Walt Disney’s animated films Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Jungle Book all explore the relationship between human beings and animals. In some films, such as The Jungle Book, this relationship has a greater focus than other films, such as Snow White. Snow White, Aurora and Mowgli meet their animal allies and enemies in the forest or the jungle, while Cinderella’s animal friends (and antagonist) are residents of her stepmother’s house. In the world of these four films, it is unsurprising to find that the animals can talk to humans, sing, wear clothes, and even perform domestic tasks such as cleaning and sewing because of the films’ basis in fairy tales and fiction. These animals reflect gender roles, gender expectations, and
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The scene introducing the viewer to Gus reveals that this is because Cinderella releases the mice from the mousetraps set up around the house. She also protects them from the cat, Lucifer. These mice are the most anthropomorphized animals out of all the films mentioned in this essay. Not only do they talk, but they wear clothing. As well as being anthropomorphized, the mice and bluebirds are kept within strictly assigned gender roles made clear by the clothes they wear. The male mice and bluebirds wear shirts and hats or caps and vests, while the female mice and birds wear dresses, aprons and headscarves. When a female mouse decides that the mice will complete Cinderella’s ball gown, Jac offers to help with the sewing. She responds, “Leave the sewin’ to the women.” The male mice Jac and Gus help to create Cinderella’s dress, but only but fetching supplies or working as a pair to cut the material. This shows that Jac and Gus are willing to help Cinderella but keeps them within their gender roles, which is unsurprising for the time period of …show more content…
One notable scene which does, in which Aurora sings “Once Upon a Dream,” features a handful of her animal friends. These animals, which include an owl, two birds, two rabbits and a squirrel not only has anthropomorphic themes but also can be examined in regards to traditional gender roles and expectations. In this scene, the animals dress up in Prince Phillip’s abandoned cloak, hat and boots to create a dance partner for Aurora. The owl seems particularly flirtatious with Aurora, so it is appropriate that he would form the “face” of Aurora’s partner. The magic of the scene happens when the real Prince Phillip takes the animals place, solidifying the idea that it was a prince that Aurora “walked with…once upon a dream.” It would be against gender expectations of 1959 as well as against the gender expectations of many people even in 2015, for Aurora’s partner to be female. Therefore, this scene makes a statement about who a woman is supposed to
The scene introducing the viewer to Gus reveals that this is because Cinderella releases the mice from the mousetraps set up around the house. She also protects them from the cat, Lucifer. These mice are the most anthropomorphized animals out of all the films mentioned in this essay. Not only do they talk, but they wear clothing. As well as being anthropomorphized, the mice and bluebirds are kept within strictly assigned gender roles made clear by the clothes they wear. The male mice and bluebirds wear shirts and hats or caps and vests, while the female mice and birds wear dresses, aprons and headscarves. When a female mouse decides that the mice will complete Cinderella’s ball gown, Jac offers to help with the sewing. She responds, “Leave the sewin’ to the women.” The male mice Jac and Gus help to create Cinderella’s dress, but only but fetching supplies or working as a pair to cut the material. This shows that Jac and Gus are willing to help Cinderella but keeps them within their gender roles, which is unsurprising for the time period of …show more content…
One notable scene which does, in which Aurora sings “Once Upon a Dream,” features a handful of her animal friends. These animals, which include an owl, two birds, two rabbits and a squirrel not only has anthropomorphic themes but also can be examined in regards to traditional gender roles and expectations. In this scene, the animals dress up in Prince Phillip’s abandoned cloak, hat and boots to create a dance partner for Aurora. The owl seems particularly flirtatious with Aurora, so it is appropriate that he would form the “face” of Aurora’s partner. The magic of the scene happens when the real Prince Phillip takes the animals place, solidifying the idea that it was a prince that Aurora “walked with…once upon a dream.” It would be against gender expectations of 1959 as well as against the gender expectations of many people even in 2015, for Aurora’s partner to be female. Therefore, this scene makes a statement about who a woman is supposed to