Disney's Reinforcement of the Feminine Ideal - Essay Example

Disney’s Reinforcement of the Feminine Ideal Literature has long been acknowledged as not only an amusing past-time for the literate, but also as a repository for the cultural, political and religious beliefs of the people who wrote and consumed it. Film and the telling of children’s stories are no exception to this general rule. Within this cultural, political and religious belief is a common sense of the ‘ideal’ role of women within this society. Throughout history, women have had difficulty gaining recognition in a man’s world. The primary reason for this grew out of the concepts of women that had been developed throughout time. At first considered insufficiently intelligent to understand the concepts of the world outside the home and only beginning to gain some recognition as viable members of society in centuries leading toward the Victorian period, the idea of woman was still confined to the inner workings of the home and family even into the 20th century. The concepts “by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors and society, could be divided into four cardinal virtues – piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. Put them all together and they spelled mother, daughter, sister, wife – woman. Without them … all was ashes. With them, she was promised happiness and power” (Welter 1966 p. 152). Many of these ideas have traditionally been promoted by the makers of Disney movies, reinforcing the concept that women must ‘fall into line’ if they wish to be accepted in society (Hewitt, 2002). Walt Disney’s 1950 film Cinderella goes a long way toward reinforcing these ideals. While it can be argued that the makers of the film were constrained within the traditional tale, recent incarnations of the story such as the film Ever After have revealed various ways in which the female character could have been provided with strength and self-will within these confines. The idea that women must be physically beautiful to retain any sense of worth is reinforced in the Disney film as both step-sisters have become as unfortunate-looking on the outside as they are in spirit, both mean and spiteful. Cinderella is completely friendless within this story despite her sweet nature and giving personality. However, these traits have gained her the affection of several mice, a dog and a horse, all of whom provide a great deal of entertainment throughout the film. Within this story, the father is let off the hook in terms of allowing the abuse of Cinderella to occur as he dies when she is still small. To make her dreams come true, Cinderella is given a magical fairy godmother, who decks her out for the ball and sends her off to the one night event in the luxurious magically transformed pumpkin coach. Cinderella is never given the opportunity to actually make any substantial decisions of her own, even her choice to go to the ball was seemingly made for her as she is first dressed by her animal friends and then by her magical godmother. Throughout the film, she is forced to do little more than simply react to what is thrown at her, always maintaining her sweet demeanor and never actively resisting the directives given her. These are the attributes of a ‘proper’ young woman outlined by Welter (1966) and that served to isolate and dominate the young woman’s personality. Even when the prince falls in love with her, he has no idea what she might look like, only able to identify her by the dainty size of her feet as measured by the delicate glass slipper that he sends out to find her. He is not in love with her, but has merely found the type of ‘ideal’ woman suitable for the throne, properly demure and obedient, physically attractive and capable of performing the most menial of household tasks. This same form of social control can be found in another one of Disney’s films, the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. In this story, we are again introduced to an innocent young girl left without friends or caring family, dependent upon a jealous and vain stepmother for her welfare. Not through any effort of her own but instead because of a gentle heart and her own innocence Snow White is spared from the hunter’s knife and permitted to run away into the forest. Without plan or design, she does so, quickly becoming lost and abandoning herself to the support and the succor of the forest. The creatures, not her own will, lead her to the cottage of the dwarves where, in exchange for her domestic services, Snow White is permitted to stay. Like Cinderella, she is never angry, bitter, neglectful, downhearted or interested in doing anything other than taking care of the ‘little men’ of the forest, adopting the proper role of the mother amongst them regardless of any complaints or input the dwarves might have regarding her interference. Also like Cinderella, trouble and love come to her rather than forcing Snow White to go seeking it out. Remaining properly within her own little space of home and cottage, patiently waiting for the day when her dreams might come true, the young princess is rewarded when both the witch and the prince eventually find her, engaging in an epic battle over her and good wins out in the end. Again, the Disney producers create a film in which the ‘ideal’ feminine is reinforced through young girls’ identification with ‘female virtues’, couching these ideals within the context of the ancient story. Snow White is physically very beautiful in face and trim in body. She is sweet enough to charm the birds out of the sky and she is kind-hearted enough to be incapable of seeing evil in anyone. Although she is a princess and should be accustomed to having servants and maids, she is quickly able to take charge of the dwarves’ cottage in terms of donning an apron and setting briskly to work, as a properly industrious young woman should do. Despite the fact that this isn’t yet her cottage, she immediately begins to clean it up regardless of the occupants’ preferences or her own future within it. As Hewitt (2002) points out, only those girls who ‘fell into line’ in terms of adopting these proper roles of the female, regardless of perception of social standing or company, could expect to someday be delivered of their prince. In both Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Disney presents young girls with heroines who embody the gender stereotypes of a by-gone age in which women were undeniably constrained within a strictly defined narrow ideal of what it meant to be female. In presenting evil women such as the step-mothers, the animators provided these women with an angular beauty that nevertheless conveyed their sharpness and their ‘unfeminine’ roles as head of household or ruler of a country. Each heroine conveys the idea that a girl must be beautiful and slim if she hopes to attract a prince and that this is just about the only attribute she truly needs to have to attract a prince. To keep him, she must also prove that she is obedient, patient, exceedingly kind and generous. Among her skills, she must be capable of keeping a house clean and provide well-cooked meals. She cannot strive for control of a situation, it is not important that she be educated, be involved in the community or have any particular skill. In both of these films, it can be seen that Disney is reinforcing traditional concepts of the ‘ideal’ female, which is constricting and unhealthy for girls of the 21st century. Works Cited Cinderella. Dir. Clyde Geronimi. Perf. Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Falton and Rhoda Williams. RKO Radio Pictures, 1950. Hewitt, Nancy. “Taking the True Woman Hostage.” Journal of Women’s History. Vol. 14, N. 1. 2002, pp. 156-62. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Dir. William Cottrell. Perf. Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill de Maris and Otto Englander. RKO Radio Pictures, 1937. Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly. Vol. 18, N. 2, P. 1. 1966, pp. 151-74. Read More