Essay on Feminism and Disney Films

Ever since the dawn of every family’s favorite franchise, Disney, young girls everywhere have had their minds contorted into believing they should portray a certain kind of woman and to never dare break the glass-ceiling. Right from the get go with the studios first feature film, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937), by using a doolally doe-eyed sweetheart relevant to the times, Disney has been dispatching a message of false hope that one day every young damsel, who wastes her life waiting, will have her Prince Charming, her one true love, her knight in shining armor, come galloping in on his noble steed to sweep her away from all the evil that inhabits this planet and make her his princess. Well, just like life isn’t fair, so too is this seed of warped reality that is constantly being sown into the foundations of young girls’ heads thereby blocking any sprout of individuality or opinion from bursting through. By sending this message Walt Disney and his colossal empire are consenting to having girls globally conclude that it’s perfectly acceptable to let life frolic by because one day, no matter how long it takes, without searching for any authentic dreams or aspirations they will receive their happy ever after. And what does this happy ever after consist of? A life of constantly floating in a bubble with only the cares of marriage, letting your man take charge, and fabulous fancy frocks.

After the mental reign of innocent and petite Snow White, Disney kept the carriage rolling with the introduction of similar prince-dependent maidens such as Cinderella and Aurora commonly known as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and rightly so as even though the movie is titled after her, she herself only appears for an overall time of eighteen minutes! This once again proves Disney desires girls to think it’s a man’s world, due to the duration of the film being taken up by a heroic prince having to save her. What is this showing little girls? That only a man is strong enough to save you and that true love conquers all? By filling their fragile heads with nonsense, it is therefore diminishing any thoughts of feminism and how women can do anything a man can. It is shifting the perception of us back many decades and bit by bit, eradicating the tremendous effort that our foremothers contributed to the war effort in both the First World War and the Second. How can Disney use these animated docile daughters to obliterate the feminism and ambition that icons such as Rosie the Riveter stood for? Yes, there may be some slight exceptions such as Belle and Mulan who were both the dauntless heroines of their own fantasies, but ‘Beauty and The Beast’, which was definitely the studio’s first film to feature ideas of what a women’s role could be like, granted that minds were open, did not reach the shimmering lights of Hollywood until 1991, with the empowering motion picture ‘Mulan’ coming out as it’s feminism-spreading successor seven years later. As mentioned before, Little Miss Ivory Frost had her film out in 1937, meaning it took the puppeteer that is Walt Disney, fifty-four years to loosen his strings and let a shining light of feminism peek through the projector. Fifty-four years! And within that time there had been four patronized princesses and countless female characters ruining women’s name and making the world keep digging into this myth that women are weak minded and are only capable of birthing and raising children; that our opinions and contributions aren’t valuable. It wasn't until the late 2000s that Disney, as a major company, moved with the times elevated by astonishing ladies in literature, politics, and pop culture such as Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama and Emma Watson to name a few, promoting more determined and relatable princesses that shatter boundaries and teach young girls how important it is to be independent and self-aware. Yet even now the studios still show a common theme of what they think women should look like through the characters they promote.

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When we imagine Disney’s first ladies and their looks, we think of minuscule waists highlighted by gorgeous glittering gowns, perfect poufy hair and dazzling grins. With young girls being shown the original princesses and how enchanting these beautiful beings are, it can often cause body insecurities, or pressure to conform into such a state of polished appearance, by them being bewitched with the magic of their stories. It doesn’t help either when society is subjected to these dolls manufactured by the franchise and is also put under the spell that this is ideally how a woman should look. With all these opinions and expectations that spiral out of control being thrown at these easily manipulated little girls, you cannot help but worry at how Disney thinks this is acceptable, making them paranoid over fictional cartoon caricatures! Although it’s completely fine in wanting to play dress-up and to have magical aspects to your life, like having a fairy godmother who can help grant your most obscure wish, but when little girls start to feel guilty, like it’s their fault for not portraying this class of beauty that is impossible to achieve, it becomes too much! How can we let young girls no more than twelve think this of themselves? On the other hand, it’s easy to see where this pocket of doubt comes from by looking back at exemplar characters such as Cinderella and Ariel, who drastically changed their looks to prove themselves worthy of men that barely knew them! What is this teaching our soon to be successors? That if you don’t like something about yourself and another doesn’t like you for you, you have no choice but to change in order to be happy? This message produced by Disney in their movies that are supposed to bring us magic, but more importantly, them money, is seriously disturbing in how deeply it really eats into young girl’s minds. Also, despite modern day princesses showing more uplifting personality traits and relatability, they still follow this trend that Disney tries to disguise by including more diverse or fun characters with different backgrounds, which unfortunately diminishes the motivational message they are supposed to stand for.

Leisurely, the franchise’s heroines are becoming more and more appreciated in the eyes of the public with the good they are teaching and growth they are showing with each film, but are Disney going too slow? As a mega franchise, it still has a substantial way to go in becoming a main contributor in inspiring young girls to believe in themselves and how to be comfortable in your own mind and skin, which should have been happening before. In a survey covered by the Daily Mail, “Ninety percent of British teen girls are unhappy with their bodies”. The article shows that most are convinced they have to shed weight when in fact they are of normal size and that quite a few, ranging from fourteen-year-olds, have considered diet pills or plastic surgery. This paranoia and insecurity caused by old fashioned media, will only filter down into younger girls’ heads if we don’t take a stand, and as a major part of children’s lives, Disney can stop this by setting an even better example like giving the world the first ever plus-sized princess, one of a non-royal status that stands for something that can deeply inspire all girls of any background. Or perhaps, in light of hit film ‘Moana’ (the uplifting tale of a Polynesian tribal princess determined to follow her own path in leading her village) more princesses of different culture that would help educate young girls on the different walks of life that could maybe spark a further interest in exploring the problems certain countries face, and how they, as a future generation could help mend them more than we ever could.

To conclude, we need Disney now more than ever, to supply us with more diverse and forward-thinking heroines that deeply inspire the young women of our world to take charge of their generation especially in the times we are in currently. With the right seedlings, Disney could possibly be the biggest help in planting a message that will in the future, connect to all our successors that will help make a difference in our planet. Until then, we will have to hope that the franchise eradicates their previous damage with more characters that can really help us boost up and break that glass-ceiling.