Walt Disney Character Analysis

Is this a fair picture of how women are or should be? How does it differ from “normalized” views of women? Does it differ from other Disney interpretations of women? (1 – 1.5 pages minimum; value 20) Intertextuality Intertextuality is the way in which texts refer to other media texts that producers assume audiences will recognize.

Most Disney princess movies establish these female archetypes of physical attributes and personal characteristics each princess must obtain in order to fit within the ‘norm’ of what a female is defined and seen as. Physical attributes include a petite figure, voluminous hair, and symmetrical faces (example within image #1 on page 11). In addition to these are the personal characteristics of dependence and naivete. Although these standards of a ‘perfect’ female may have not been created by Disney, they surely have been reinforced by it. Common features seen throughout Disney films are princesses being given natural beauty, which in turn is what defines them as a princess.

Most of the children read about many fairy tales, especially Snow Whites, Sleeping beauty, and Cinderella when they grew up. It is a surprising fact that to discover a hidden, unexpected political intention in the simple plot of fairy tales. That is a feminization of woman. The fairy tale world suggests a male-centered patriarchy as an ideal basic society and impliedly imply that man and woman need to have a proper attitude toward this opinion. However, Jewett’s A White Heron describes a new perspective of fairy tale’s plot.

While many young girls love the princesses and look up to them, others view these characters as negative role models. Disney Princesses have always appeared in movies as young women who dress in elegant gowns, have sexy bodies and perfect hair. They are always paired with a prince who lives in a castle, meaning that he has a lot of money. This description of what the Disney Princess is like; give us a big concern in the influence this image is giving to the little girls. Unfortunately, what girls learn as children carries on into adulthood.

The Cinderella tale has been at the heart of many stories for generations. People have become very familiar with the storyline, as it is very prevalent in society today through many moderns movies and stories. The Cinderella story is adored by young children, more specifically by young girls. However as a more feminist culture has emerged, society’s viewpoint of fairytales is becoming increasingly negative. In, “The Princess Paradox” and “Cinderella and Princess Culture”, authors James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein further evaluate themes found in the Cinderella stories.

Rhetorical Analysis Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and many other Disney movies all have one thing in common, they feature a female lead who need a male figure to save them. However, things started to change after the release of Mulan 1988. It changed from only having those female leads who always needed to rely on someone, to females who were able to show off their more masculine side. In the article “Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Pixar/Disney,” Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden explored the idea that Pixar movies were starting to show male characters who weren 't afraid to show their emotions and feminine attributes, to promote the “New Man” model.

Queen Elsa The Disney movie, Frozen is the story of two sisters, one of whom was born with magical powers of ice and snow, trying to save their kingdom. Like with most fictional Disney characters, Queen Elsa’s, powers are both a gift and a curse, and they are the epitome of Elsa’s being; without her “gift” she would not be the character that represents the overall theme of overcoming such intrapersonal turmoil. Of the six domains of knowledge discussed in personality psychology, Elsa’s personality in the first half of the film (until she runs away to the mountains) can best be described in terms of dispositions which remain consistent, and social/cultural adaptations from living in Arendelle, Norway in the mid-19th century. Queen Elsa’s

However, the later Disney films have gradually attempted to break away from this stereotype resulting in stronger female characters like Ariel, Mulan, and Elsa among others. Keeping this transition in mind, this paper uses semiotic analysis of four popular Disney films, namely, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Mulan (1998) to depict the influence of societies ' changing perceptions of women on the portrayal of Disney princesses. These films taking into account the earliest film and certain popular characters that have represented a shift from being the coy damsel in distress to a woman who plays an active role in determining her own destiny. The portrayal of the Disney princess has changed in accordance with the development of women in society over time (1937 to 2013) from demure and traditional to

The earlier Disney movies like Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, portrayed more stereotypical messages rather than the latter ones such as Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, and Princess and The Frog. In the earlier movies, princes are the ones to perform the rescue, and princesses have stereotypically female characteristics such as being nurturing, physically weak, and submissive (England, Descartes, & Collier-Meek, 2011). However, as proposed by an article published in the social science journal written by the associate professor of sociology at McDaniel College Lauren Dundes, Pocahontas marked the emergence of a new heroine. The character possessed stereotypically masculine traits such as assertiveness, athletic ability, and the desire to explore. In the movie, she is shown choosing to sail against the current when the river diverges, jumping into the water off a high cliff, and asserting herself to her father Dundes, 2001).

However, there are people preferred Pixar animation than Dreamworks animation. How did Pixar animation manage to surpass and be better than Dreamworks animation from the start until this time? Here are the three reasons, firstly, Pixar animation provides an impressive storyline to their animated films that the audience enjoys the most and the way how the representation of the identity gives just to the character than Dreamworks animation. Secondly, the strategy of Pixar animation and Dreamworks animation on how they market a credible product to the audience that encourages them to view the featured animation film. And lastly, the consistency of the animation of Pixar and Dreamworks when it comes to the drawing itself, 3D model animation, the concept of the product and the software that they are using.

Princesses’ in Disney movies are tied down to a recurring theme: the princess that must be saved from the evil woman by the charming prince. A significant contrast to the usually weak and easily persuaded figure of the father. Even though the women are portrayed as weak, nobody stops to think how strong they have to be to carry the responsibility of an entire household on her shoulder, while the men always seem to be traveling or ill. Fairytales are based on a patriarchal way of thinking and as time passes by, it’s proven to be detrimental to society Women and men are constantly being bound to a series of stereotypes.

The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).

VI. Analysis of G-rated movies content To develop my conclusions on this subject I developed a research project on the most popular G-rated animation movies to see what kind of situations happen in them. It is important to know what type of things the children are watching, since many small children like to watch the same movie multiple times and then tend to be exposed to these situations numerous of times. The majority of these movies I watched myself to make my own analysis and later consulted Internet resources to see other people’s opinions, this way I could verify the information present on these websites.

Before she is able to meet with the Matchmaker, she must dress up and apply makeup on herself to make herself look beautiful and strong-willed. Critic, Nandini Maity, states in her article, Damsels in Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films, that Disney uses the princesses or heroines in each princess movie to demonstrate how women should act, dignified and beautiful. By doing so, it portrays how Disney has a set purpose to make society understand that women should always act this way in society, that they should be helped out by men. While Mulan is being washed and dressed, the women helping her “sing to Mulan a song called Honour us all, a song that imposes the traditional roles onto Mulan. They say that women should have tiny waists, be calm, and obedient.

Amanda Putnam’s essay, “Mean Ladies: Transgendered Villains in Disney Films”, is a compelling piece on gender portrayal and views in Disney films. Putnam opened the essay with a personal anecdote about her daughter. Her daughter wanted a Disney movie without a “mean lady”, as in most Disney films the villains are scary, evil women. The real life evidence strengthened her claim that children are noticing the characterization of female villains in Disney films. The antidote was brought fill circle when she referred back to her daughter in the final paragraphs of her essay.