Project Scope
This paper will establish the various gender roles in some of the popular Disney movies according to the portrayed male and the female characteristics in these movies.
Introduction
The roles of gender in most of the Disney popular movies have been well defined although with a lot of biasness. Most of these movies have brought out the roles of gender to be very unrealistic and the Disney characters have also remained to be very popular amongst the millions of children who are inspired by such movies. Such movies may inspire the roles of a specific gender, the ideals and values, legitimacy and cultural authority. Although the company brings out the family values clearly, they portray the female gender to have a limited capacity. In most of these Disney movies, women have been seen to always be at men’s service. This can be evidenced from the fact that, they are always saved by a man or always need the help of a man to execute something. This paper will analyze the gender roles as portrayed by the popular Disney movies and the impact they have on children.
Power and Wickedness
Most of the women who appear to be more powerful than the men have always appeared to be very wicked according to their actions. This can be seen in the movie, ‘Snow white’ whereby the queen who is seen to be very powerful is very wicked. She has the powers to change wishes to suit her happiness. In most instances, the wishes that she makes are not of good intention but to harm other individuals who come through her way. From this example, women in the Disney movies have been portrayed to be wicked when they have so much power. Their intentions are always aimed at hurting the other fellow women or young girls (Budd 97).
Powerless and Obedience
In these movies, most of the powerless especially the princes can be seen to be very obedient and polite as well. This can be seen from the movie ‘struck at midnight’ whereby, the princess Cinderella is a polite, delicate and humble girl. She has always allowed herself to be abused by her step sisters and step mother as well. In the end, it is her charming beauty that enables her to be married to a prince. Another good example of obedience coming in hand with powerlessness can be seen in the case of ‘Snow White’. She is portrayed to always be at the mercy of the seven dwarfs and a servant although a very beautiful girl. Another relationship that comes in handy with powerless women or females in the Disney movies is the act of naivety. Most of the powerless have been given the role of being very naïve. This can be seen from Snow Whites naivety of taking poisonous apple for the purpose of gaining more aesthetic beauty. She can be seen to be lucking in talent and will mostly go around the house doing house chores while singing. Thus, the powerless have nothing to beat the wicked and powerful but their beauty and obedience to their masters in the popular Disney movies (Budd 97).
Women always need a man to save them out of a disaster
In most of the movies, girls or women have been perceived not to be able to bail themselves out of a difficult situation. They are always at the plea of a man to help them get out of the dangerous situation. The girls keep praying for deliverance to come from a strong man with powers, for example, a prince charming to get them out of a difficult situation. This is evidenced in the Snow White who is always whispering a prayer for a prince to come and save her out of the harsh conditions and suffering that she has been going through in her life. Princess Aurora in the movie, ‘Kissed to Life’ also exhibits the same characteristics. Although born a princess, she still needs to be rescued from death bed by a prince. She gets to be saved because of the lovely voice that she attracts many including the prince who is love with her from the very first time. The princess Ariel also in the movie ‘Blessed voice’ need to be rescued and this only comes through the prince’s kiss that enables her to remain in the state of a human being. This is not the only event in her life that she requires a man to save her. At some point she also needs the father to rescue her from the witch’s evil actions. This shows female beings as being helpless beings that always need the help of a man to be able to come out of a difficult situation (Brym et al 74).
The charming prince
In most of the Disney movies, men and the young boys have been shown to always be charming beings. They always have to have the prince charming qualities for them to win the heart of girls in most of the movies. This has even led to the name given to such gentlemen as ‘prince charming’ as most of the ladies would describe the most suitable men for marriage today. The act of always being a prince charming is evidenced in the movies of snow white and Cinderella. It is the charming events that the prince comes with that makes them to be attracted to the princes. Therefore, in the Disney movies, for a man to win over a woman, the key quality that is considered is the level of his charming character (Gymnich et al 17).
Strong male character
For the males in the movies, they always have to be very strong for them to be recognized in any scene. Most of the recognition of a man comes when he has to do something to help especially a lady in need. They are seen to always being strikingly masculine that they can even fight a beast to get a lady out of a tough situation. The most outstanding event that can be used to demonstrate the issue of masculinity is in the movie snow white, whereby the prince charming has to use swords and energy to save her out danger. Aladdin is also a movie to look into when analyzing the complexity of behavior and masculinity. He is seen to be very brave and strong on any actions that he takes. There is no man who is well recognized in these movies that does not have the qualities of being brave and energetic. They always come to the rescue of most of ladies in difficult situations. Therefore, their role is to protect the fragile displayed woman and ladies in these movies (King et al 115).
Ingenious male character traits
Most of the males in the Disney movies are seen to be very wise with great talents not like the ladies who spend most of their days doing daily chores while singing along. The men appear to solve most of the complex and difficult situations that most women and ladies cannot venture into. The men for example, although a complex situation, the prince in kiss to life knows that he has to kiss the prince to bring her back to normal life. Aladdin is also a good example of making brilliant decisions in the male dominion. Hence, the male in the Disney movies have always been given the strong character of being geniuses and saving a particular situation (King et al 115).
Happiness always related to marrying a prince
The key to happiness in most of these movies is related to marrying a prince. Most of the happily married women in the scenes have to be married to a prince for their lives to be recognized by the society. The poor men in the community have not been recognized in most of the act scenes and marrying a prince is the recognized way to happiness for marriage. The ladies in the movies are always making a wish of getting a prince to marry them. Most of the happy endings can be seen to include marriages that have a prince in the picture. Therefore, men play an important role in the movies providing in happiness to the women (Dines et al 388).
Stereotypical influence on children and adults
Restrictive sex roles
It is important to note that, most of the children’s roles are influenced by way the characteristics that are brought out by characters in the Disney movies. The perception that a woman always has to look beautiful in order to catch the attention of men has been brought out clearly in most of these movies. Thus, most of the young girls as they grow up will always want to look very beautiful in order to catch the attention of the most preferred men in the society (Inness 73).
Some of the girls will even want to grow up like princesses attached to the idea of the movies that the princess are always very beautiful and always end up marrying the prince charming in the society. To date, the most powerful women who can be easily recognized in the society are the most wicked in their own ways. The Disney movies have even influenced the current soap operas that are going on, on televisions. The most powerful women must have developed and grown up knowing that in order to be powerful and you are a woman, then, the character of being wicked has to come in (Marshall 106).
It is also still a common practice for most of the households that it is the man who will always come to the rescue of the women especially when it comes to dealing with the financial issues that are involved in the family. Some ladies to date still get married to become housewives as portrayed by the Disney movies that the ladies are there to make their husbands happy as they try to fend for the family. This is the chief reason why there still exist housewives in the society despite women being given an equal opportunity with men in education and job opportunities as well (Furze et al 88).
Children also grow up with the notion that the boys in the family are meant to always being boisterous and even prone to swearing in most of their actions. The girls on the other hand grow up knowing that they are meant to be helpful and should offer a hand all the time. All this are an indication of children always adopting most of the ideas that are brought out in the movies and even grow up with the perception at the back of their minds. This is because; most of the acts are seen to recur in their personality later in life as they grow up (Furze et al 88).
As children grow up, the males in the community can be seen to emulate the idea of being more masculine than the females in the society. Thus, in most instances, they can be seen to be protecting their sisters even at a very young age. They feel that it is their obligation to remain brave in the society and protect the more fragile females in the community (Holtzman 93).
The girls on the other hand can be seen to want to be dressed up like the princesses in the movies. The girls always want to have very long hair that is similar to the princesses in the movies. And even before they reach the required age to apply makeup, they are ever in a hurry to apply make and some even go to the extent of stealing their big sisters makeup or taking their mother’s make up kit without inquiring or asking (Holtzman 93).
It is vital that Disney movies put the aftermath effects that they have impounded on the younger generation. The movies provide a good family basis but are biased in some areas especially when it comes to the roles that are played by different genders in the movies. They have both the positive and negative effect on the growth and development of children (Stahly 32).
Conclusion
With most complain that have been forwarded to Disney, they are currently changing their way of displaying the gender roles in different movies. This can be seen in the Mulan’s character that has been brought out to have strong traits. She portrays a brave character that is able to take from the father’s shoes in war as taking the role of disguised soldier man. The roles that are played by different genders in the Disney movies have greatly impacted on most of the lives of the children through their development. The notion that happiness can only be brought by marrying a prince charming still remains in the minds of most of the individual. Today, most of the ladies wants a very rich husband for marriage since, the idea that money is the key to happiness was the main idea brought out in most of the Disney films. It is therefore, important that the movies with time are given a non-biased gender role. This will help the females in the society to grow up knowing that they can be equally important in the society just like the males. The males will also grow up knowing that they should also be able to offer help anytime and anywhere and this should not only be left for the female in the society. If the Disney movie company puts this into consideration, then the gender roles will only affect the children who watch these movies in a more positive manner and hence, a greater nation with more independent individuals from both genders.
Annotated Bibliography
Budd, Mike, and Max H. Kirsch. Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. Print.
This book brings in the notion that Disney movies has brought to the individuals who watch their movies. The authors try to bring out why the public have very minimal influences on the private control of Disney movies. It brings out the gender roles that the Disney world portrays and yet are not worth being taken as the best.
Brym, Robert J, and John Lie. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World, the Brief Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
The authors of this book try to bring out the perception of the entire world on the Disney movies and their impacts even as children grow up to adulthood. It gives those examples that most of the children grow up emulating from most of the Disney movies that are more on the biased side of gender roles.
Gymnich, Marion, Kathrin Ruhl, Klaus Scheunemann, and Stefanie Hoth. Gendered (re)visions: Constructions of Gender in Audiovisual Media. Göttingen: V&R Unipress, 2010. Print.
This is a report that is based on the issue of gender portrayal especially in the media both in the audio and visual media services. It brings out the idea that most of the time women are the individuals who suffer in the hand of media owners to bring out a character that is not the best that portrays the woman gender role.
King, C R, Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, and Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo. Animating Difference: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Films for Children. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010. Print.
This book brings out the main idea that the Disney movies brings out on the younger children. The authors bring out the main effects that the movies have impacted on children which are mainly very biased in nature especially to the girl child. They bring out the notion sexuality based on gender and race.
Dines, Gail, and Jean M. M. Humez. Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Critical Reader. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print.
The authors of this critical reader based on gender, race and class have mainly dwelt on the gender roles that the Disney movies have mainly brought out in their movies and the expected outcomes that should be expected out if any parents should allow their children to adopt the main ideas of the movies.
Inness, Sherrie A. Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Print.
This article mainly dwells on the way the Disney movies have continually portrayed the roles of a woman to be. The cultures that women grow up with, of being less superior to their male counterparts have also been considered to a greater extent. The article encourages today’s women to embrace the culture of viewing themselves as equal beings with their male counterparts.
Marshall, Elizabeth, and Özlem Sensoy. Rethinking Popular Culture and Media. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, 2011. Print.
The author being a woman, this book has brought out the biasness that the gender roles have been portrayed to be in most of the popular Disney movies. She mainly encourages women not to embrace the ideas that the movies bring out to be related to women but to embrace braveness and a culture of being independent.
Furze, Brian, and Brian Furze. Sociology in Today's World. South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning Australia, 2012. Print.
The authors concentrate on bringing out the idea of social world today and the impacts that the Disney movies have impounded on the young children until they grow up to be elderly. They bring out the reasons why some children grow up to become what they are if they are involved in watching most of Disney films.
Holtzman, Linda. Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation. Armonk, NY [u.a.: Sharpe, 2000. Print.
This journal is a critic of what the media industry is all about and the bias that comes with most of the media films like in gender. The main concept of this journal is that the movies can bring both harmful effects and beneficial effects to the individuals watching them; hence, it encourages most parents to be careful with what they expose their children to.
Stahly, Geraldine B, and Robert A. Corrigan. Gender Identity, Equity, and Violence: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Through Service Learning. Sterling, Va: Stylus, 2007. Print.
Gender roles and their resultant actions is the main idea that has been brought out by the authors of this peer reviewed article. The authors bring out the roles of the different genders as portrayed in different Disney movies for the young children to emulate. According to this article, the gender roles greatly affect the young to their adulthood.
