Disney's Influence On Children

There are many effects that a fairy tale can cause for different cultures. One way is girls and their personal image of themselves. All little girls want to grow up to be a princess. As they grow older, they realize that they can never be a princess because they aren't real. But one thing

In the 1989 classic Disney film, The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s story can be easily misconstrued that it is okay to abandon your family, drastically change your body, and give up your strongest talent all to get your man. Once he sees your pretty face only a witches spell could draw his eyes away from you. These” teachings” may not be intended but are definitely present and although this movie is a favorite amongst many, it can send a bad

Those images then begin to shape what we know and understand about the world, thus allowing the media to influence us. This issue is important because Disney has become a primary educational resource for children worldwide and as Henry Giroux points out, “Disney is a teaching machine that not only exerts influence over consumers but also wages an aggressive campaign to peddle its political and cultural influence in the United States and overseas” (Giroux xiv).

According to various articles, although the Disney Princesses seem to be an innocent form of entertainment for young girls, their overall messages serve as a negative influence on how they develop into adults. This is where the unrealistic Disney Princess aspect can potentially become detrimental.

The Disney Corporation has had both positive and negative effects on American society. Disney has majorly affected both the youth and adults in America by way they interact with each other, what they expect from each other, and how parents bring up their youth in harsh and unrealistic expectations according to Disney. Disney has fostered a strong sense of imagination in the past, present and future youth of America. This sense of imagination is necessary to the development of children when it comes to success in life and self-confidence. The Disney Corporation knows how to work it’s audience for a profit and mastering that skill has allowed Disney to accumulated billions by advertising and selling fantasies to young children and their parents. It’s also these very ideas that influence what Americans believe our government and policies should be founded on. In “The Mouse That Roared” the author states “Education is never innocent, because it always presupposes a particular view of citizenship, culture, and society. And yet it is this very appeal to innocence, bleached of any semblance of politics, that has become a defining feature in Disney culture and pedagogy” (Giroux 31) This quote defines Disney at large. Disney has created the idea of ‘imagination’ in American society and perpetuates it in everything America does and influences everything America stands. In everyday American life, politics and business, The Disney Corporation has a hand in it.

Every little girl has seen at least one of the Disney Princesses movies and have played pretend as if they were a princess. They dressed in the costumes and parade around the house as if they were waiting on their Prince Charming, but are Disney Princesses bad for little girls? Are they forcing little girls to grow up faster and more provocative? Stephanie Hanes, a freelance journalist, wrote “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” published October 3, 2011 in the Christian Science Monitor. In the article, Hanes argues that little girls tend to grow up faster because they watched Disney Princesses. The author of “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” has an effective argument when using ethos, logos, pathos, and writing choice when explaining the effect that Disney Princesses have on little girls.

The first Disney Princess, Snow White, was introduced seventy nine years ago. It has been part of my parents generation and the fairytales that the movie is based on has been a part of my grandparents generation. Fast forward today, and the Disney franchise is only growing larger worldwide and is a part of many people’s childhood. One thing that is clear is that Disney princesses are geared toward young children. With the beautiful dresses and the handsome prince, children are entranced by the stories and animation. They fall in love with the princesses and see the princesses as a mirror of themselves by dressing up and acting like then. The fact that young children are influenced by Disney Princess is a huge debate. This topic is very

The image that Disney films portray their stories is a very powerful product that can influence our kids’ lives negatively. One example of this is the film The Princess and the Frog. In this movie, we can see that an African American girl named Tiana lived poor in the 1920’s. The plot of this story is that this poor girl wanted to finish the dream of her father, which is to create a restaurant. Towards the end she ends up marrying Prince Naveen of Maldonia. Like most of Disney’s movies, the damsel in distress ends up marrying the prince charming, resolving all her social and financial problems. This kind of message to a little girl can create a wrong image of what

Princess effect is referred to as packaged franchise of slender-waisted fairy-tale heroines. A situation where one's daughter behaves in a less spunky, less imaginative and less interested in the world. On the other hand, the small girls tend to prefer wearing dresses always just like the princess. The first thing objectionable about this Disney Princes's Effect is the feminist attack. “It was this big force entering our lives so early, with such strength. It concerned me for what was down the road” (Hanes 2). This comes from the comedy ladies who are believed to teach the young girl viewers some values such as love of animals, perseverance, and kindness. To clarify on this "For 75 years,

“Between 1931 and 1968, Walt Disney won 32 Academy Awards and still holds the record for the most individual Academy Awards won.” (Walt Disney(1901-1966) ,2013 para. 25) Walt Disney has made an incredible amount of fantastic movies, music and characters that we will always remember. But what were the impacts of these to society? How does Disney affect children, adults and the LGBT community all around the world? Over the years, Walt Disney has changed lives of millions all around the world whether it may be his catchy music, beautiful animation, or his memorable characters.

A young girl with black hair and brown eyes sees a beautiful princess named Cinderella who has blond hair, blue eyes, and flawless skin. She believes she will never be as radiant and beautiful as the princess because they don’t look alike. Like this girl, there are many cases of Disney films having lasting negative effects on children. Disney influences children more than any other age group since most merchandise and movies are geared toward younger audiences around thirteen or younger. Walt Disney Productions have a negative effect on children through stereotypes, violent actions, and sexism presented through its characters’ physical characteristics and actions. Disney has been

Kids who have exposed to Disney programs have displayed tremendous ability to identify right from wrong. As an entity, Disney’s actions reflect the stories through their characters. Catering exclusively to adult audiences is easy but at the same time, much work is required when programming content for kids. Responsibility is one of the critical factors that come into play when dealing with children, as the kind of program that are developed creates an incredible impact on young minds.Despite the negative sentiments harbored by several people with regards to the impact of programs produced by Disney, the predominant view is its ability to promote the intelligence levels and critical thinking skills of children. Nevertheless, the key lies in

Many fairy tales have a huge effect on children that are in their early stages of life. The early years of a child’s life is when they are influenced the most from people. Fairy tales are portrayed as innocent stories, they are made for children and meant to teach them good morals. This isn’t necessarily the case though, many fairy tales have poor stereotypes that will influence children in negative ways. The movie Aladdin is about a street rat named Aladdin that let’s a genie escape from it’s lamp, which unleashes evil upon his love, Princess Jasmine. Princess Jasmine is scared that she will be forced to marry the revolting Prince Jafar. She meets Aladdin, although she knows him as Prince Ali, later on she still felt love for him even if he wasn’t a prince. In the story Aladdin, it teaches underlying poor messages to children. Aladdin is a good example of how a fairy tale can negatively impact a child’s view of world. Aladdin can influence children to believe that your sexuality will get what you want, to run away from your problems, and that girl’s should not be taken seriously.

In today’s society it is hard to find shows or movies that have positive values for boys and girls. There is a lot of controversy surrounding Disney princesses. Many believe that they negatively impact girls and their view on the world. They believe that young girls are learning negative values from the Disney princesses. On the other hand, many people believe that the Disney princesses have many positive morals and values to teach young girls. Disney teaches young girls value of hard work. It also teaches girls how they should treat people, even in difficult situations. One of the greatest things that Disney princesses teach, is find out who you are and shoot for the stars and accomplish your dreams.

Disney has always been a good childhood friend for most of children. When talking about Disney, kids will remember about The Happiest Place on Earth, where they get to spend their time with princesses, taking photos with their favorite Disney characters, and sometimes they can even dress like one. Or the kids will think about their favorite movies that they watch with their parents such as The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White, etc. and dream that someday they will have the everlasting love life and happily ever after like those lucky princesses. But little did they know, the fantasy that they dream of brings more harm than good. Disney princess movies and fairytales are not always original and all sanitized to make them appropriate for children to watch. And that key element unintentionally or intentionally can have damaging psychological effects on children.