Ali Wachutka, The Transition From Individual to Sex Object

Jack Zipe a leading expert on fairy tales and German professor at the University of Minnesota, the movies have “a type of gender stereotyping . . . that has an adverse effect on children, in contrast to what parents think ... Parents think they’re essentially harmless – they are not harmless” (Giroux, “Roared” 103).

Maria Tatar, Harvard folklorist, also sees harm in the movies since “[Disney] capitalizes on the worst part of fairytales”. Maria clearly believes that the Disney films profit from unrealistic portrayals of characters i.e. the harmful gender roles being taught to young children. Moreover, they are placing the focus on the material world and removing the cunning and intelligent roles that the females once played (Healy). Female roles do not differ from one another but are all dulled down to glamorise the male position.

“People always talk about the ‘magic of Disney.’ Well, that’s the magic of Disney: it’s addictive. It’s like crack for 5-year-olds”(Healy). Disney ignores the pain and corruption of reality which they hide behind the innocent images. It acts as a false release for children and they become somewhat dependent on the films, they take away the troubles of life. Often when children come home from a long day at school they watch Disney films and this leads to comfort for them (similar to drugs) because it is so familiar.

Research done by Arthur Applebee has conclusively shown that “story characters become part of a child’s ‘real world’ and form part of their cultural heritage” (Zipes, “Preface” xii). Children become familiar with characters and begin to emulate their patterns of behaviour, girls want to be princesses and boys want to be price charming. Mean that according to uses and gratification theory young audiences use Disney films to form personal relationships but this can be rather damaging as the message being taught to children teaches racism, sexism and encourages capitalism.

Tatar also worries about the message the Disney movies present to young girls especially since they change the folk tales to express “the importance of beautiful dress and gorgeous good looks. Again society has become obsessed with image and this is further mirrored in Disney films. Possibly this could correlate to the rise in anorexia and low self body image amongst young people.

Disney opened their princess line in 2000 and in just one year they reached $300 million in sales, after three years their sales reached $2.5 billion (Healy). There is no doubt that they are reaching their target audience and their message is being made available to young children around the world. To Disney profit is vital and parents continue to purchase, as the corrupt ideals being put forward are very subtle and concealed by the cheerful tone. The corporation achieve their purpose to pass their values across by expanding the line through introducing dolls, clothes and other merchandise, literally there is no escaping temptation.

Snow White (1937) is one of the first recognised sexist films; her only emphasised qualities throughout the entire movie are her appearance and housekeeping skills. The evil queen is jealous of her because Snow White is the “fairest one of all” and the only reason the hunter, who was supposed to kill her, spares her life is because she is too pretty to kill. These scenes present the message that the greatest quality a woman can possess is beauty. It loses touch with females real assisted and implies that looks are the key to success, to an extent it is true and must be presentable to do well but beauty is not a necessity.

The filth and disorder of the cottage makes it apparent to Snow White that whoever lives in the house does not have a mother (Maio), because, after all, if they did, it would be the mother’s role to keep the house in order as that is a female’s one true calling in life. Women are domestic goddess in contrast to the incapable men. Disney’s version does so to a greater extent because they suggest that domestic chores are part of female nature.