When I was younger I used to love watching Disney movies like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Aladdin etc. I didn't really pay attention to the underlying messages behind these cartoons because I was often too busy paying attention to the magical and happy endings of the stories to focus on the message they send out to young kids. As I was surfing through the net, I came across this image about the fairy-tale princesses of Disney. After reading the text about each princess I was taken aback by how true the text was. It is very amusing to think that most classic Disney movies with a female as the lead character role are about the pursuit of a man. Although children like young girls do not necessarily think this way about females, and marriage when watching the cartoons. They subconsciously take in the messages and play it out in their lives Speaking of young girls playing out these messages given by the characters, I think there could be somewhat of a similarity with modern day weddings. Usually weddings are supposed to be about two people who are joined together to legally wed in front of friends and family. Nowadays it is about the woman having a lavish and expensive fairy-tale ending. Which is not at all a reality.
If you do not get the text because you have never watched the movies or you forgot here is the explanation:
-Snow White is wanted to be killed by the Queen(her stepmother) who is jealous of her beauty, but she is saved by a kiss from Prince Charming.
-Cinderella is a maid for her stepmother and stepsisters, Her dreams come true as she goes to a ball and meets the Prince( who is a wealthy man). Later they are married.
-Jasmine must marry a man suggested by her wealthy father because of the law, she runs away and falls in love with Aladdin.
-Ariel is willing to give up everything for Prince Eric, even her voice(strongest talent) to become human.
-Belle is a girl who falls in love with a beast, he falls in love with her because of her beauty and kindness. she doesn't care about his appearance, instead his civil manners
-Aurora is the sleeping beauty. she is put on a curse to die, instead she receives a gift to sleep instead of death. She is also saved by the Prince with a kiss.
Questions
1) Did you ever pay attention to the underlying messages of Disney movies?
2) Do you think these messages affect young viewers when they grow up? or they just forget about it
3) Do you believe that Disney movies can shape the way young kids think at a young age and give them false ideas of reality?
While watching Disney movies I’ve never paid attention to the underlying messages of the movies. It’s safe to say many Disney movies, I’ve watched often portray women as dependent on a man. It becomes their pursuit of happiness to find their prince charming. These women are often shown as helpless, confused, and in some cruel situation which only “prince charming” can save them from. I think the messages can affect young girls because the constant themes in the movie, basically tell girls they need to find their prince charming and live a fairy-tale ending. When a lot of women plan their wedding they usually dream of having a “fairy-tale” wedding, in my opinion this idea is influenced by Disney movies. Even into adulthood I’ve realized, the themes in Disney movie can affect women, it’s portrayed in these movies every woman must get married to a “prince-charming” and excludes women that could be lesbian, transgendered, and bisexual. I do think Disney movies can shape the way young kids think at a young age because it makes young girls feel a man can change your whole life and make it a perfect fairy tale from the images in the movie. It always presents a beautiful young princess that falls in love with a handsome prince and the two instantly know they’re perfect for each other. Every princess always lives happily ever after, which isn’t reality for a lot of people who are married some get divorced or separated. Also there was recently a black princess added to Disney “Princess and The Frog”, which makes me wonder why it took so long. This could have a negative impact on young girls especially the ones that are black since they aren’t represented a lot in Disney movies, and the majority of the princesses are white.
ReplyDelete1. When I was much younger I never paid attention to the underlying messages behind these fairytales because I was young and secondly I was probably to busy day dreaming and wishing that I was in there position or better yet waiting for my Prince Charming to come and sweep me off my feet.
ReplyDelete2. Yes it does affect viewers when they grow up because even the real people in our every day society sometimes have money to make these things happen and a lot of us commoners become caught up. ex. the Royal wedding how many of us wish that we were in Kates. Another reason why i know that this affects us is because of the way we act when we are planning our wedding ex a lot of people want to have this big elaborate wedding but many of us can't afford it but we do it because we want to feel special.
3. Yes i do think that they shape a child but at that young age I dont think its in a negative way because for little girls it makes them feel nice like they are little princesses and for the boys im not too sure. But as children grow up they understand reality vs. Daydreaming
To sefra, yes i believe that it does lead to their adult life as well, and also i did see the new princess who was black in the new princess in the frog movie. It can make young black girls confused when they watch these movies because they see all the princesses being white and often wonder if i'm not white don't i get a happy ending as well?
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