Gender Stereotypes In Shrek

193 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of Disney movies on society

In addition to her manly behavior, Fiona also rejects Farquaad’s marriage proposal and choose to stay with Shrek instead because she rejects the conventional life she has been told to have. She wants to marry whoever she loves and to take control of her life, showing her independence. This shows that being different from the Disney princesses choosing to live “happily ever after” with a prince, Fiona defies society’s expectations and stereotypes of a ‘’good’’ woman who is thought to be submissive and domesticated but not rebellious or independent (Barker 317). Undeniably, fairy tales are so important that they facilitate children's imagination, but on the other hand, they limit their ways of thinking and somehow set gender stereotypes in youngsters’

Show More
Related

  • Star Wars Episode IV: A Qualitative Research

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the release of JJ Abrams’ Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens in late 2016 recording a staggering domestic gross of over $936 million (Box Office Mojo 2016), the Star Wars series continues to be one of the biggest pop culture icons of the 21st century. However, for a film targeted towards all ages and demographics, with women making up 52% of all movie goers in North America (Motion Picture Association of America **), there is a startling lack of female representation within the series. Furthermore, with the growing prevalence of media in our daily lives combined with media’s role in the development of beliefs and ideas in its viewers, the messages delivered by mass media texts are partly responsible for the for the

    Read More

  • The Space-Off In Angela Carter's The Company Of Wolves

    2292 Words  | 5 Pages

    In “The Company of Wolves” Carter employs conventions of gender construction and didacticism, which help establish a fairy tale space (Koske 323). Carter presents a world in which fairy tale notions of gender are upheld. In her paper, “In Olden Times, When Wishing was Having: Classic and Contemporary Fairy Tales”, Joyce Carol Oates explains that the girls and women in fairy tales “are the uncontested property of men”. Carter alludes to this male dominated reality in her tale (99). When the girl, Carter’s Red Riding Hood, insists on venturing into the woods, the narrator says that “[h]er father might forbid her, if he were home, but he is away in the forest, gathering wood, and her mother cannot deny her” (1224). There is perhaps no gendered element to a parent preventing his child from wandering into the wilderness, b...

    Read More

  • Book Review of The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angea Carter

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, in these fairy tales Carter succeeds in delivering a feminist message and provides a counter argument for the moral message of traditional fairy tales in which young women were encouraged to remain obedient and pure. Unlike in earlier fairy tales, in these stories it is the straying from the path that results in transformation and releases women from the subjugation that women over history have been subjected to.

    Read More

  • The Reality as Opposed to the Disney Versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    Presently, many books and fairytales are converted movies and often, producers alters the original tales to grasp the attention of a large audience. However, some of these interpretations hide the primary interpretation. The original interpretations of the Disney classics Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are greatly reinvented from the original fairytales Sun, Moon, and Talia and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because of the brutal nature of the treatment women in these original forms. Although there are differences in certain aspects from the original tales to the movies, there are many issues that are influential to the young girls who are still watching the Disney version. I realize this when my youngest niece, Anella asks me, “Why can’t I be beautiful and fall asleep and suddenly wake up to finally find my prince?” This is true in all cases of the four different translations of the fairytales. Every single girl in these stories are in a “beautiful” state of half-death who wake to find a prince who if eager to carry them off. This can lead to negative psychological effects on young girls as they are growing up, creating a large amount of pressure and low self-esteem due to the beauty that these stories portray and maintaining restrictions that these women experience in the stories. While it is true that Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves are considered Disney classics that entertain children and provide meaningful role models, it is evident that the true, vulgar nature of these tales are hidden; these stories are about women who are thrown away.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes Summary

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    The topic of over-generalizing characteristics of a man or woman has become a controversial debate. While both sides have valid points, Monika Bartyzel, a freelance writer who created Girls in Film, a weekly feature on “femme-centric film news and concerns” at theweek.com, argues in her gender stereotype article “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” Disney has gone against their own perception of a princess, leaving young girls to believe they are only worth value if they are pink, sparkling and dependent on a man.

    Read More

  • The Wonder Of Imagination In Deborah Ross's Escape From Wonderland

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Escape from Wonderland” by Deborah Ross, the writer explains how the fictional characters are admired. Although they seem to be sending a bigger message to young girls. The writer talks about drawing a line between fantasy and reality. In the end Ross’s objective is to show how some Disney characters break the femininity and imagination tradition. Which can have an effect in children and how they value their own ability to have unique visions. By comparing Alice in Wonderland (1951), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) to heroines like Arabella from The female Quixote. “Charlotte Lennox’s (The Female Quixote illustrates both these conservative and progressive plot patterns, for it both draws upon and criticizes earlier romances, which themselves often both celebrate and punished female imagination and expressiveness. Therefore, like Disney’s movies today, which also use material from romance and fairy-tale tradition”, (pg. 473, Escape from Wonderland). Young women may not only begin to fantasize about a grandeur life more exciting than reality but to be disappointed with society in the workplace and relationships. For example, Meredith from Brave she is a princess that wishes to have a different life than what her mother has planned for her. She refuses to get married and have the duties of a princess. She wants to have adventures and be

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes in 20th Century Disney Stories

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    My childhood has been just like every kid growing up in the 20th century. It revolved around the Disney story’s that were filled with magic and dreams. From Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, my beloved children 's stories were controlled by male characters. At a young age this taught me that women are not as useful as men. These stories made me learn what it means to be a boy, girl, man, or woman. The ratio of males to females as main characters was so outstanding it lead me to question how these stories impacted how I view men and women.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes in Fairytales

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shrek, an enormous, disgusting green ogre falling in love with a beautiful princess (later turning into a nasty ogre) is a perfect example of a stereotypical fairytale, right? Well in the movie Shrek, the voice over in the trailer talks about a “hero” attempting to rescue a “fair princess” with the help of “his trusty companion." Besides the fact that the hero is a voluptuous green ogre and the companion is a donkey, everything fits in normally to the definition of a traditional fairytale (Diaz). Also according to Mary Kunimitsu, in fantasy films “There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts” (Kunimitsu). In Shrek, there are many of these different characters. Therefore, by explanation, a traditional fairytale with the beautiful princess getting saved by the prince and falling in love is exactly what happens in the movie Shrek, just with a twist. The voice over in the trailer for Shrek states it perfectly as he says “Shrek is a highly irreverent take on the classic fairytale” (Adamson). As an untraditional fairytale, and a parody, the movie Shrek poses the breaking of stereotypes of gender and film fairytales all the while keeping the criteria of a fairytale.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In The Little Mermaid

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Once upon a time, there was a 16 year old mermaid princess named Ariel who gave up her voice, an important part of her identity, in order to be with a man who she became infatuated with at just one glance. Ariel has a very traditional gender-stereotypical role in the film, as the helpless, clueless, naive, physically weak, submissive, and attractive female protagonist that Disney films, especially the classics, portray so often (England). There is a lot of controversy surrounding this film in regards to its patriarchal ideals. The Little Mermaid, like most media, is build for the ‘male gaze’, a term coined by Laura Mulvey that suggests that visual entertainment, such as movies, are structured to be viewed by a masculine consumer. I will argue that the male gaze perpetuates harmful gender-stereotypes in The Little Mermaid.

    Read More

  • Andrea Dworking's Onceuponatime: The Roles

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    In end, it is unfortunate that fairy tales stories skew and degrade the moral standards and values of youth in this day in age. Pushing for change of these stories will ultimately cause uproar. People will fear the criticism they will get for being nonconformists and be criticized for changing stories that exist. It is unfair for feminists and people who believe that equality is important in society. For the fact that gender roles are not interchanged in these stories are unfortunate evidence that gender inequality exists today and is being taught to children even until this day. Dworking says,

    Read More

  • Gender Roles and Stereotypes

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and grow up to become princesses. Boys are suppose to play with cars, wear blue, and become firefighters and policemen. These are just some of the common gender stereotypes that children grow up to hear. Interactions with toys are one of the entryway to different aspects of cognitive development and socialism in early childhood. As children move through development they begin to develop different gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by their peers and caregivers. (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002; Freeman, 2007; Leaper, 2000)

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes in Fairy Tales

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.

    Read More

  • Feminism and Fairy Tales

    1259 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes: The Influence Of Gender Roles In Society

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Changes in society have brought issues regarding gender stereotype. Gender roles are shifting in the US. Influences of women’s movement (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006) and gender equality movement (e.g., Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)) have contributed to expanding social roles for both genders. Nevertheless, gender stereotypes, thus gender stereotype roles continue to exist in the society (Skelly & Johnson, 2011; Wood & Eagly, 2010). With changes in gender roles, pervasiveness of gender stereotype results in a sense of guilt, resentment, and anger when people are not living up to traditional social expectations (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006). Furthermore, people can hold gender stereotype in pre-reflective level that they may

    Read More

  • Essay On The Influence Of Fairy Tales On Children

    2515 Words  | 6 Pages

    By exposing the role of fairy tales in the cultural struggle over gender, feminism transformed fairy-tale studies and sparked a debate that would change the way society thinks about fairy tales and the words. “Fairy Tales and Feminism.” Project MUSE -, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/31411.

    Read More

More about Gender Stereotypes In Shrek

Open Document