgettable and heartfelt film Toy Story. John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Pixar, owned many rare and collectible toys, and became nervous whenever his kids wanted to play with them. However, the real message, Lasseter realized, is just because a toy is signed by Tom Hanks, it does not mean that it is sentenced to life on a shelf. Channeling that type of thinking into all of the toys in Toy Story is what makes the film so cherished and more easily relatable. Another popular film is The Incredibles, which is Pixar’s tribute to pop mythology, comic books, and spy movies. The other inspiration for this movie deals with an average, everyday family life: the fear, anxiety, work, and insecurities that happen throughout a day. Combining the two aspects make for a very interesting, action-packed film, while also being very sincere and family-friendly. Pixar films were not all inspired from personal experience and passion. A documentary about the Rainforest Mountains in Venezuela made by Adrian Warren was the inspiration behind the movie Up. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and Pixar proves that anything can be ex...
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
Disney princesses are fun for all ages, but their target audience is young children and “as children grow and develop, they can be easily influenced by what they see and hear”. Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many believe that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonists have been introduced subsequently, and gender roles do not appear to be as stereotypical as they once were. However, many of the apparent innocent messages about race and gender in these movies, can be exposed as otherwise. Despite their mask of progression, Disney princesses still have the potential to corrupt the minds of young children through sexism and racism.
It is amazing how a seemingly educated woman that has won Oscar awards for her documentaries, could possibly be so far off base in her review of the Disney movie “The Lion King”. Margaret Lazarus has taken a movie made for the entertainment of children and turned it into something that is racist, sexist and stereotypes gender roles. She uses many personal arguments to review the movie but offers few solutions. The author is well organized but she lacks alternate points of view and does not use adequate sources. Lazarus utilizes the statement at the end of her review that “the Disney Magic entranced her children, but they and millions of other children were given hidden messages that could only do them and us harm” (118). She makes her point by saying that “the Disney Magic reinforces and reproduces bigoted and stereotyped views of minorities and women in our society” (Lazarus 117). She makes comparisons such as elephant graveyards are like ghettos (Lazarus 118). Other lines of reasoning Lazarus gives us are about Whoopie Goldberg using inner city dialect, the villain Scar being gay, and only those born to privilege can bring about change (118).
Princess films are centered around a female character who meets the love of her life and, like in other fairy tales, ends with their wedding (Ross 4). Initially, the Disney princesses’ have portrayed a typical female role in the film, showing the expected gender roles in American society (England Descartes Collier-Meek 563). These gender-based stereotypes are influenced by the time period they were made in, but also originating from old fairytales made centuries ago. “Society’s increasing reliance on the use of television and videos to occupy children warrants continued investigation of how exposure to media may affect children. Given that media portrayals like those in the animated movies of Walt Disney often reinforce societal stereotypes related to gender, ethnicity, and culture, parents may consider a more thoughtful approach to the use of television and videos” (Disney Movies 1).
Constant traditional themes seem to surface regarding women in various Disney animated films. A current study completed by Towbin et al. (2003) concerning a thematic analysis of gender roles in Disney featured animated films found similar themes. She found that four themes emer...
Shakespeare is known for being a great writer, his play have been rewritten, re-adapted, and turned into films to keep their magic alive. However what many people do not know is that many of Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted into many Disney Films. More precisely “Hamlet” is one of the most used plays. Movies such as “Tarzan," “Aladdin," and “101 Dalmatians” used many scenes in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to inspire scenes in the films. The movie The Lion King by Disney, however, is one of the strongest and more closely related to “Hamlet” than any other Disney film, but how? More importantly what makes this movie more important and the focus of this essay?
This Extended Essay explores the characterization of Disney villains. More specifically, the extent to which Governor Ratcliffe of Pocahontas (1995), King Candy of Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Ursula of The Little Mermaid (1989), and Cruella De Vil of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) were portrayed as gender nonconforming, the effect of this, and the reasoning. I chose Disney because it is universally watched and respected, and I chose the four particular films because they spanned a large period of time and a wide variety of topics. It is not merely these four villains which share similar characteristics; they were chosen because they were diverse yet each were supported by uniform evidence. The characterization of the antagonists of Pocahontas
Disney and old fairytales threaten gender politics and ideal women roles by giving certain stereotypes for domestic and personality traits. Fairytales that have turned into Disney productions have sculpted domestic roles for women that consist of cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. Disney has also created these princesses with personalities that are shy, passive, and vulnerable. The cause of these stereotypes are making individuals obliterate their own identities and becoming clones from the mold that was prepared for