The Walt Disney Company found on October 16, 1923, in Los Angeles, California was a corporation known as one of the best providers of children and family entertainment in the 20th and 21st centuries. Disney’s first animated movie Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was a big hit and since then Disney has had huge successes. Disney has made many popular movies like Snow White (1937), Cinderella (1950), The Little Mermaid(1989), Mulan (1998), Tangled (2010), Frozen (2012), and Moana (2016). From the 1900’s to the 2000's we can see a vast difference in different aspects of the movies, especially in the roles of women such as dressing styles; physical features like body, face, and skin tone, and also jobs which switched from cleaning to saving the world. We can also see a difference in the main theme of the movie which before was women's oppression presented in a better way and now is women's empowerment and equality. From Snow White to Moana, we can see how the portrayal of women in Disney movies has slowly been changing according to the evolving society. In this research paper, I will discuss and analyze the portrayal of women in two different movies namely Snow White (1937) and Moana (2016) to show how portrayal was in the past, in the first Disney movie and how is it now in one of the most recent one.
The graph above shows how Disney’s female characters were focused on appearance and skills in the classics, renaissance, and the new age. In the classics, females were focused more on appearance than on their skills. The graph shows that about 55 percent of compliments were given to women for their beauty and only 11 percent for their skills in the classics. In the Renaissance, 38 percent of compliments were given to women for beauty and 23 percent for their skills which shows a slight improvement in women’s development. In the new age, only 22 percent of compliments are given to women for their beauty and 40 percent for their skills which shows a great improvement in women’s condition as now important things like skills are being focused on instead of beauty which matters very little compared to skills and talents. In the present time, inner beauty is focused more than outer beauty and these types of movies will definitely help children to learn the right concepts. The graph also shows a gradual improvement in women’s roles in Disney movies in terms of skills and talents.
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In almost all Disney movies, we can see very beautiful protagonists with big eyes, perfect voluminous hair, fair skin, symmetrical faces, and an extremely hourglass figure, this is the stereotype Disney has about the concept of beauty. Disney makes their princesses so perfect that by just looking at them the audience can figure out that they are protagonists. It’s the same for antagonists, we can immediately figure out that they are the antagonists by their unattractive fat bodies and dark makeup which includes arched eyebrows, black lips, eyes, and dark clothing. Characters are given looks according to their roles in these princess movies. This concept of beauty may promote a thought among children that outer beauty is the only factor to decide someone’s personality, that if they don’t have outer beauty they are nothing.
Similar to the concept of beauty, gender roles are also imposed in a similar way. Most of the old Disney movies were very biased and male dominant mainly Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping beauty. The fairytales that Disney released as movies were written hundreds of years ago so the movies even though modified according to the changing society still hold lots of stereotypes and gender issues which were present at the time when the story was written. Present-day movies don’t hold stereotypes and it focuses mainly on promoting women and teaching young children about important issues like race, sexuality, gender, equality, and responsibility.
Snow white is a young Disney princess who is the protagonist of the first Disney animated movie. She is known as the “fairest of them all” and the most beautiful princess in Disney. Snow White’s traits include a love for animals and birds, good singing ability, and royal family background. Even though Snow White is really pretty and kind, her character lacks important features like bravery, strength, talents, and skills which makes her a typical woman
The issue and discrimination against women have been decreasing slowly. Women in the present time are far more empowered than women in the past. There are more women in formal paid work today than at any point in history. There have been huge changes for women in terms of employment in the past decade. There are (some) high-profile women chief executives. There is a small but increasing number of female presidents. Women are moving into jobs that used to be done by men. Even those women working in factories or sweatshops have more choices and independence than if they remained at home (Gagg). However, there was a time when women were not even considered humans, such discrimination existed in a great amount in the late 1700s to the early 1800s. In the earlier time, women suffered a lot and lived their whole life being dominated by men. Even their basic rights which were essential for living were taken away from them for being a woman.
Snow White’s first version was also written by the Grimm brothers around the same time in 1812, thirty-six years before the establishment of women’s rights, so it includes many stereotypes, gender roles, and violence of that time. As women were only limited to working at home and were not allowed to live a life they wanted to, the fairy tale holds similar situations where Snow White wasn’t allowed to live a life she wanted to and was limited to working at home. We can see that in the entire movie, she is only limited to the so-called “women’s work” where she is engaged in household chores. She has a great voice but doesn’t seem to be interested to build a career on it, rather she waits for a prince to make her life. This is an example of how women oppressed themselves in the past. When their rights were being developed and other women were fighting for their rights, some women still oppressed themselves and didn’t want to develop their own rights. These women claimed that the women who were fighting for their rights were growing beards instead of supporting their own rights.
When Snow White was dead and was in her coffin, a prince kissed her which woke her up from her death. Even though it makes Snow White alive again, there comes an issue about consent. Just because she is dead, doesn’t mean that the prince can kiss Snowhite because she is beautiful. Actress Kristen Bell has also recently written about this issue in a parenting magazine. Bell, who provided the voice of Princess Anna in Disney’s animated film “Frozen,” told Parents magazine that when she reads “Snow White” to her two young daughters, she poses a question: “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!” (Bever). Even though parents don’t want to show such movies to their children, they are unable to do so because the world can’t hide famous characters like Snow White and Cinderella from the children. In the present generation, this is how parents cope with old Disney movies, by telling their children what is or is not appropriate in a particular movie, time and again for their children to learn the right concepts.
In 1796 AD, American colonies made a new law that stated that women and men are one person after marriage and the legal existence of women is suspended after that, which made women perform everything under their husbands. Women at that time were not strong enough to protest against such discriminatory laws and remained oppressed. This concept is portrayed clearly in Snow White even after years of establishment of women’s rights. Women were basically the servants of their husbands but still had to find a man to complete their lives. Even though women’s rights were already established, it still wasn’t executed and prioritized properly which is why Snow White holds lots of gender roles and stereotypes.
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