Stereotypes In Disney Movies Essay

Disney Movies Over Time: Women’s Empowerment

For decades, heroes and heroines in Disney movies have formed enchanting images of a “happily ever after”. Namely, the portrayed notion of a prince charming rescuing a princess by a simple kiss has lead children, especially young girls, to view themselves as incapable of independence. In Aaron Devor’s article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender,” he claims that “it seems likely that many aspects of masculinity and femininity are the result, rather than the cause, of social inequalities.” Devor mentions multiple feminine and masculine characteristics seen in Snow White and the Evil Queen, in which “[m]asculinity [is] usually characterized by dominance and aggression,

The animated film subliminally portrays morals that promote female and male stereotypes, which can affect children’s behavior. Snow White was one of Disney’s first movies, released in 1938, but it still plays a role in American childhoods today. Devor strongly believes that children create an image of how an ideal gender or sex is supposed to act according to society. Devor claims, “[the] ‘generalized other’ functions as a sort of monitoring or measuring device with which individuals may judge their own actions against those of their generalized conceptions of how members of society are expected to act.” Young children often will use this image when they are put in uncomfortable situations to make sure they censor their actions so they are not looked at as the opposite sex or breaking gender roles. As young children are generally exposed to Disney movies, they begin to create images of a generalized other based on the scenes displayed in films like Snow White. For example, in one of the closing scenes, the Prince retrieves Snow White with just a peck, and manages to snatch her away from the dwarves, whom she had built a strong connection with. Resultantly, young girls are led to believe women are not mentally or physically strong enough to succeed alone, so dependence on a man is