Disney Princesses
Disney is known as a corporation
that makes movies to please the whole family. One of their most notable series
is the Disney Princess films. All little girls fall in love with the idea of
being a princess and living happily ever after, which makes these films very
popular among young girls. However, Disney has received criticism for their
gender representations In the six Disney films that have quintessential Disney
princesses (Snow White, Aladdin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the
Beast, The Little Mermaid) there are clear messages and through lines regarding
the role of women and men. Women are supposed to be beautiful, skinny, willing,
helpless, and able to perform the duties of a housewife. Each of their movies
has a central prince/princess pairing, and the women are “saved” in some way by
the macho, strong, independent prince. There is a strong focus on the
princesses being beautiful, and how their beauty affects them, and is the
reason they are “rescued”. For example, Ariel from The Little Mermaid longs so
much for a man’s love that she is willing to give up her identity as a mermaid
to become a human with legs. Cinderella is saved from terrible living
conditions because she met the prince for two hours, and he looked throughout
the land for her, simply because he thought she was beautiful. All in all, the
messages that these classic films send to young, impressionable girls and boys are very
detrimental to their upbringing.
-- Breana Swain
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