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Media influence on identity formation
Disney movies and gender roles quizlet
Disney movies and gender roles quizlet
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When you were younger did you ever watch a Disney Princess movie and thought to yourself “I wish I was her”, you cannot deny the fact that you would automatically begin thinking which one you would want to be. We have all wished to have the life of a Disney Princess: meet a handsome “prince” to sweep us off our feet, and have a happily ever after. But when you think about it, all of it just seems too good to be true. Has it ever come to mind that there might be something behind the dresses, beauty, and the good life? There have been speculations suggesting that, the movies we love oh so much are not exactly what they seem. Just like everything else, you can see in it, how we as Americans also use it to construct gender. We might not
see it at first, but pay close attention and you will see, the cynical side of the Disney Princesses. Meaning, sexism exists within what should be considered the safest place for the American youth.
Since Disney’s Snow White appeared in 1937, Disney princesses have been a present in pop culture. With the release of new movies frequent and re-release of decades old movies inevitable, a continuous stream keeps Disney princesses in the foreground of adolescent society. It is with the value of entertainment they have been created and as entertainment they should be viewed.
Your sparkling eyes gazed at the television, reading the word “Cinderella” by Disney. You had all your Cinderella toys lined up, ready to grab whenever necessary. Your Cinderella pajamas on, and your tea set is all prepared.Your mom adored your love for princesses. Didn’t we all love to sing along to the Disney movies about princesses and true love? Peggy Orenstein sure didn’t. Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter has a sharp opinion about how a “pretty and pink” culture is influencing girls in a negative way. The author proves this argument by discussing gender colorization, dolls, and princesses.
Some individuals, like Monika Bartyzel, argue that princess culture sets boundaries for what is considered feminine or princess-like. Arguments against princess culture suggest that companies like Disney have a responsibility to young consumers and that they need to extend their reach outside of gender roles. Meanwhile, individuals, such as Crystal Liechty, counter-argue that princess culture is not entirely negative. Arguments for princess culture suggest that the negative effects produced by the Disney princess franchise are an over-exaggeration because gender roles are presented in various forms. Whether it is for better or for worse, princess culture has impacted the lives of numerous people in the past. Thus, provided the evidence of this trend, princess culture is sure to play a role in lives of many individuals for generations to
Disney promotes sexisim by forcing young girls to live in a patriarchal world. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The little mermaid, Aladdin, and Snow White are all examples of popular Disney movies that encourage young viewers that they need a man to save the day. Yes, it’s true that there are recent movies such as Moana and Frozen that prove otherwise, but how long will it take to completely get over the fact that women are mainly viewed as secondary citizens compared to the men? There are countless examples of how Disney movies influence this theme, and how much the female characters’ actions, ideas and thoughts are not included in a Disney movie.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. 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.
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.
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the audience simply what they want to see. In the attempt to stick to the norm and portray stereotypical female characters, Disney created Princesses. Presented as damsels in distress and inferior beings to men, Disney Princesses give children an inaccurate portrayal of gender roles at a young age. Through Disney’s social success and intriguing films, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney Princess movies portray stereotypical representation of gender roles through the denigration of the female image, targeting and ruining the perception of youth today.
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-meek, M. (2011). Proquest. “Gender role portrayal and the disney princesses”. Sex Roles, 64(7-8), 555-567.
"Disney Princesses: Classic Fairy Tales Or Gender Stereotypes?" Hartford Courant, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
This chapter provides an overview of past researchers knowledge sharing and insights. It will introduce a framework for the study of identity portrayal and identity change in Disney princesses which are the main focus of the research.
The depiction of women as demure and as sexual objects in cinema has been evident since the beginning of popular culture. Women have always been supporting characters who are only involved in the storyline to allow the male protagonist the opportunity to be the hero. Women had become synonymous with the damsel in distress, meaning they always got themselves into some sort of trouble, and the male lead was required to get them out of the situation. Once he has solved the issue and saved the woman the hero then gets rewarded with her undying loyalty and love. Throughout the 20th century audiences have seen women continuously depicted in this manner, especially with the rise of comic book based films, however with the rise of feminism and gender
Disney has been an inspiration to kids since October 16, 1923. With the start of Mickey Mouse cartoons, Disney has created an empire of imagination. Ever since Snow White, Disney’s first princess in 1937, came on the screen, young females have been amazed by the vision of the “Disney Princess”. As the years went by, dozens of princesses have hit movie screens and Disney has made billions off of the profits from these individuals. In reality, Disney has influenced the immature views of what to expect of beauty from a woman.
As we’ll know princesses are a big part of the Disney Film Industry and they are’ll have something in common, and that is that they are involved in a feminism social problem. The conflict between the Disney Corporation and the Feminist has been going on since the first Disney Princess movie in 1937. The majority audience of all Disney movie is Children. Disney movies today has expanded their arsenal to give the young people a lesson about ourself and our ever changing moral, but the way they do it the expose the wrongful side of being a princess and also can be transmitted the wrong idea to young people. For example, Disney has set a forth standard of how all of their princess are suppose to look like. The portrait of women in disney films are often the stereotypical version of them, the cultural beliefs of the 1940s are reflected to the roles of the women in society, and also it shows that disney films has a more male outlook than women's.
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