Gender Identity and Children's Films

She was to be benevolently let off by a hunter who was supposed to gouge out her heart and present to her flagitious stepmother queen. Despite the lucky initial break, she was not able to escape from fate and eventually was poisoned to death only to be resuscitated back to life by a lascivious kiss by stranger who falls in love with her beauty on first sight. Does it seem like a spine-chilling horror-thriller? Not quite. In fact, this is actually the synopsis of Disney's Princess Series 1937 animated movie, Snow white and the seven dwarfs.

Classic children's movies, particularly that of the Disney's Princesses series perpetuate conventional gender stereotypes-girls marrying their prince charming to live happily, and boys grow up to perceive power is everything. However, waves of feminism have led to the assertion of female status and power in modern society and this change manifests itself in children's films by the portrayal of gender in characters.

There seems to be a chronological movement towards an androgynous view of gender roles in children's film. According to Shannon R. Wooden and Ken Gillam (2008), in modern post-feminist society, male protagonists in children's films seem to be taking on more 'feminine' behaviors such as being affectionate versus 'masculine' ones like competitiveness of the past. Research by Lara Desartes, Dawn Elizabeth England and Melissa A. Collier-Meek (2011) further reiterates this stand, concurring that male protagonists have been slowly shying away from stereotypical male characteristics to displaying feminine behaviors consistent with conventional female stereotypes.

These include sensitivity and showing emotions 68% of the time vis-à-vis exhibiting masculine ones just 32% of the time. Reinforcing shifting male stereotypes, the typical 'Alpha' Male of masculine characteristics such as dominance, independence, physical strength and coldness is gradually succeeded by a `Beta Male' that attributes to feminine characteristics of dependency and susceptibility. (Gillam & Wooden, 2008). Such breakthrough changes in depiction of gender roles reflect a forward-looking society with the want to deviate from gendered stereotypes.

Furthermore, female protagonists of children's films also seem to break away from conventional representation of gender and gender roles in society, reconceiving perceptions of women in contemporary society. Early films depicted women in a stereotypical way- tractable, male-dependent, feeble and vulnerable (Elizabeth, 2011).However as time progress, this perception has unfolded to that of a post-feminist one. In tandem, progressive female protagonists often exchange adverse, conventional feminine traits 'for more positive, traditional traits such as assertiveness and rebelliousness.'(Whelan, 2012, p.29).Women is now less limited to kind of characteristics they can define themselves by and society seems to be more receptive to alternative female portrayals. This is further supported by studies showing that current female protagonists portray almost equal masculine characteristics 53% against 47% feminine characteristics (Elizabeth, 2011, p.562), presenting