The Sexualization of Disney Charaters - Research Paper Example

?The Sexualization of Disney Characters Disney princess stories have been an iconic part of the growing up years of little girls. Ever since Snow White first hit the screen, threatened by her evil stepmother and saved by her Prince Charming, little girls across the world have learned to dream about their ever after happy ending. The original Disney Princesses -- Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, all enthralled and influenced the mindset of a whole generation of women. These girls were obidient, loving, caring, and friendly. They embodied the typical girl next door and became the role model by whom little girls were schooled into emulating. That is why it came as such a surprise to me to discover that all the time Disney was filling the heads of little girls with cotton candy dreams of their prince charming coming to their rescue, there is actually heavy sexual content to be found in every Disney cartoon. This paper looks into the sexualization of Disney characters over time and begs to ask the question “Are Disney Princesses bad role models?”. Disney has often defended their princesses against accusations of sexualization and being bad role models as follows: For 75 years, millions of little girls and their parents around the world have adored and embraced the diverse characters and rich stories featuring our Disney princesses.... [L]ittle girls experience the fantasy and imagination provided by these stories as a normal part of their childhood development. (qtd. in Hanes). The problem, is that Disney has began marketing itself as a brand that reaches out and entertains family members of all ages. The company also uses unrealistic depictions of the physical image of their princess characters in the sense that rather than having a little girl playing a role, the character is always a young woman whose figure and actions depicts that of an unrealistic fashion model rather than that of a real world child dealing with image issues. In other words, Disney sexualizes their characters to the point that instead of inspiring little girls to love themselves, they instead learn to self-loathe because they do not meet the standards set by the Disney characters that they admire the most. They do not learn to love themselves as they are because the Disney characters are not depicted in a realistic manner. The problem with this situation is that Disney princess characters carry a tremendous amount of influence over the minds of little girls. Peggy Orenstein explains that: “The company’s wares reflect the changing taste of their demographic and it’s the change that’s disturbing. “ (Orenstein, Peggy “Disney Princess Circa 2012: I'm Too Sexy For My Gown?”). Think of their memory as a blank slate that is ready to be written upon. Little girls know nothing about demographics, what is right or wrong, or even how a girl should perceive herself. That is something that is influenced by the mass media marketing that is controlled by Disney. That writing becomes the impression by which the child leads her life afterwards. In the case, Disney, through its artists rendering influences the little girl into believing what they want her to believe in order to move their products and sell their movie tickets and videos. Previous Disney incarnations of their princesses were mostly passive females who looked to men in order to be saved. However, Disney decided to go a different route in an effort to keep up with the feminist cause. Hence the empowered and sexually charged portrayal of their current crop of princesses (Greenfield, Beth “Disney Princess Makeover Sparks Outrage: Merida Petition Goes Viral”). Let us remember that starting with Ariel, the little mermaid, Disney began serving up young women who are basically self-centered and with a knack for getting themselves into trouble. Ariel as a princess of the sea thought only of herself and her dreams and her ambitions. When she came across her prince charming, she then set her sights on snagging him to the extent of endangering herself in the process. Not exactly the kind of role model we want for young girls. Specially since Ariel goes from being innocent and child like in her water world to a vision of sexiness and seduction when she transforms into a human being intent on wooing her man. The main problem that the Disney franchise has with their princess characters is that rather than having the characters tell an interesting story with a moral to learn at the end of it, these days the princesses strut around all sexy and pretty. According to Disney, this sexualized portrayal of the woman is supposed to be the feminist ideal by which all young girls should adhere to. The problem? Real life does not work that day. There is no “happily ever after” with a prince to save a women for most young girls. The sexualization of the Disney princess characters distorts the truth about women and how they should treat themselves or have others treat them. In a Disney cartoon there are only two types of women to be had, either a spoiled brat like Ariel and Jasmine, or a damsel in distress like Cinderella or Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. The rest of their characters like Mulan and Pocahontas are hard to decipher by intention due to the fact they use both their tomboy and wily woman ways to get ahead. There is however a common denominator among all of these princesses. The fact that they all use their sexuality to get ahead of the game and get their way (“Disney Princesses”). Disney princesses it seems have no real career aspirations aside from getting their man or becoming a man as in the case of Mulan and Pocahontas. Sure they are called tomboy and the like. But they still achieve their end goals by seduction and submissiveness to men. Which is exactly what the sexualization of women is all about. It is sad to know that a huge business conglomerate such as Disney actually backs such backward views of women (Khalid, Saba “How Disney Ruined Me for the Real World”). It is scary to think of the fact that Disney Princesses, be they the cartoon kind or the Hannah Montana's, or High School Musical kind, are the kind of women whom the little girls grow up emulating. Most specially the High School Musical princesses who physically embodied their cartoon counterparts. Thus driving home the issue of sexualization and body issues among young women. Little girls should not be exposed to the oversexualized images of Disney Princesses. It is bad for their self image and mental psyche to think that they have to grow up looking or acting a certain way in order to get ahead in life. I miss the days when the Disney Princesses just represented a few hours of mindless fun. A simplistic story told in a manner that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. The objectification and sexualization of Disney princesses changed all of that and I am not sure if it is still right for little girls to grow up watching the Disney Princess cartoons. Works Cited “Disney Princesses”. cracked.com.cracked.com. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. Greenfield, Beth. “Disney Princess Makeover Sparks Outrage: Merida Petition Goes Viral”). Hanes, Stephanie. “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect”. The Christian Science Monitor. csmonitor.com. 24 Sept. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Khalid, Saba. “How Disney Ruined the Real World For Me”.The Express Tribune. tribune.com.pj. 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. Orenstein, Peggy. “Disney Princess Circa 2012: I'm Too Sexy for my Gown”. peggyorenstein.com.peggyorenstein.com. 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Read More