We were
talking on Thursday about the ways by which biological boys and girls grow up
to be feminine or masculine. Jett-Simpson & Masland (1993) showed that
gender bias exists in the content, language, and illustrations of a majority of
children’s books. Through this popular media, girls are already learning to be marginalized from
a young age. What’s a girl to do then? I guess there are other forms of media
that children subscribe to… let’s go with movies. What does she learn there?
Well, Cinderella teaches her that beauty is what really matters and gets you
ahead in life, Jasmine that you should run away from home when you disagree
with your parents, Belle to remain in an abusive relationship, and Ariel to
change your body for a man. Of course, these are somewhat of a dramatization,
but these negative lessons are still implanted to various degrees in the young
girls of our world under the pretense of children’s movies.
Chris
Cragin-Day has a
slightly more positive (and unexpected) thing to say about the plight of Disney
princesses in a recent blog post. She argues that the knight in shining armor, the prince
charming – he is a metaphor for God, a divine prince of sorts. This prince is
someone who loves your (the princess’) inner beauty and, if you
persist in goodness, someday you and your prince will live happily ever after.
Take that as you will…
Little
boys are not immune to these stories either; Disney imparts their own lessons
for them. When girls are told these things from a young age, that the only thing
that matters is their beauty or that they must rely on men, boys get the same
message. Plus, they get one of their own. As Sanjay Newton relates in this
short video, young boys are fed sexist views
that negatively affect them too. Newton mentions the perpetuation of the sexual
objectification of women, the need for chiseled bodies and physical prowess,
and the emphasis of violence and dominance.
Disney
has also received many blows about its rampant racist tendencies, to which it
responds with movies like Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Princess and the Frog. Still,
stereotypical racist messages abound (video).
I will be seeing Frozen for the second time in theaters tonight. And I am not ashamed to tell you this. My two favorite movies (probably ever) are Tangled and now Frozen. Why do I like this movie so much? One, because it is a great sister movie: having a younger biological sister and 177 sorority sisters, I really like the message. Two, it is different from the other Disney films. Tangled, Allendra Letsome, NOW Vice President of Membership says, was Disney “taking baby steps on the path to feminism.” Now, with Frozen we take a few more baby steps toward feminism. Exalted as a progressive film by Gina Luttrell of PolicyMic, Frozen also tackles social issues of sexual orientation along with sexism. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you’ve already seen it (or don’t plan to) here’s the article (SPOLIER ALERT). At the very least, it passes the Bechdel test.
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