The Evolution Of Disney Princesses And Their Effect On Body Image Gender Roles And The Portrayal Of Love

The media plays an essential role in determining people's schemas of the real world, assumptions about cultural ideals, and perceptions surrounding body image, gender roles, and the idealization of love (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008; Herbozo, Tantleff-Dunn, Gokee-Larose, & Thompson, 2004). Children in particular are vulnerable to these messages due to their high consumption of media and their cognitive development (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012; Herbozo et al., 2004). Disney is one the most powerful aspects in children's media and their princess phenomenon plays an essential role in perpetuating stereotypes by having their heroines embody submissiveness, being young and thin, and attracting love interests (Do Rozario, 2004; England, Descartes, Collier-Meek, 2011). There are three different eras of princesses: the first one includes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty; the second one includes The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Mulan; the most recent era includes The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Brave, and Frozen. Research has shown how the Disney princess has evolved over time and is breaking certain stereotypes; however the most recent era lacks scholarly research (England et al., 2011). Given the power these films have on children's psychological and physical health, this is an area that must be examined. This project researches body image, gender roles, and the portrayal of love in the most recent era of princesses. Research was done by exploring newspaper articles, magazine articles, websites, blogs, and scholarly articles to discover how this era is portrayed. It was found that these five princesses represent progress in the Disney franchise by encompassing both masculine and feminine traits (Rome, 2010). The portrayal of love is also revolutionized in this era by going beyond the romantic type and incorporating familial love and self-love (Law, 2014; Rome, 2013; Saladino, 2014). Body image, however, is the one frontier that seems to lack progress. The Disney princess still seems to encompass unrealistic body features and is often sexualized in her movements. In order for Disney to continue their progressive movement forward, it is recommended that they create more realistic and well-rounded female characters.

Disney Princesses and Tween Identity: The Franchise in Illiberal Hungary examines how tweens in illiberal Hungary construct verbal and visual identities through engagement with Disney princess animations. Presenting and analyzing ethnographic research in the form of interviews with Hungarian tweens around the time of the populist government’s winning the general elections in 2018, Anna Zsubori reveals the importance of social and cultural context in establishing the Disney princess phenomenon as a heterogeneous cultural force. The ambivalent and sometimes even contradictory ideas of identity expressed by the tweens highlight the role that diverse audiences, local negotiations, and dynamic discourses play in the reception of the Disney princess animations. Combining thematic and semiotic textual analyses of the conversations, tweens’ drawings and building blocks, and broader contextual examinations of the sessions with Hungarian children, this book offers original contributions on both theoretical and methodological levels.

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), course: Applied Linguistics, language: English, abstract: Media is a big part of people’s everyday lives. It influences both how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. Media can be divided in many different types, for example: television, shows, movies, the radio, newspapers, advertisements and the internet. One of the most famous producers of children’s media is the Walt Disney Company. Since 1937 many movies, shows and other products were designed and published in order to entertain children. Thus, results a huge influence on children’s perception of the world and how they see themselves in the world. In all of them are images of women and men, which are represented in different ways and with different traits. One popular production of Disney is the Disney princess line which was created 2001 and includes more than 25,000 different products. Currently, the line includes ten movies; four of them will be analysed in this term paper: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), "Pocahontas" (1995), "Tangled" (2010) and "Frozen" (2013). These movies have an influence on children and their images of gender roles. But, how are gender roles represented in these movies and is there a remarkable change over time? This term paper will give an overview about the most influential movies of the Disney Princess line and how the image of female characters is presented. It is difficult to analyse all aspects of gender roles but the most obvious ones are regarded and how many differences exist in these four movies.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Würzburg (Philosophische Fakultät I), course: Feminism in the U.S.: History, Ideas, and Politics, language: English, abstract: Bewitched by the magical atmosphere these films create, millions of girls are dreaming of becoming a Disney princess one day. Seeing girls and boys re-enact these fairy tales and in that way slip into the role of a princess the thought struck me in the context of my seminar about Feminism, in what way these movies influence children. Which concepts of womanhood do they foster and are these fairy tales really as timeless as the grandparents think they are? Taking a closer look at the most successful and best known of all Disney princess movies, there are basically three waves, defined by their date of release. The first feature-length animated film Disney created was a story based on the Brother Grimm fairy tale “Schneewittchen”. The Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was premiered in 1937 and was an instant success, followed by Cinderella in 1950 and Sleeping Beauty in 1959. The next wave of princess movies were produced between 1989, starting with Little Mermaid, followed by Beauty and the Best (1991), Aladdin (1992), Pocahontas (1995) and ending in 1998 with Mulan, so basically during the 1990s. The latest wave of Disney princess films is from 2009 on with The Princess and the Frog, then Tangled (2010), Brave (2012) and the last one was Frozen (2013). This is an enormous timeframe. The 1930s, 40s and 50s provided a completely different audience than the 1990s or the current decade, as society and especially gender roles changed a lot over time. Consequently one can also expect differences in the way the Walt Disney Company chose to depict its characters over the years. This research paper will show that female gender roles in Disney princess movies respond to the change of society by portraying their Disney heroine much more assertive and less passive over time. To support this thesis one movie from each of the three waves which were introduced above will be analyzed exemplary for the period.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Relationships and Family, grade: 75.0, Keele University, language: English, abstract: This study offers an examination of gender representations present in the Disney feature-length animations incorporated into the Princess Collection. The import of such films has become increasingly relevant in recent years due to the increased anxiety around media representations and the development of the Princess franchise into a dominant aspect of Disney. In an attempt to test the claims of the existing debate and update the discussion through the inclusion of male protagonists, as well as female, the method of content analysis was adopted to conduct an in-depth analysis of: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Frozen (2013). This choice of films enables us to trace how these representations have changed over time to reflect the changing attitudes of gender in mainstream society, to answer the question of; to what extent do Disney princes and princesses represent traditional gender stereotypes? After data was collected the results of the content analysis were interpreted by drawing on literature and situating them within their historical context. The findings have shown that these princesses have evolved from passive damsels in distress to much more active, dynamic heroines. Whilst the male characters were found to have experienced less change but have become more feminised. However, both were found to still be influenced by traditional stereotypical ideas.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 2,3, LMU Munich, language: English, abstract: If we look behind the “sparkling stars” and “memorizing magic” that is Disney, we might see that these Disney princesses are not the best role models for children. Therefore, this research paper aims at showing these role models in Disney movies and give an awareness of problems they bring with them. “How can they tell if I am male or female?” This last line of The Ballad of Mulan shows that the gender question was already raised in the 6th century. This research aims at analyzing the representation of females in Walt Disney movies: the appearance and intelligence, helplessness and the need of protection and domestication. Before doing so, there has to be a definition what gender role is, in general, but also in Disney movies.

How are children—and their parents—affected by the world's most influential corporation? Henry A. Giroux explores the surprisingly diverse ways in which Disney, while hiding behind a cloak of innocence and entertainment, strives to dominate global media and shape the desires, needs, and futures of today's children.

Developing Creative Thinking to Improve Academic Writing Part Two Advanced Level textbook helps enhancing lateral thinking within the given contextual frame in order to promote students intellectual challenge to produce a comprehensive understanding about the topic. This facilitates flexible thinking required to write academic assignments in which arguments are presented for thorough analysis. Since rigid judgments can lead to fossilized views, it is recommended to emphasize the concept that all opinions are correct from the points of view of their holders. In this regard, this book helps college students practice improving their triangular thinking skills which emphasize evaluation of all the aspects of the topic in an equal pattern. Furthermore, this book is useful for ESL college students as well as native speakers of English as it reinforces transformational learning principles which highlight education by inspiration rather than information. Such a strategy can motivate the students to become more creative, more practical and more resourceful and enable them to transform their learning-related thinking abilities and attitudes in order to come to a better understanding of themselves and the world.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Gender Studies, grade: 1,0, Vienna University of Economics and Business (Gender- und Diversitätmanagement), language: English, abstract: The following Bachelor’s thesis deals with the (re-)production of gender-related and ethnic stereotypes in animated movies part of the Disney Princess franchise. The introduction to the topic is followed by an overview of the theory, which includes the concepts of diversity, gender, and ethnicity as well as an introduction into stereotypes. The literature review will on the one hand present the Disney corporation and on the other hand give insight into the topics of television in general and children’s television in particular. It also outlines the hitherto findings pertaining to the scientific field of “Disney, gender and ethnicity”. The next chapters contain an introduction to the Critical Discourse Analysis and the methodology, which is followed by the empirical part consisting of the analysis and discussion of the movies. The thesis is completed by the conclusion, which brings together the findings as well as putting them in relation to the rest of the thesis.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, University of Osnabrück (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Introduction to Gender Theory, 28 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 'How can they tell if I am male or female?' With this last line of 'The Ballad of Mulan' the (anonymous) author raises the gender question already in the 6th century. In this essay, I would like to analyse The Representation of Gender in Walt Disney's 'Mulan', using the structure of the movie to focus on The Protagonist Fa Mulan, the Treatment of Women and the Depiction of Men. Additionally, the inquiry concerning the Meaning of Song Texts in Disney's 'Mulan' appears useful as these always play an important role in conveying movie themes. In order to establish a connection to the seminar on which this paper is based, I will illustrate how the movie is a good example for Judith Butler's theory of Gender as Performance. Last but not least, I would like to show the Influence of Disney's 'Mulan' on Society because fairy tales and movies '[...] do influence the manner in which children conceive the world and their places in it [...]'. Drawing the 'Conclusion', I will try a careful approach to find out if Disney's 'Mulan' might even be considered as a feminist movie. (...)