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Victoria A. Martinez-Varela
Professor Megan Malcom-Morgan
English 120
23 April 2016
Disneys Misinterpretation of Love and Gender Roles

In todays society, when we think of beauty or when we think of what makes a person
valuable, we automatically think of physicality. Let us face that the first thing that is noticed
about a person is how they look. In this research paper, the misinterpretation of love and gender
roles will be discussed in regards to Disney princesses. Disney is one of, if not thee most
recognized platforms in the world. At least once a day we run into something that has to do with
Disney in any way, shape or form. When we think of princess we do not think of Anastasia an
actual princess we think of Princess Belle, Princess Ariel, Elsa, Anna, Jasmine, etc.
It is normal when a little girl tells you she wants to be a princess when she grows up. She
wants the castle, the pretty dresses, the crown and most importantly the prince. Disney gives
young girls (and boys) a false perception of love because as they continue to grow up they
develop an unrealistic concept of what love and boys and girls are supposed to be like. Girls
want boys to be their Prince Charming and sweep them off of their feet. As for boys, they are
taught that if a girl is not physically appealing she is not worth love or self-worth for that matter
and are treated as if they do not matter. Girls and boys are both compared to these stereotypical
roles. They both are compared to prince and princesses because of the image that Disney
presents itself with. Like with Barbies, girls compare themselves and try to reach an unattainable
level of perfection.

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Previous research has shown that little girls and boys incorporate movies they watch into
scripts for play. That play turns into an agent of socialization. My own research showed
that some very negative stereotypes were prevalent in the Disney princess movies. These
negative stereotypes are shown in the categories of gender, race, and social class.
(J. Ewert, A Tale as Old as Time An analysis of negative stereotypes in Disney
Princess Movies)
Women in Disney films are perceived to be these weak characters. Looking at, The Little
Mermaid we see this beautiful creature. Ariel is perfect in every way imaginable for a cartoon.
She ultimately makes the decision to get rid of her most valuable asset, (her voice) for man she
has never spoken with and has seen once. She sacrifices everything for this Prince. Sure this can
be argued as true love, but is it practical? No it is not. What Disney is teaching young girls is to
give everything up for a boy and just maybe you will end up with a happily ever after.
Amanda Yerby said it best when she stated in her analysis, This shows that she, a female
character, gives everything up for her love Ariel who gives up everything including her family
and career just for her romance would have somewhat negative influence on young girls who
have to study and think about their careers in the future. (Gender Roles in Disney Animation,
online.) Even though The Little Mermaid has nothing to do with real life. The moral of the story
blatantly, is: Give everything up for a boy that you have never spoken to.
In multiple Disney princess films, there is the same story line. A woman is the maid of
the house and she is treated poorly by her evil stepmother. This happens in Snow White and
Cinderella. Both women are wealthy beyond reason yet, are treated poorly because of jealousy.

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The end result being that a man has to go and rescue them. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Snow ends up living with the seven dwarfs and she is the maid of the house. She cooks cleans,
etc. Disney gives her no common sense in this film. She ends up taking food from a stranger and
ends up in a coma and then the prince has to go save her. What is wrong with this is the fact that
she makes poor decision and the way she is presented is distasteful. They could have taught
children that you should not take food from strangers but nope. She ate the apple and went into a
coma and only could be awakened by true loves kiss again, by a man she has barely spoken to.
The queen in Walt Disneys animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) has
become in popular consciousness a dominant visual embodiment of this villainous character.
(Wright, p.842, Folk-tales and Fairytales
Throughout Disney princess films, the one princess that stands out and that has a voice is
Jasmine from Aladdin. Jasmine is feisty and it is amazing because she seems like a real person.
She is not afraid to speak her mind and get loud. The way she is presented is somewhat sexual in
her dress. Aladdin falls in love with her because of her beauty first and then falls for her
personality. In this film, Jasmine still takes back the boy that lies to her, which in some cases is
necessary, but still does not send an okay message to kids.
It is an understatement that Disney needs to reevaluate how they portray women.
Cinderella could have been so much more than a damsel in distress. The good fairies could have
saved Aurora. Jasmine could have been the queen without a sultan, Ariel could have made better
choices, so on and so forth. The fact that Disney always has the male as the heroine is extremely
old fashioned. Women in general need to stop being sexualized. The only princess that actually
empowers women is Mulan and she is not even a princess. Today equality among genders should
be something that Disney enforces with everything they produce.

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From: https://jesslepera.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/princess.jpg

Annotated Bibliography
Yerby, Amanda. "Gender Roles in Disney Animation." SpringerReference. n.d. pag. Web. 15 Apr.
2016.
This assignment was created by multiple students. I feel as though it is useful
because it uses pictures and goes into detail about the differences in animation between
the females and males in Disney animation. This source I would say is reliable for a
secondary source because theses students did exactly what I am trying to do in terms of,
knowing exactly how Disney is putting men and women as the stereotypical hero and
housewife.

Ewert, Jolene. "A Tale as Old as Time." Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human
Sciences. Undergraduate Research Community, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.

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This is completely useful because, not only does it give data and analysis. It goes
in depth about Aladdin and how the lyrics in the introduction song were racially
disturbing and stereotypical. Within this source there is so much going into it because it is
from an Undergraduate Research Community website. This site talks about how much
time it takes a boy to fall in love with a pretty girl. It goes in depth about how Disney
over- exaggerates love and how it easy it is to get what you want when you are
beautiful or handsome.

Wright, Peter. "Gynocentrism." Google Books. Amazon Digital, Aug.-Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Apr.
2016.
This source is reliable because, the research within the text is deep in its meaning.
I enjoyed how Wright, talks about the quarrel about women. This source goes into how
women wanted to become more independent and equal. In todays sense the quarrel
about women is equal to gender-war. The source goes in depth about feminism. This
goes hand in hand as to what Disney portrays as to be normal when it comes to love.

Haase, Donald, Ph.D. "Folktales and Fairy Tales." Google Books. ABC-CLIO, n.d. Web. 15 Apr.
2016.
This source is incredibly reliable. It is reliable in a sense that there are numerous
passages to choose from. It talks about anything from Sinbad to the princesses. It talks
about folktales and how it all conformed to be fantasy. This e-book is well over 923 pages
long. In my paper I will definitely be talking about modern day movies and what they
have to do with folktales. This source talks about the compare and contrast between
folktales and silent films.

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