I feel it’s safe to say that a majority of the people taking this class have at least one favorite Disney movie. I bet, despite how much I love Disney, that the movie you can recall has created a false depiction concerning love. I can recall watching Disney movies, specifically princess based ones on a weekly if not daily basis as a child. While growing up I ran around the house singing the famous Disney songs such as, Someday my prince will come featured in Snow White. Not only did I love singing them, I loved believing them. I honestly thought I would grow up to meet prince charming and he would pick me up off my feet and take me some where lovely.
Obviously, I am not so naïve to believe such a thing today. But, I can’t help but think that there are little children hoping that when they grow up life will be all grand, that everything will be perfect, the prince will save the day and love you forever. Today, I know love to be something completely different than what I thought it would be as a child. No man has come and saved me from a dragon or evil witch and then automatically falls in love with me. How come Disney teaches perfect love and never heart aches? Has there been a Disney Princess movie where the relationship goes downhill and they break up? The answer in no. I hope Disney will change their ways in preaching the perfect love, kids take it too much to hear. This video clip points out how Disney can show case a misleading perfect love and relates some ideas of movies with feminism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqAcUj_Wgk
-Malissa Katich
I am so glad that someone finally started talking about Disney films. I watched them too, and I love (d/still do) them too. However, re-watching them as an adult, one can easily start to pick out the gender roles and stereotypes in the films. For example, why was it never disturbing to me that the Little Mermaid changes how she looks to impress a guy? Or that Belle essentially hangs out with an abusive beast? Or how it is that there are many, many scenes of girls being thrown to the ground whenever the bad guy shows up? I think Disney might be getting better with films like Tangled and Brave, but it’s a slow, slow crawl.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely agree with this article. Most of the problem with Disney is that their movies are usually based on old fairy tales. These old fairy tales were made way back when and were used to control children. They taught them lessons and threatened the protagonist with some serious consequences if they weren't followed. Well, part of controlling the children were teaching them gender roles. It didn't help that most fairy tales were written by men at the time. Anyways, the princesses were supposed to clean house and be sophisticated while waiting for their prince. It is terribly sexist and erroneous. In a way, you could see old fairy tales as their media back in the day. If it is any consolation, there is a Disney movie called "Brave" in which the princess is celebrated as independent and she doesn't end up with that perfect prince charming.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Belcher
I believe that Disney has seen trends that girls want a stronger and more independent leader. Going from the times of Cinderella when the women would just clean the house all day dreaming of a day when the man would come and save her to the movies Disney has now is quite a transformation. It's crucial that young girls understand that they can do anything they want without a man in their life. I also think it's important to look at Disney movies through the eyes of young boys as well. Every main male character in these movies are chiseled men who fit in their gender role and box perfectly. If Disney really wanted to shake things up I think it would be interesting to throw in a main male who strives to be less 'macho'.
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