Dichotomy In Film

Heroes are found everywhere when Disney is involved. From a prince or princess to secretive toys to the smallest forms of life on earth, a hero can be found in anyone. Being attached to one or a few is entirely common. These certain characters may be the ones they look up to. Young girls often choose to look up to a princess, although, they are not what they were over 50 years ago. The very first Disney princess, Snow White, is purely a damsel in distress. The same goes for Aurora who appeared in Sleeping Beauty years later. As the years have gone on, that weaker vision of a princess has faded. The modern day princesses are anything but damsels needing to be saved by a man. Rapunzel chooses to give up her freedom in order to save Flynn Rider’s life. Tiana works hard to provide for herself so she can chase her dream. Merida rejects what everyone else thinks she should be and is true to herself. Elsa only needs the love from her sister. This list will only get bigger as Disney continues to create these young female heroines. If anything, Disney is preaching to young girls everywhere to be strong in a world that may play on their faults or weaknesses. During a time strong feminist movements, Disney manages to satisfy demands by allowing the girl to be the hero. Though Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are still timeless classics, the princesses of today set a better example for young girls everywhere and that is why they seem to be more attractive than the originals.

From Disney’s feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, through to many of its princess movies, the female protagonist is reliant on a male counterpart as either their goal or last hope. For example, Ariel in The Little Mermaid sacrifices her voice for a far off prince and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty can only be awoken by a kiss from one. However, as public opinions in society changed, Disney also shifted it focus when it came to dealing with female leads. To do this, they scripted strong and independent women, who could rely on themselves, rather than on some glorified man. Although transcendentalism does not solely focus on females when it comes to its ideals, the practice of self-reliance by these modern Disney princesses is in direct

The effects of the portrayal of the princesses can be positive or negative. Young girls have become more imaginative by watching Disney films. According to Stephanie Hanes (n.p.), “’For 75 years, millions of little girls and their parents around the world have adored and embraced the diverse characters and rich stories featuring our Disney princesses.... [L]ittle girls experience the fantasy and imagination provided by these stories as a normal part of their childhood development’.” Also, children are encouraged to believe and hope. In most Disney movies, the characters convey the message that we can believe in true love (10 DISNEY MOMENTS THAT PROVE LOVE IS ALIVE AND WELL

Giambattista Basile’s dark rendition of “Sleeping Beauty,” entitled, “Sun, Moon and Talia,” is a story that brings the reader into a world that encompasses the idea of women being submissive creatures only valued for their beauty and at the mercy of men. The 2014 movie Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg, tries to subvert the notions of a male patriarchy by establishing Maleficent as an unlikely hero whose motivations go beyond the classic architype of a handsome prince claiming a one dimensional princess. Despite the movies attempts at establishing a more feminist friendly view of “Sleeping Beauty,” both Maleficent, and “Sun, Moon and Talia,” reduce the central characters of Aurora and Talia to simple props; completely devoid of

From the minute one is born the division between genders is placed. The phrases “act like a lady” or “be a man” become everyday practices and lifelong slogans. Fairy tales are always focused on women who play the beautiful damsel in distress persona and on men who play the handsome knight coming in to save them. Whether you are female or male, it is important to remember that these fixed characteristics placed on genders are never to be reinforced. In a world full of gender stereotypes, the Disney movie Mulan challenges the societal construct of masculinity and femininity by proving that gender roles are not fixed traits, but socially constructed views that can be changed.

The portrayal of women, gender roles and stereotypes in Disney films has long been a controversial topic. Disney’s 1959 animated film, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and Robert Stromberg’s 2014 live action remake, ‘Maleficent’, each provide a different take of Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale, ‘La Belle au bois Dormant’ (‘The Sleeping Beauty’). The comparison of Aurora, one of the main characters from both films, brings into light the stark contrast in portrayals of gender roles as well as physical ideals and stereotypes in women. Emphasis or lack thereof on physical characteristics and gender representation from both texts challenge and reflect ideals and stereotypes that are impactful to the audience.

When most of you were younger, you have most likely seen a Disney Princess Movie. Well, you may not have noticed that they are full of female gender stereotypes. In my speech, I am going to talk about 3 main stereotypes that are mostly portrayed through these movies. They are that princesses need to have a prince/ a man or else they will be helpless, a princess’s looks are much more important than their smarts and lastly, their is a set “look” of how a princess should look. Some of these stereotypes don’t apply to the newer Disney movies like Frozen or Moana.

“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are Anything your heart desires will come to you…” In the older Disney movies like Cinderella, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid, princesses are portrayed according to female stereotypes: they are obsessed with love, waiting for a man, and always beautiful, and these portrayals are harmful to young girls. Disney is now starting to catch up with the reality of what women are like now, with Disney movies like Frozen, Princess and the Frog, and Brave these girls are portrayed as independent women in control of their destiny. Though Disney has historically portrayed princesses in stereotypical ways, the company has been creating more realistic female characters in recent years. At a

For many years, Disney has made fairy tale films that are full of lovable characters that children cannot seem to get enough of. The traits of many of the characters remain great models for children to watch and learn from. Adults tend to see a bit more than just the good qualities they embody, which leads to the realization that these films are far from perfect. Upon closer inspection, Disney films embrace patriarchal and sexist ideologies when it comes to their characters—something that Disney has been nearly successful in eradicating in their most recent films. From the earliest films to the most recent, the portrayal of gender roles, of both the hero/heroine and the villain, has changed for the better.

Beauty and the Beast Despite of the happy ending in every Disney movie, many people do not realize the stereotype of gender roles played. In many of these movies, the perfect man is typically portrayed as handsome, strong, and prosperous, hence the prince. While women played the roles of being weak, sometimes underprivileged, yet charming with the portrayal of skinny waist, perfect skin, and singing voice. In addition, they were almost always strained by an evil force before being saved by a man, who at last makes her a princess.

Fairy tales have been passed down for generations, telling the entrancing stories of princes, princesses, villains, true love, and happily ever afters. Many of the more prominent characters in fairy tales are women. Damsels in distress, the evil stepmother, the nag, and the witch are all archetypes that occur regularly across the fairy tale genre, such as in “Snow White” by the Grimm Brothers and “Vasilisa the Fair” by Alexander Afanasev. However, despite these many roles used specifically for women, they seldom ever live up to be positive role models.

The Disney film “The Lion King” is a great example of how females are seen as subordinate to males. Giroux states, “All of the rulers of the kingdom are men, reinforcing the assumption that independence and leadership are tied to patriarchal entitlement and high social standing” (Greene 582). This is the case for most Disney films that the male characters have power over the female characters. The female characters are depicted as weak and dependent on the male characters. This can give young girls the wrong idea of what type of roles they should take on. If they keep seeing female characters being portrayed as weak and dependent on males they may think that they should be the same way. However, not all of the female characters in these movies are portrayed the same way.

In the last few years, recent box office hit films such as The Hunger Games and Brave have had strong female characters as their heroes, which seems to go against the tried and true male action hero theme of most films (IMDB, n.d., “Most Popular Feature Films Released in 2012”). After analyzing these two films and their heroes, one can see that females as a heroes is now becoming a popular trend. However, throughout history many women had to grow up idolizing and adapting male action and adventure stars to fit their personal needs for a role model. The heroes we are now being given such as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games and Merida from Brave have been given attributes of stereotypical male action heroes to make them fit better into

Little girls everywhere spend their childhoods watching the princesses portrayed in Disney movies, dreaming about the day they too will meet their prince charming. They see how Sleeping Beauty is woken up by a prince, Cinderella marries a prince, Sleeping Beauty turns a beast into a prince, and countless other instances of a girl just like them meeting their perfect man. Disney is infamous for their outdated illustration of gender roles. Mulan is one of the first Disney princess movies in which, instead of waiting for her prince, the heroine actually saves the day, or in this case, China. Mulan makes a variety of statements about gender roles that can be examined through many

Many people nowadays growth up with Disney Cartoon, characters and stories behind influence us. Little girls fancy being a princess, waiting for their Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Disney cartoon create gender roles and values that create gender difference, why Prince are always charming and brave, while Princess are beautiful and usually waiting for a prince’s rescue?