Gender In Disney Movies

The media tremendously influence one’s perspective. Media is considered one of many institutions that shapes ideologies such as gender along the stereotypes associated with each gender along with race and class. For instance, we see in Disney films that heteronormativity is promoted. Thus, heterosexuality is always assumed, expected, and privileged. Also, by essentially enforcing heteronormativity, the binary system of gender is enforced (Anderson, 49). The binary system of gender establishes the role of woman and man (Anderson, 49). A women’s sexuality has been associated with men’s power (Anderson, 51). Whereas, a men’s sexuality is defined by achievement (Anderson, 51). Disney films teach young girls that their sexuality is dependent on a man, they are incomplete or insignificant without a man. We also see that Disney has problematic standards for women, they expect that female characters to dress in a manner that sexualizes their bodies (Su). The importance of the female body is only for sexual purposes (Jhally).
Women are assumed to have a passive role in anything regarding their bodies and life. Unsurprisingly, it was discovered over the analyzation of two thousand movies that there was a common thread between all those movies, white men were the dominate characters. As Simone de …show more content…
First off, we barely know anything about these princesses except for a couple of facts. One might ask themselves: why? Well, the answer is simple men speak more often than women in Disney’s princess films. From the data collected, we see that Aladdin, Pocahontas, the Little Mermaid, Mulan, and the Beauty and the Beast, the male characters have more than sixty percent dialogue compared to the females (Pudding). Film dialogue reinforces existing stereotypes about gender and race. Men nearly speak more than double what women speak in films (Pudding). When women are given dialogue that help enforce sets racial and gender