Gender Stereotypes In Snow White And The Little Mermaid

Not only are gender stereotypes obvious in the way these princesses look, but also in what they do and how they act. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a clear representation of how women were expected to act in that decade. It was expected that the women would stay home, cook, clean and look after the children, while the men would go out to work. This is exactly what happens in Snow White, the dwarfs allow Snow White to stay on the premise that she does all the cooking and cleaning for them while they are out working. Young children learn through their environment, as explained by Bandura and his social cognitive learning theory. This theory suggests that children learn through imitating and modeling things they observe (Hoffnung et al., 2010). …show more content…
Pocahontas does step outside Disney’s usual gender barriers, she stands up for what she believes in, even against her father, acts as a leader to her people, which is stereotypically a more masculine role, and is not impulsive - rather than spontaneously making decisions she thinks out the consequences and determines what the most reasonable course of action is. The Little Mermaid also portrays stereotypical gender roles, for example, before she loses her voice she spends most of her time singing and brushing her hair (this continues after she loses her voice), whilst Eric is seen fixing the boat and playing with his dog. Brave is certainly one of the most progressive Disney princess movies so far. Merida stands up for what she believes in from the beginning. She rides horses, excels in using a bow and arrow and can also sword fight; all of which are stereotypically masculine activities, and her mother makes her disapproval obvious. Although her mother does not approve of her to doing these things Merida is allowed to enjoy them once a year. When that day finishes Merida tries to tell her mother about all of the exciting