In many of the fairy-tale Disney movies, male and female characters are overrepresented and having such portrayals of gender roles may weaken children’s beliefs, expectations and aspirations because they cannot aspire to do something other than what is presented in the Disney films (England et al. 2011: 557). Gender role portrayals in Disney movies influence children’s beliefs and ideas about gender and sexuality, social
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson can be portrayed as both a feminist and antifeminist film. The Little Mermaid is seen as feminist film through ariel because of her actions and the way she is represented. The same factors illustrate this film to be antifeminist. Firstly, The little mermaid is seen as feminist movie by some through the leading lady, Ariel. Most Disney princesses have fallen into the role of a dutiful daughter, however Ariel breaks through that category and becomes her own.
Instead they show praise towards her and her whiteness by buying white baby dolls, even for black girls. “The big, the special, the loving gift was always a big, blue-eyed Baby Doll….all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured.” Not only do the girls of this novel learn that whiteness is superior through the white baby dolls and the idealization of Shirley temple but adult women too have learned to despise their own color and learn as they grow that whiteness is the desired color. Whiteness is considered the cleaner color. When Pecola spills berries all over the clean white ladies house this
It is largely due to this hereditary social ideology that feminist movements face their limitations. Traditional gender portrayal has always been evident in our society, especially in popular culture. England supports this with examples of Disney, which since its inception to the world, has relentlessly depicted its characters to have traditionally associated gender stereotypes. As England (2011, p560) pointed out from her studies, the least commonly found traits that male characters in Disney possess were traditionally feminine traits (such as tending to physical appearance, being shamed, and collapsing to cry) and the least commonly found traits for female characters were masculine (such as being unemotional, being a leader, inspiring fear, and performing a rescue). This created a strong notion to its audience that gender roles were stereotypically traditional in Disney Princesses’ films.
That was a good demonstration of how sadness is inherent in life. I think much of who we are as adults has to do with how we socialize, interact and are raised as children. The first four line of the poem “Barbie Doll” speaks about the child’s innocence. “Entertaining toys such as dolls, lack certain ingredients that teach cause and effects but will have psychological effect on how a girl child interprets what is beautiful and eventually how she see herself” says Dr. Hall, a child psychoanalyst with twenty years experience (preschooler.thebump.com). The following two lines and second stanza speak of puberty and what her class mates think of her.
This is the poisonous cycle of Child Beauty Pageants, a practice that has being going on since the 1920s.Children should be playing, not caking on make-up to look like a perfect Barbie doll. We need to stop the shameful sexualisation of children. We don't need to encourage paedophilia. We need to educate children that there is more to life than looks, we shouldn't be raising a generation of self-obsessed and vain people. We need to stop poisoning children with incredibly unhealthy and dangerous substances.
Most people who are familiar with Cinderella have little understanding of the subliminal messages associated and the consequences involved. To many, Cinderella is a harmless story of a young girl who struggles through life, is finally able to achieve her dreams, and lives happily ever after. In reality, the patriarchal gender expectations and rewards associated with Disney’s Cinderella can be damaging to young girls and their self-image. Therefore, in order to render the misogynistic ideologies of these stories invalid, modern pedagogy should be recreated to incorporate potential empowerment for both genders. Most people believe fairy tales to be harmless to a girl’s development, unable to comprehend the reality of the situation: the gender stereotyping involved in these stories can be influential in several ways (Bonds-Raake 232).
In the article, “Controlling your reality” Paige Pfleger states “Reality television can also preserve old fashioned notions about sexual stereotyping. Women are encouraged to fulfill roles as “the slut” and are simultaneously devalued by doing so” sadly these are the types of stereotypes young girls and women grow up with (3). Little girls are told to act a certain way only for society to reject and humiliate them for it. In The Hunger Games Collins makes a point by sexually objectifying Glimmer, a career tribute, because she looks like the stereotype of sexy. In the novel Collins writes, “The girl tribute from District 1, looking provocative in a see-through gold gown…With that flowing blonde hair, emerald green eyes, her body tall and lush… she’s sexy all the way”(125).Collins makes it clear that society has a very specific image of what sexy should look like.
09/29/09 The film “Boys Don’t Cry” is a powerful work of art, made more visceral by the fact that it is all based on a true story. It tells the tale of Teena Brandon, a young woman whose natural attraction to other girls leads her to live her life as a male under the alias “Brandon Teena”. It tells of the discrimination and even violence she encounters based on her sexuality, and her ultimately fatal attraction to another young woman named Lana Tisdel. One aspect of the film that interested me was Teena’s overall personality, influenced by her confusion of what gender she is and what gender she wants to be. She clearly is sexually attracted to girls, and identifies with herself as a boy.
For children they are fun heroic movies but actually Disney movies have a bad influence on the younger generation by exposing them to subliminal messages, racist values, sexist thoughts and ideas, and bad morals. 2) Choice of Creative Representation and Rationale: A- What? Create a statement of purpose or belief based on your topic and how it relates to class materials (To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein, Amazing Grace, Macbeth or any other resources presented throughout the year) Everyone has watched Disney movies or still do, but most people don’t see the hidden messages that these movies are sending out to there viewers. This relates to TKAM, were everyone just followed along with society and discriminated the black people, and believed others. This is like the influence of a Disney movie on a child, they will see all these “beautiful” or “macho” men and only see one side of society.