To many, Disney is synonymous with childhood. To what extent can Disney be accused of harmful racial stereotypes? As evidence for this there are three stereotypes that prevail in many of the films. Villains are always having a different accent, African Americans like to go around in gangs and all African Americans like to have a good laugh. These racial slurs come across in the Disney films that are least expected in the ones that are believed to be the least harmful.
While Disney did manage to stay pretty close to the basic story line, they had to water down many of the details in order to make a more child-friendly film; the enchanting characters, the wicked curse, the actual beauty being laid to rest, her meeting the love of her life, all the way to the defeat of the antagonist differ from the original. Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Briar Rose is the epitome of a Disney princess; she is innocently gorgeous and of course has a choir of animals that follow her every step. Talia, from Basiles’ version, does share similar qualities with Aurora, she is just as beautiful and naïve but lacks the animal entourage and isn’t actually a princess, she is the daughter of a lord. Prince Phillip is the dashing man who steals Auroras’ heart, but Talia captures the eye of King.
Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.” This quote ties in all the themes of the Bluest Eyes, love, beauty, and an un-escapable fall into despair while chasing the first two. The image of Shirley Temple and white baby dolls are central to the meaning of the novel. Adults don’t try to undermine the power that Shirley Temple has on the girls of this novel. Instead they show praise towards her and her whiteness by buying white baby dolls, even for black girls.
Disney is the worlds second largest media firm, and is one of the first factors that affect a child’s gender role portrayal (Martz, Bazzini, Curtin, Joslin, Regan 2010: 353). Even though children may be unaware that these views are being formed, the prince and princess characters in many Disney movies portray traditional masculine and feminine characteristics. These later on build the stereotypical gender images that are related to these traditional characteristics (Ross 2004: 55). Children start to associate certain attributes to men and women and this is how their portrayal is shaped. 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.
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).
By only handing a girl pink playthings for the first three years of her life, she may decide pink is her favorite color because “that’s what girls like.” In fact, researchers think that parents and other social factors lead children to prefer gender-specific toys. Some of these things, like the Disney princesses and all the princess culture related, seemed innocent and protective. But maybe it's not. Parents need to have more context about girls' culture to understand the decisions they're making and make them so that they'll be in concert with their values. A 2009 study found that 31 per cent of “girl” toys are all about appearance, involving plastic makeup and dresses.
They use their sexual wiles to lure their manly man under their spell. This sexist stereotype of Disney women delivers the wrong message to young girls. This attitude goes on beyond just the princesses. For example, the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there is a scene with Jessica Rabbit dancing for men. She is very seductive in this scene and uses her sexuality as a way to appeal to the men.
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.
“Snow White”: Then and now Fairy Tales are filled with magic, love, and conquest of good over evil. Fairy tales can be a window to other worlds so that children can make their wildest dreams come true. When I was a kid Snow White showed me all of these things, but looking back now at Snow White the characters, plot, and theme shows something in a different way. Looking back at the characters of Snow White they were very unique to me as a kid. For example, Snow White was known for her beauty at such a young age, “The fairest of them all.” Also, the Queen evil as can be and envious of Snow’s beauty.
Fairytale’s true meaning We all grew up with the classic fairytales; Snow white, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid. But, do any of you know where the stories originated from? Or do you even know the true story? I guarantee the authentic stories are not what you will be expecting. Companies, such as Disney have twisted, tangled and tweaked the original stories to please the targeted audience, hence where our happy endings come from.