Disney Princesses Case

Many people agree that media is influential as a teacher of social norms, specifically to young people. Children are most vulnerable to be influenced by the messages being delivered through children's movies. How much influence does the Disney Princesses have on young girls today? Most of these movies portray women as weak and must find love to be happy. The Walt Disney Company has undergone increasing scrutiny for some of the themes found within their films.

Research has proven that the media is influential in fostering gender stereotypes. The representation of gender within the media affects the viewers. This is because the media is seen to play a significant role in offering a socializing influence on attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of its audience. It affects the ideas that the viewers have in regard to what may be considered acceptable gender roles and gender traits. Individuals are adopting gender characteristics by monitoring the rewards and consequences associated with certain behaviors as portrayed within the media (Morawitz & Mastro 132). Through the media's creation of stereotypes, the viewers become negatively affected when they do not meet the media's standards of what is normal.

The depiction of masculinity and femininity within film follows antiquated representations of what gender roles should be associated with men and women. These definitions of what it means to be male or female reinforce stereotypes, and suggest to viewers that there are proper and appropriate ways to act as a male or female. Women are constantly seen as the subordinate, while men are given power and assertiveness as characteristics to live up to. In the end both gender roles are seen as one dimensional. However, the images of women are far more narrow, suggesting that women are much less powerful and important then men. These messages affect our gender based attitudes and beliefs need to be expanded in order for stereotypes to be lessened in the real world and for our ideas of what is gender appropriate to be more realistic.

The problem with children being so impressionable to the messages delivered though the media is that animated cartoons are a major source of gender stereotyping. They are a staple in most children's television and film viewing experience and their sexist depiction of gender roles is a cause for concern. The "G" rating and wholesome image of the Walt Disney Company have generated a great deal of trust from families, so people overlook the gender roles being propagated through their films. The female characters created by Disney are depicted as helpless and in need of protection, where the male heroes enter the action and rescue the heroines. A persistent pattern within the Disney franchise is that a woman's true happiness exists only through the love of her prince (Craven 127). For example, the message that is continually reaffirmed thorough out Disney films is marrying young is advantageous, or even recommended. If you consider the father-daughter relationship, which is frequently the only relationship the female heroine has with a parent, the fathers "support or overtly advocate their young daughters marriages" (Wynns & Rosenfeld 104) This recurring storyline encourages viewers to consider true love as the ultimate measure of happiness. Females should transition their reliance on their fathers straight to marriage, meaning independence is unsuitable to women. Disney portrays femininity as being an object, where the female characters are to be displayed and desired instead of being autonomous individuals (Craven 129)

Disney has operated under the guise of producing wholesome children's tales "in which children's fantasies come true, happiness reigns, and innocence is kept safe through the magic of Pixie dust" (Giroux 17). They have created a line of films where the heroines are central to the storyline. Since the year 2000, these films have become categorized as part of the Disney princess franchise. Currently the Princess franchise contains nine films, and thus nine heroines: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan and the Princess and the Frog. (Disney.go.com) The first of these films, Snow White, was created in 1937 and the most recent, The Princess and the Frog, was created in 2009. Although decades apart, the Princess films all have similar themes, with "Disney's portrayal of women as superficial images of helpless princesses, subserviently trusting males to carry them off and live happily ever after in a retro world of marital bliss. (Brode 171).

Since the Disney Company continues to reinforce gender stereotypes within its films, it is important to study and understand the messages they are delivering. Specifically we need to consider what role the Disney Princess franchise is playing perpetuating these stereotypes. Since this franchise is targeting children, specifically girls, we need to analyze the extent it portrays sex role stereotypes. This is because the material can be very influential in the ideologies of the viewing audience, where the combined ideology of enchantment and innocence within these films helps children to understand who they are and what society is about (LaCroix 90). This is important especially since the Walt Disney Company is considered to have wholesome values and is therefore widely trusted.

Disney Princess films have an enormous following, especially with young and impressionable children. Major Disney pictures are cross-marketed with advertising and merchandizing to ensure that the children are excited to see the films and develop a relationship with each film and its characters. (LaCroix 214) Therefore, it is this combination of a dominant media source mixed with its impact on impressionable child audiences that makes an understanding of Disney films very important.

Each of the Disney Princess films centers on a relationship between the heroine and a male love interest. It is this storyline that sometimes creates a princess out of a female lead, as not all of the heroines are princesses before they fall in love with a prince. The problem with this plot line's centrality to each of the films is best stated by Eudora, Tiana's mother, in The Princess and the Frog: "Your Daddy may not have gotten the place you always wanted but he had something better. He had love. And that's all I want for you sweetheart. To meet your prince charming and dance happily ever after" (Princess and the Frog) Evidently, a central theme within each of these films proves that to be that once a female finds her prince charming and falls in love, they will live happily every after.

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