Generally, the term “gender role” refers to the acceptable or desirable behavior patterns determined by the person’s sex. These patterns are usually based on common perceptions of masculinity and femininity. For the last hundred years, the human’s attitude towards gender roles of women has significantly changed, and these changes have manifested themselves in mass culture as well. The same affected Disney movies, however, in a less degree. The aim of this paper is to discuss the change of women gender roles through the example of Snow White and Tiana from Disney movies Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Princess and the Frog.
As England et al. state, “Disney films specifically have been shown to portray some stereotypical depictions of gender” (England et al., 2011, 556). Indeed, despite several differences, all Disney princesses are similar to each other as they are classically feminine. Let’s consider Snow White. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937 and became the first animated Disney movie, and its main character Snow White became the first Disney princess. As distinct from the following Disney princesses, Snow White has short hair. However, her other qualities portray an image of a stereotypical woman. The mirror considers Snow White to be the “fairest of them all” despite the fact she does not wear beautiful dresses or makeup and does not live as a typical princess as her evil stepmother forces her to do menial labor. At the same time, Snow White obeys her stepmother without any rebels. Like every other princesses, Snow White sings songs and dreams about true love. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Prince appears at the beginning of the story, so we do not know how they met each other. After escaping and meeting with the dwarfs, Snow White performs like their mother. To prove it, Ewert quotes Snow White and writes, “you'd think their mother would clean” (Ewert, 2014). Then Snow White suggests that they may have no mother and immediately offers to clean the house. She continues to perform the role of the dwarfs’ mother during living in their house. While the dwarfs are at work, she is cooking and doing household chores. As England et al. state, “The princess in Snow White displayed affection, fearfulness, and nurturing as her three most frequently displayed characteristics, all of which are traditionally feminine” (England et al., 2011, 562).
Now let’s move to the next point and consider another Disney princess. In 2009, Disney showed its new animated movie The Princess and the Frog. The major character of The Princess and the Frog is Tia, a girl who becomes a princess after she marries Prince Naveen. Like other Disney princesses, Tia represents Disney female gender stereotypes. She is attractive, slim, wear dresses, and does cleaning and cooking. Tia has a feminine job working as a waitress to save money. She is a good cook, and her mother is “the finest seamstress in New Orleans” (England et al., 2011, 564). As Snow White, Tia is often shown cleaning and sweeping. Like every other Disney princess, she has a dream, but it is not a true love. Tia keeps the dream of her father and wants to open the restaurant. Thus, remaining feminine, Tia displays several masculine character traits. She is career-oriented and has no time for a socializing and romantic relationship. Tia is independent and used to overcome difficulties by herself. According to England et al, “This suggests a chronological movement towards a more androgynous princess” (England et al., 2011, 562). It is also important to note the way Tia falls in love with Naveen. One of the major concepts of the old Disney movies is love at first sight. The same happens with Snow White, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, etc. Tia, on the contrary, does not like Naveen at first. Moreover, she blames him for turning her into a frog, what is actually true. The love between Tia and Naveen appears from their friendship and adventures and troubles they overcome during the movie.
Finally, let’s compare the gender roles of Tia and Snow White. As it was mentioned above, both Snow White and Tia are shown as feminine and hard working. However, Snow White works as a typical mother or wife. She does house cleaning, cooks, does laundry, etc. Snow White’s work is not related to making money and she does not even think about this issue, as making money and is the problem of men. Tia, on the contrary, works for money that she saves for her future restaurant. According to England et al., Snow White has almost no masculine characteristics, while Tia’s feminine characteristics overweight the masculine ones not by much (England et al., 2011, 558). Snow White is helpless, and Tia is independent and brave. Snow White needs to be rescued, and Tia and Prince are able to rescue themselves together. In other words, while Snow White waits, Tia acts. Lin and Tso write, “In the lyrics of “Almost There”, Tiana said, ” Fairytales can come true; but you gotta make 'em happen; it all depends on you. So I work real hard each and every day” (Lin and Tso, 2014, 21). They continue their thought stating that Tiana’s behavior and ideas symbolize the new American values that appeared due to the recession. Indeed, in the times of Snow White, the movement of feminism was only shaped and the women and men had no equal rights, but nowadays women are able to succeed along with men. While the major idea of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs lies in highlighting the values of kindness and stereotypical feminine behavior, The Princess and the Frog refers to rewards that one gets for hard work and dedication. Howard proves this idea saying about the reasons why Mama could not turn Tiana and Naveen back into humans. He says, “she simply reminded them that ‘you’ve got to dig it a little more deeper, forget about what you want, go after what you need’ that’s what the world need right now” (Lin and Tso, 2014, 21-22).
More than seventy years separate two Disney animated movies, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Princess and the Frog. During these years, the company remains faithful to classical images of feminine princesses, but also reflects forthcoming changes of gender roles in the society. Every next princess becomes more independent and able to act along with men or even better. The images of the princes and princesses have a great influence on children and address them gender roles of men and women in the modern world. Thus, Disney plays an important role in the formation of these roles in their minds.
References
England, D. E., Descartes, L., & Collier-Meek, M. A. (2011). Gender role portrayal and the Disney princesses. Sex Roles, 64: 555-567. PDF. Retrieved from http://people.stfx.ca/x2011/x2011bwz/Gender%20Portrayal.pdf
Ewert, J. (2014). A tale as old as time – an analysis of negative stereotypes in Disney princess movies. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 13. Web. Retrieved from http://www.kon.org/urc/v13/ewert.html
Lin, Man-Hsin, & Tso, Emily Jennifer (2014). Study on evolution of Disney princess’ gender role over time - specified in case studies of "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "The Prince and the Frog" (2009) and "Frozen" (2013). PDF. Retrieved from http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~mlin73/ticahere/image/Disney%20Essay.pdf
