Changing Gender Roles, how Disney Movies Reflected Those Changes, and Why They are Important
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, gender roles for men and women have changed much. Women went from doing household chores and cooking, and men going to work every day and doing the “heavy lifting” around the house.
However, that changed. Not overnight, of course. In an article written for The Atlantic in 1986 stated that between 1890 and 1985, the percent of women in the workforce quadrupled, going from 15% to 71% of women ages 25 to 44. It also states that the amount of women lawyers had gone up from 2% to 15% between 1960 and 1983 (Guilder).
So, how has this been reflected in media and pop culture? More specifically, how has The Walt Disney Company reflected that in their movies?
Walt Disney’s first movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released on February 8, 1938. This movie helped to make Walt Disney a household name. But, this was the only movie produced and theatrically released by The Walt Disney Company with a female lead until Cinderella, which was released on March 4, 1950. Both movies, when broken down, are the same: the woman is saved from a bad situation by a man. Both stories include an evil stepmother, and both stories include both girls marry a prince and become a princess. A key feature of both Snow White and Cinderella is that they are both maids. The opening shot in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a book, introducing the characters of Snow White and her stepmother, the Queen. It tells of the Queen who “feared that someday Snow White’s beauty would surpass her own.” And for this, the Queen dressed Snow White in rags and makes her work as a maid (Disney et al.). In Cinderella (1950), Cinderella’s stepmother is also jealous of her beauty, since her stepsisters were not compared to her, and in turn, was “abused, humiliated, and was finally forced to become a servant in her own home” (Peed et al.).
It wasn’t until Walt Disney Production’s 1977 animated film The Rescuers when audiences got to see a female character in a lead role, not a villain, and not necessarily the one who needs to be saved. The movie does circulate around a female child needing to be rescued, but the story mainly focuses on the two mice, Bernard and Miss Bianca, and their journey.
Before this, in 1955, Walt Disney had opened Disneyland, and in 1964, he went to the 1964–65 World’s Fair with a new attraction he had hoped to debut in his park: Carousel of Progress.
While not what most think when they’re asked about Disney and gender roles, but it does include mother, one of the characters, going from iron and sewing to applying wallpaper in her “romper room” and programing appliances to be voice-activated. This ride has been updated, making the end scene (21st century/the future) more futuristic, but nevertheless the roles stayed the same throughout the updates.
Unfortunately, many people to this day are unable to make it to Disney World or Disneyland to be able to see this in person. And the internet wasn’t created until 1983, 8 years after Carousel of Progress opened in Orlando’s Magic Kingdom. Although many are lucky enough to be able to see this rotating show in person, The Walt Disney Company had to show this in another, broader, way. Their princesses.
After 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, a story that ends with the prince kisses the sleeping girl awake and they live happily ever after, Disney didn’t release another princess movie until 1989’s The Little Mermaid, a story that follows the teenage mermaid Ariel and her quest to join her crush, Prince Eric, on land and in the “human world.” Similarly to Snow White and Cinderella, it still comes down to a guy, but Ariel was different. She was rebellious, praised instead of shunned for her beauty, and originally turned to the sea witch Ursula for help in getting out of her version of a bad situation, instead of turning to a man to help. During this time as well, more women were working, and less dependent on a man to help them when needed.
This is shown more in Disney’s 1991 animated feature, Beauty and the Beast. While Belle is shown to be a caring, motherly like character (taking care of her father, going into the market to shop, reading), she also shows that she can be strong and daring, qualities normally found in a man. The 2017 live-action adaptation does better to give more qualities to Belle than just a bookworm who could hold off a couple of wolves for a little bit. In the 2017 adaptation, Belle is also an inventor, helping her father with some of his projects, as well as making her own version of our washing machine with a barrel and a donkey so she could read while also doing laundry.
However, this is one of the first times that a man is shown to have more emotions. While Ariel’s dad shows “typical” qualities of a man (strong, loud, a leader, with a temper), he also shows a softer side, mostly shown in the prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning. He was shown to be loving and caring towards his wife and daughters, shown in the prequel, and towards his daughters in the original film. This is also one of the first times Disney had shown a male character to be “softer” than what was typically thought men should be like.
With each princess movie that came out, each woman got just a little more than the typical woman qualities and activities. Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, and Mulan were rebellious, adventurous, and did not entirely rely on a man to help them. Did they fall in love and live happily ever after? For the most part. While Ariel and Belle got to spend the rest of their lives with their princes, Pocahontas’s love interest had to leave on a boat back to his hometown, across the sea from her. Mulan’s happily ever after was saving China and returning to her father with the crest of the emperor and the sword of Shan Yu (although, Mulan does get married in the sequel). But, Mulan was the first princess movie girls had that showed a girl can be just as strong as a man.
After Mulan came Rapunzel, Tiana, Merida, and Anna and Elsa. All stronger and more independent than Snow White or Cinderella. Mulan started a trend, more found in Merida from 2012’s Brave and Anna and Elsa from 2013’s Frozen and 2019’s Frozen 2, that a woman can be just as independent, and strong, and sometimes even better in some aspects, as men. Mulan, Merida, and Anna and Elsa also show that you don’t necessarily need to fall in love with a man, or fall in love at all, to be happy.
It’s also good to have characters like Honey Lemon and GoGo Tomago from the 2014 film Big Hero 6. These characters are designers and scientists, who are viewed to be just as important to the team as the men are.
The men’s roles have also changed, as well. In more recent movies, it is less about being a macho man who can hunt and lift heavy items and they are shown to have emotion and have other interests and hobbies like cooking. It is good for boys to grow up knowing that they do not have to be strong or to know all. 2009’s film Princess and the Frog is a good example of the roles switched. It follows Tiana and Naveen as they navigate being frogs and try to find Mama Ode, who is believed to be able to help them change back into humans. It is revealed at the beginning of the movie that Naveen has been cut off, and has to find a way to make money himself. After meeting Tiana and they are both turned into frogs, Tiana is the one who finds them a raft to float down the river, and also provides food. She also teaches Naveen how to mince, teaching him how to cook just a little. Princess and the Frog break the stereotypes that are summed perfectly in the Odyssey article, Because Of Modern Feminism Disney Princess Gender Roles Are Changing, “Males in Disney movies are also viewed stereotypically: they are strong, empowered, the protectors, the providers, self-reliant, tough, aggressive, courageous, humorous, and heroic” (D’Ambrozio).
So, why are these character developments important?
During the 1980s, the Women’s Movement had fights still to fight, this time more for women of color. During this time, it was more important that young girls realized that they didn’t have to be a stay-at-home mom, or stay in the kitchen cooking for her husband, or not have a job because men are supposed to hold jobs and be the money maker for the household. It started with Ariel, who was stubborn and fought against the wishes of her father and pursued her dream of becoming part of the human world and getting with the man she loved.
Although, the movies that came out around this time (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan) were still not the perfect movies to represent feminism or showing women that they could be as strong as men, without a man. Ariel and Belle both still ended up with the prince by the end, as did Jasmine.
Now, it’s more common to see the father taking more action to help the mother raise their children, instead of having just the mother take care of the children. In an article posted by the Pew Research Center in 2019, it states “Among Democrats and Republicans, more see an upside for women than for men as women have taken on a greater role in the workplace and men have assumed more responsibility for child care and housework” (Horowitz et al.). Many households whose parents take on these responsibilities would want to see it reflected in the media that their children watch, and Disney has been (slowly) providing them with some.
And now, it’s especially important. Now, it is much easier for kids to access the internet, and have the ability to watch anything at their fingertips. Many kids also have a television in at least one of the rooms in their house. According to a HuffPost article written in 2014, “Television is the most pervasive form of media, with 96.7 percent of American families owning a TV, according to The Nielson Company.” Along with this, many families have either a DVD player or a gaming system that can play DVDs and can download apps such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. With this, it is very easy for children, especially younger children who are still trying to figure out what they like and don’t like and how they are supposed to act and how to treat others, to get into and start movies. With their streaming service, Disney+, Disney is able to put on whichever movies they desire, and are also able to edit select scenes in movies to update them to better fit in today’s society.
It had also become easier to change stories and put a spin on more classic stories. Renegade Cut brings up an important aspect of Disney storytelling in their video Progression of Disney Gender Roles. Many Disney movies are at least partly based on “centuries-old folklore or books that are at least a hundred years old” (Renegade Cut). When Disney was first starting out making movies, they wanted stories that were well known, and at the time, families didn’t have the internet and Netflix to be able to stream at any point throughout the week. So, many read, and with children, read fairytales like Snow White and Cinderella. But now, the original stories of these “Disney Classics” aren’t too well-read, so Disney is able to put their own spin on it. Disney now doesn’t have to completely stand by a mold of “this is how the characters were written” or “this is how society should have them act.”
Is how Disney is portraying men and women’s stereotypes perfect? No. You can’t expect everything to be perfect for the world, and perfect for our children. But, the fact that Disney is trying is well worth it.
Works Cited
Chen, John, director. 2018 Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress Complete Show HD. Youtube, 3 Aug. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M8KpbIqwyc&t=7s.
D’Ambrozio, Gianna. “Because Of Modern Feminism Disney Princess Gender Roles Are Changing.” The Odyssey Online, The Odyssey Online, 15 Oct. 2019, www.theodysseyonline.com/the-evolution-of-gender-roles-in-disney-princess-movies.
Disney, Walt, et al. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Distributed by Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., 1937.
Guilder, George. “Women in the Work Force.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 Sept. 1986, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1986/09/women-in-the-work-force/304924/.
Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, et al. “Views Of Gender In The U.S.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, 31 Dec. 2019, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/10/18/wide-partisan-gaps-in-u-s-over-how-far-the-country-has-come-on-gender-equality/.
Lantagne, Allison. “Why Gender Matters On TV.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 15 July 2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/gender-roles-media_b_5326199.
Peed, William, et al. Cinderella. RKO Radio Pictures, 1950.
Renegade Cut, director. Progression of Disney Gender Roles. Youtube, 15 Apr. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q2tuIqShbo.