Gender and Identity Presented in Children’s Books: 'Mulan', 'Brave', ‘Cinderella’, and Others

In this investigation, I plan to study gender and identity through the language used in children’s books. These are Disney books such as ‘Cinderella’, Beauty and the Beast, ‘Snow White and the seven dwarves’, ‘Mulan’ and ‘Brave’ written by Walt Disney Records, and “What I Like About Me” by Allia Zobel-Nola. I will explore the gender representations portrayed in these books through the language choices as I will further investigate the different actions and words characters illustrate through the author’s language.

“What I Like About Me” is a fiction children’s book written by Allia Zobel-Nola that breaks down gender stereotypes. It recognizes the feelings of children who do not fit into specific gender stereotypes as the book conveys the message that it is okay to not fit into those norms and that being different is what makes you unique. This stereotypical view can be seen through the adjective in the quote “ Mom says my glasses look distinguished. If I knew what it meant, I’d get an A in English.” In the book, this is said by a little boy and the connotations we get from this is that those who wear glasses are associated with being nerds. Nerds are seen to be lacking in social skills and reclusiveness. However, the adjective ‘Distinguished’ defies those expectations. The use of this adjective emphasizes that wearing glasses makes one look noble and esteemed in appearance and manner. It reinforces the idea that glasses make you look dignified which denies all expectations of boys being nerds. This impacts a young children reading this story as it encourages them to be open to the different preferences of how they identify themselves.

Another quotation from this data presents the breakdown of the norms that society believes what sort of identity a man and woman should have. This can be seen through the adjectives and premodifiers which is said by a little girl, “Ballet slippers make my feet petite. But here’s what I’d rather wear on my feet.” We later come on to the realization that the little girl wants to wear big fuzzy slippers. The adjective ‘petite’ and the premodifier ‘Ballet’ both suggest expectations about what a female is expected to be like. George Balanchine quotes that ‘ The Ballet is purely a female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener’. Although being a male ballet dancer himself, he suggests that Ballet is a feminine attribute. Females are commonly associated with taking part in ballet and interestingly, the little girl in this book defies the expectation of what a female is expected to be. This impacts a child because it makes them be open with their gender identity even at a younger age. Professor Deborah Tannen’s book 'You just don't understand' is outlined in an article where she presented male and female language use in a series of six contrasts. These are Status vs Support, Independence vs Intimacy, Advice vs Understanding, Information vs Feelings, Orders vs Proposals, and lastly Conflict vs Compromise. However, Status vs Support is the idea that men are grown up in a world where it is competitive, as they explore for superiority or to stop others from dominating them. For women, talking is a way to achieve confirmation of their ideas and beliefs. Men see the world as a place to gain status whereas women see it as a place to gain support and a shared consensus. This can be linked to my data, the book ‘What I Like About Me’ because it breaks down those gender expectations Deborah Tannen mentions as it encourages children to create their own identity no matter what gender they are. The young boy wants to be known as he feels that wearing glasses makes him look distinguished creating the sense that he wants to gain status but whereas the young girl wants to make it seen that steering away from society’s expectations is okay thus the sense of confirmation and shared consensus.

Children's books present a lot of gender stereotypes for example in Disney books. This can be seen in the book “Cinderella”. “They filled her days with cooking, scrubbing, washing, and chores of every kind.” Here the author uses a list of domesticity to present the amount of work that Cinderella is doing and how hard it is for her. From this list, a semantic field of domestic work is presented which links to the idea of women having traditional roles in society. It also portrays the continuous aspect of ‘ing’ verbs which gives the impression of monotony. It suggests the idea that Cinderella is going through the same thing time and time again. ‘Cinderella’ was published in 1974 and at the time domestication was expected. Children may read this book for the first time and may receive these standards that are unfavorable which can create an impact on their own gender identity. This impression of Cinderella presents attributes of normal behaviors and perspectives that each gender is expected to possess. Certain perspectives such as femininity and masculinity traits are linked to each specific gender then these roles are presented very early in a child’s life. It’s clearly shown here the traditional roles that women are meant to have thus impacting the social norms and expectations on gender roles and identity.

It is also seen in the book ‘Cinderella’, the traits women are expected to have in society. Women are seen to be subjective as is seen clearly here through the conversation Cinderella and her Step-Mother have. “ Pick up the laundry and get on with your duties,” her Step-Mother declared.” The imperative verbs ‘Pick’ and ‘ get on’ emphasize the manipulation Cinderella’s Step-Mother portrayed and how she has dominance over Cinderella. The imperative verbs do not leave space for Cinderella to respond or question. It exaggerates the way Cinderella acts leaving her to look as though she frequently accepts the chores and orders given to her. The verb ‘declared’ creates a solemn and emphatic manner that portrays the stepmother to have dominant as she has the power to make Cinderella do all the work. This impacts the identity of young children reading this as they are instilled with this ideology that these are the traits women are meant to have and may internalize these aspects of gender identity.

From this same data, I also came to the conclusion that Disney villains are presented to be very powerful just as we have seen in my data ‘Cinderella’. Disney villains are presented to be powerful and evil in order to ensure they can remain their power and authority. Cinderella’s stepmother, Lady Tremaine shows dominance and power through her actions and sayings towards her step-daughter. ‘Get them done quickly’, said her stepmother. Here the use of the imperative verb ‘Get’ suggests the power and dominance she has over her step-daughter. It also suggests the control she has over Cinderella as she makes her do whatever she wants and needs. From a young age, children manifest these stereotypes making them think this is how a woman should be when they grow up and that this is how all older women are to be. This impacts a child’s gender identity making them be what the books tell them to be. It clearly shows they have no choice of what kind of identity they can have when really they can have whatever identity they want. A study by William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins in 1980 looked at courtroom cases and witnesses’ speeches. From this, they found that they were challenging Lakoff's view of women's language. They found that language differences arise on situation-specific authority or power and not gender. This links to my investigation that children can create their own gender identity.

Disney villains such as the evil Queen in ‘Snow White and the seven dwarves’ uses her status to make sure she stays as the ‘fairest one of them all’. The magic mirror says to the evil Queen ‘You are the fairest one of all’ which emphasizes her beauty and looks to be very appealing. The superlative ‘Fairest’ suggests that the Evil queen cannot be beaten or degraded which shows how powerful she is. This can also be seen through the quotation ‘Bring back her heart in this,’ she commanded him. The use of the imperative verb ‘Bring’ emphasizes the power the Evil Queen has over the huntsman. The imperative mood is really powerful and can be clearly seen through the manipulative technique of the imperatives. This heavily impacts the young readers as this book creates a clear representation of what traits a female should have and that is to have power and dominance. The researchers, from Brigham Young University in Utah, said: 'Given the age group which Disney targets, the frequency with which young viewers watch these shows and their wide popularity, analyzing the portrayal of older characters in these movies can provide important insights into the messages young people receive regarding older people.'

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Princesses like Snow-White and Sleeping beauty and Cinderella, have a shared similarity of having amazing beauty. Through the data I have gathered, I am analyzing the book ‘Snow White And The Seven Dwarves’ as it portrays the beauty that women are to have in society. This can be seen through the verb in the quotation “Her wicked Stepmother, the Queen, feared that some day Snow White’s beauty would outshine her own.” The verb ‘outshines’ clearly emphasizes how beautiful Snow White is, as to outshine someone means to be better at someone in a particular area as in this case beauty. Snow White ‘outshines’ her stepmother and for her to be a queen, a superior position just reinforces how beautiful Snow White is. This indicates how these books are influencing young minds into what certain identity they should encompass. It creates a representation of what female identity should be as this book differentiates the expected roles of gender as it also creates the expectation of what beauty should be. These young readers are instilled with the idea that they need to encompass beauty like Snow White which suggests that young children do not have a choice in their gender identity. This heavily emphasizes the gender stereotypes that are presented in Children’s books.

Not only are female stereotypes shown in Disney books but also Males. Through the data of “Snow White And The Seven Dwarves”, Prince Charming is portrayed to be a figure of masculinity. This can be seen through the quotation “The handsome prince had searched far

and wide..”. The adjective “Handsome” portrays the connotations of one being good-looking, having a great amount of strength, and being pleasing. In addition to this, the adverb “Far” and “Wide” imply that Prince Charming went to great lengths to save the love of his life. This portrays the heroism of the Prince, thus emphasizing his bravery. All these descriptive pointers about Prince Charming suggest the traits that men are supposed to have in society as this can be as offensive to men as it is to women. As books are an agent of socialization, what is brought alongside it is the expansion of gender stereotypes and gender roles which allows how children to come to terms with their own gender and identity.

In the Disney book “Beauty and the Beast'', the data in which I am also analyzing, hyper-masculinity is portrayed through the character of Gaston. Hyper-masculinity is an exaggeration of masculinity such as physical strength and virility. This can be seen through the adjective in the quotation “The handsome but conceited Gaston watched her.” The adjective “Conceited'' gives the meaning of one favoring their own appearance thus here where Gaston watches Belle even though he loves himself more than anyone or anything which overall presents him to be egoistic. Through the verb “admired” we can also see how egotistical Gaston is. “Gaston admired Belle almost as much as he admired himself.” The verb “Admired” gives the connotations of Gaston watching Belle who is beautiful with pleasure. It is interesting to see here the attention he gives to Belle although it was not enough is enough he gives to himself which presents him to be self-centered. Through this declarative sentence we can also see hyper-masculinity.“ She is the girl I am going to marry,” he declared.” Here we can see that Gaston believes Belle is expected to fall in love with him and marry him. The effect of this declarative sentence clearly conveys the statement that Gaston is presenting which is that he will for certain marry Belle and we can also see this announcement through the verb “Declared”.From all of this, we receive a clear impression of the hyper-masculinity that Gaston presents. Not only this but it also suggests that Belle does not have a choice. Thus this role of Gaston serves as a clear example of what boys are meant to have power and women are. This expected role of a man creates a powerful impact on young children as from a young age, they are to believe these are expected roles of specific gender identities. This influences a child’s gender identity as they internalize these roles and characteristics then which become taken for granted thus creating norms. Therefore their identity is very subjective and it is expected of them to accept what is presented to them when really children can have any role they want in society. Therefore the ability to make and create their own identity which is specific to their individual traits and personality.

Some Disney books were written at an earlier date such as ‘Cinderella’ in 1974 and ‘Snow White and the seven dwarves’ in 1812. However as the years have gone by and with different ideologies coming through, both male and female characters in books have changed much differently. The stereotypical female portrayal is thrown away such as ‘Cinderella’ a young princess in need of help and has drastically changed to young female warriors like in the Disney books such as “Mulan (1998)” and “Brave(2012)”. Through the quotation from my data “Brave”, Merida defies all expectations of what a princess should be which has previously been assumed to be. “Merida lived for her rare days of freedom when she could grab her bow, climb onto her horse, Angus, and spend the day in the forest”. The use of the listing of dynamic verbs here presents the activities in which Merida partakes as they are her hobbies. One would imagine that the young princess would not do archery and go riding alone in the forest however Merida does these things for her own freedom. This implies that Merida is not like Snow White or like Aurora who lives in fear of what is to come rather she goes into the forest and lives. This is significant because hobbies like archery and riding out into a forest lonesome is something one would think a male would do and not a female. Hence this children’s book defies the expected gender role of women in society and helps young children reading this to create their own gender identity.

Expectation defiance of what a woman should be is also shown in ‘Mulan’. ‘ Mulan knew that no matter how perfect her clothes or makeup, she would never be the delicate, graceful bride she was expected to be’. The adjectives ‘delicate’ and ‘graceful’ imply the attributes a woman should have. ‘Delicate’ creates the suggestion that Mulan should be a woman that needs to be carefully handled and that she is fragile. This gives the impression to young children reading this that women are seen to be weak. ‘Graceful’ implies that Mulan is to be an elegant and sophisticated woman. In order for Mulan to have a good match and marriage she needs to have these attributes as she can also bring honor to her family. The verb ‘Expected’ creates the meaning that Mulan’s family is highly anticipating Mulan’s marriage. To expect is to confidently believe that it will happen and in this context, Mulan’s family highly awaits Mulan to get married so honor can be brought to the family. Later on in the story, We know that Mulan sacrifices herself for her family and saves the whole country from the Huns, which suggests that Mulan created her own sense of identity instead of what others had been telling her to be. However such defiance of femininity is shown through the nouns in the quotation “Mulan had become a hero and a leader, bringing honor to her family in her own way”. The noun ‘Honour’ suggests connotations of Mulan doing something right which was to save her father as well as her country. Also, the noun ‘leader’ implies that Mulan has good principles and that she is a person who is leading and is superior and in this context, it was leading the army. Here a change has begun when the female protagonist Mulan is drifting away from society’s norms and expectations as princesses like Merida and Mulan seek their own freedom and future.

In conclusion, it is clear that gender stereotypes are presented in Children’s books. These stereotypes are used time and time again which shows it is hardly being challenged. Although there might have been times when these stereotypes have been challenged it can be said that they have been challenged by female authors for example in the data I have analyzed, ‘What I like about Me’ By Allia Zobel-Nola.