The Negative Effects Of Ursula From The Little Mermaid

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Jim Morrison had once wisely said, “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” Today, society has been overthrown from its past respectable ways by the new and corrupt ways of mass multimedia. Technology was created with the idea to better advance many fields within our society, but the consequences of media have been counterproductive, and the repercussions are negatively affecting the world, with teenagers being the main victims. A study from 2015 of teenagers ages 13 to 17 indicated that due to the accessibility to smartphones in recent years, “92% of teens report going online daily — including 24% who say they go online ‘almost constantly,’” and over half of teens (56%) go on social media several times a day (Lenhart). Media, with …show more content…

The antagonists “possess traits culturally defined as unattractive”, including their body appearance and physical beauty ("Body Image."). Ursula’s appearance is an obvious juxtaposition to Ariel, as Ursula is a giant, ugly octopus while Ariel is a beautiful, thin-waisted graceful mermaid. As if the promotion of Disney Princess’ body image was bad, the message that Disney is sending through their villains is opposite. Disney is sending the message of those who are plus-sized, ugly and have a physical feature that different than social norms are bad, while those who are beautiful and thin are good. Overweight characters “are commonly depicted as evil, unattractive, unfriendly, and cruel” (Herbozo). The message Disney is sending through their movies is that those specific people who do not fit society’s social norm will never be successful. This is because Disney antagonists never end up on top, which is a strikingly bold statement to still send as obesity is a huge epidemic in the world and as the ideal body has evolved over the forty past years. Disney needs to reevaluate what they believe to be beautiful and thin, as they are sending a poorly directed message to the roughly thirteen million children and adolescents are obese ("Childhood Overweight

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