Disney Princesses : Ideal Or (?)

The Impact of Disney Princesses on young girls

Disney, where “Dreams come true” and “Nothing is Impossible” [Doorknob- Alice in Wonderland, 1951], a place which they claim to be “The Happiest Place on Earth”. Disney; the name in itself is good enough for anyone to feel all excited and merry, both, kids and adults alike. The legacy of Disney is definitely one that has passed down from generation to generation. The sheer joy of watching a Disney movie still sparks excitement in an adult’s eyes.

So now, we arrive at the question of ; What is this ‘magic of disney’? Disney takes a liking not just among the little ones but also the adults and young-adults. What gives Disney an edge over the other animation productions? Maybe it is the storyline or maybe it is the simple presence of innocence in the movies which makes the adults remember their childhood. Disney movies are passed down from the parents to their kids. From my personal experience, I remember my father putting on Mickey Mouse and The Lion King [among many others] for me and then sitting along, eyes glued to the TV, watching and enjoying with his daughter. Hence, there is obviously something in those movies which keeps the adults entertained or probably it might just be nostalgia. Whatever the reason may be, it is an established fact that Disney has a wide and diverse set of audience for itself.

Since Disney has such a wide array of audience it becomes even more important for it to make right content. This generation, namely the Millenials, are born into a digital era and have been connected to the screens since their childhood. Thus it is but natural that they pick up behaviours they see on screens and imitate them. They would go to the extent of role-playing the characters, wanting to look like a certain character, being surrounded in ‘a type’ of environment, basically, imitating the entire scenarios and lives of the characters they watch on their screens and idolise so much. Henceforth, it becomes extremely important to expose them to the right content so they could pick up the correct things and not fall onto the wrong path. Now, since Disney is one of the parents’ most trusted choice of animated movies and cartoons for their children, it becomes vitally important for Disney to have an appropriate judgement of the content it is producing and sending out to the viewers.

With the role that mass communication plays in the development of children across the globe, it is relevant to examine the actual information that is being broadcast out into the world. Television shows, movies, and to a certain extent social media, are all sources of information among youth. As they grow in impact and continue to gain power over their audiences and the flow of information it becomes more and more important to pinpoint what their messages are actually teaching. The influence of television was initially emphasized with the emergence of theories such as cultivation by George Gerbner.

Gerbner (1998) studied the impact of television and found that what television does is develop “the cultivation of shared conceptions or reality among otherwise diverse publics” (Gerbner, 1998, p.178). According to these studies, it seems that the beliefs, values, and behaviors demonstrated in media outlets are what drive public beliefs, values, and behaviors. Scholars who have studied cultivation theory have found that the way that media display different situations, people, or things are associated with how the public views those situations, people, or things and those public views, in turn, match the media views.

The movies that Disney produces have a major impact on the psyche of the viewers, especially children, who are still observing, learning and picking up behaviours from their environment. Many scholars and parents have raised a concern about their children becoming a certain way after watching some show or movie on the TV. Most of the kids these days are obsessed with some or the other character, they would want to have all the new merchandise and would replicate those characters in their real lives. Peggy Orenstein, a journalist and a mother to a daughter, critically analyses the “girlie-girl” culture which is a result of the long traces about the idea and concept of external beauty. She published a book upon her findings and called it “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” in which she writes about how the portrayal of disney princesses affects the psyche of young girls.

Many stereotypes exist in those Disney movies which sugarcoat the real issues of stereotyping on the basis of race, genders, male supremacy, romance, beauty, etc.

Since Snow White in 1937, Disney Princesses have increasingly become more independent, more diverse, and more realistic over the past few decades. Although the iconic Disney Princess films often convey problematic morals, they are also popular for the valuable ideals they teach. In the I Am a Princess video, Disney expresses the importance of loyalty, generosity,kindness, bravery, and honesty. While upholding patriarchal values and enforcing slimness, whiteness, and heterosexuality as norms, Disney Princesses can be morally relevant if their weaknesses are disregarded.

Because of the profound impact its films have on young audiences, Disney should be developing princesses with whom anyone can relate, and from which any person can understand him or herself in a positive way. However, although Disney presents itself as a protector of innocence and a company that creates nostalgia to ensure popularity, the corporation cannot be held morally responsible for creating ethical films. Therefore parents and caretakers of young children must face the question of how they will present Disney Princesses to their children. (According to Peggy Orenstein, it is almost impossible for children to escape Disney Princesses, even when parents themselves refuse to purchase the merchandise.) Having an awareness of Disney’s shortcomings in its portrayals of the princesses is an important tool for parents to open a dialogue with their children, discussing in which ways children should and shouldn’t aspire to be like the Disney Princesses.

The Disney Films revolving around princesses can be classified into 4 major eras of the disney. Everything in the world has to progress by being in compliance with one another, nothing is solitary in this world and everything is very much inter-related. The same stands true for Disney, Disney has always reflected the society through it’s films by incorporating different values, beliefs and practices of the society in their films. Hence, even the movies which were released earlier were a reflection of the society of yester-years.

Let us take a few films as examples, these films are amongst the most popular Disney films of all times, namely;

Snow White and the seven Dwarfs (1937)

Cinderella (1950)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Brave (2012)

Each of these films is taken from the 3 different eras of Disney;

The Golden Era (1937–1942)

The Silver Era (1950–1959)

The Renaissance Era (1989–1999)

The Revival/Contemporary Era (2010-present)

As we move ahead in time, we observe there’s a change in the themes of the plot, subtle changes in the characteristics of the protagonists, the clothing styles, the values and beliefs and the thought process of the society depicted in the film. Talking about Snow white and Cinderella, both these movies have a lot of themes in common. Being made only a decade apart, Cinderella was the second film to be made (first being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) revolving around the life of a princess.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ; The central plot of the story revolves around snow white, who happens to be surrealistically pretty and her step mother finding ways to kill snow white out of her jealousy in terms of beauty. The whole plot revolves around the concept of “beauty”, Snow white is described as “Lips as red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow” [Magic Mirror, Snow white and the seven dwarfs]. The only issue with this movie is not simply the ‘damsel in distress’ part but also the whole unreal concept of beauty, posing high expectations on women to look the ‘ideal’ part. Another problematic message which the movie conveys is beauty on the basis of colour. The evil queen is shown as dark skinned, obsessed with fair complexion. She asked the Magic Mirror each day “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” encouraging racism on the basis of skin colour and indicating that if you are not fair, you are not beautiful.

Cinderella ; The main plot of the movie evidently conveys that women were “subordinate” to men, men were the superior entity. The announcement of the ball itself states ‘all the eligible maidens are obligated to attend the ball’. The ball where the prince would be presented with all the ladies and he would choose which one he likes amongst all. This whole plot was very misogynistic and conveyed that women had to look their best in order to impress a man, women were to be presented at the ball as an object for the prince’s liking. Like Snow White, Cinderella sings about her dreams to escape the tyranny of her stepmother and stepsisters; unlike Snow White, with a push from her fairy godmother Cinderella defies her stepmother and attends the prince’s ball. She does not do this with the explicit intention of seeking out the prince, but rather as a demonstration of her status, Cinderella works diligently, albeit doing housework, throughout the day as a means to convince her stepmother to allow her to go to the ball, and perhaps in a sense earns access to her dream. The relationship between prince and princess-to-be in Cinderella is slightly more dynamic than it had been in Snow White; however, their primary interaction takes place through the silence of dancing with one another, suggesting to young girls the prevalence in relationships of physicality over conversation or personal compatibility.

However, despite the shortcomings, Cinderella had a stronger character than the predecessor, Snow White, as she had courage to face her stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella’s stepmother had prohibited her from attending the ball, and despite it, she went to the ball because she wished so herself.

Beauty and the Beast ; In the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, the heroine Belle is initially portrayed as an independent and intelligent young woman. Belle appears to make her own decisions, typically supported by her father who is less domineering than previous princesses’ fathers; his authority as a father is continuously undermined as the villagers accuse him of insanity and rally to institute him in the local asylum. Belle loves to read, but is also the most beautiful girl in the town. These two qualities are portrayed as oppositional throughout the movie: lines from the opening song proclaim, “It’s a pity and a sin, she doesn’t quite fit in. She really is a funny girl, a beauty but a funny girl.” Disney’s promising protagonist is also strong and confident in her refusal of the advances of the arrogant and attractive Gaston, who wants to marry her because she is “the most beautiful girl in town. That makes her the best. And don’t I deserve the best?”

Gaston is hyper-masculinized and described as “burly” and “brawny.” Belle boldly rejects his proposal to be his “little wife massaging [his] feet.” Gaston’s character represents the epitome of patriarchal subordination of women, while Belle is the strong and intelligent feminist figure. Although these roles suggest a successful feminist vision at the outset of the film, Belle’s relationship with the beast undermines her supposed self-reliant identity. Although Belle rejects the “macho sensibilities of Gaston” in favor of the “reformed sexism of the Beast,” Belle’s value as an individual is distorted throughout the film. “Belle is less the focus of the film than a prop or ‘mechanism for solving the Beast’s dilemma.”

While the Beast’s romance with Belle is ultimately used as a way to escape his curse, Belle’s independent persona is also lost as she becomes prisoner to the Beast and falls in love with him. The once pseudo-feminist princess falls victim to the Beast’s emotionally and physically abusive tactics, and yet finds contentment, even love, with him. According to Dr. Carolyn Newberger, “This is a movie that is saying to our children, overlook the abuse, overlook the violence, there’s a tender prince lurking within, and it’s your job to kiss that prince and bring it out, or to kiss that beast and bring it out. That’s a dangerous message.”

Brave ; In 2012 Disney-Pixar debuted Brave, the first Pixar film with a female protagonist. However, the brave Princess Merida also represents a milestone for Disney Princess films: she is the only princess to remain unattached romantically by the end of the film. She resists her parents’ attempt to choose a suitor for her through an archery competition, and dares to break tradition by competing herself. Princess Merida’s rejection of femininity and refusal of tradition horrifies her mother, Queen Elinor, who religiously upholds traditional gender roles. The movie ends with a break in tradition: Princess Merida is brave enough to stand before the lords assembled, imploring them to let “our young people decide for themselves who they will love.”

This film is unique in its message — that marriage and romance are no longer necessary for princesses to be successful, powerful, and happy. However, through Brave’s emphasis on the mother-daughter relationship, attempts to subvert gender roles begin to reinforce traditional dichotomies. In order for subversion to be effective, both the subverter and the audience must come to an agreement that the idea being subverted actually exists, albeit problematically. Brave’s focus on subverting traditional gender roles ultimately makes these ideas increasingly more prevalent in the film. Princess Merida is accustomed to Queen Elinor’s rigid ideas about gender roles: “A princess shouldn’t leave her weapons on the table…A princess should not have weaponry, in my opinion.” While in the end Princess Merida proves that these limiting ideals can be overcome and generational ideological gaps can be bridged, she reinforces the assumption that gender stereotypes are a constricting force to women seeking independence. This film portrays a girl who chooses not to marry as the exception, not as the norm.

The Disney Princess icon can help to teach children certain values, but it can also cause children to value their own attributes less, should they be something other than the white, heterosexual, beautiful norm of Disney Princesses. This is a criticism that Disney has begun to address through its contemporary Disney Princess films, but Disney will have to do more than introduce several diverse Disney Princesses to compensate for fifty years of reinforcing cultural hegemony.

After carefully analysing these few movies which fall under the label of Disney Princess franchise, whether to allow the kids to watch these films or not is still a very debatable topic, however, one thing remains clear that Disney isn’t as rightful in terms of it’s content for younger generations as it seems once you critically analyse it.