The Little Mermaid, Snow White, The Princess and the Frog - Disney Unit

     Disney movies construct their films through gender roles. In Disney princess movies the roles of woman are to be feminine, pretty, and lady like. The men are viewed as the ones in charge. When kids see this they don't realize that Disney structured the film like that purposely. The films are a reflection of our society or how society is or should be; the male in charge, and the women following what the men want. For example in The Little Mermaid, Arielle collects items that fall down to the ocean floor from up above and she has a fascination with the human world. Her father King Triton on the other hand is against her fascination with the human world, and does not allow her to go up to the surface of the ocean. Arielle goes against his word several times, and her father finally had enough and destroyed all of her knick-knacks that she was collecting. This shows that the men are "supposed" to be superior to women, and the women should obey their word. However, this movie breaks part of the female stereotype, because Arielle still goes against her fathers word and still continues to go to land. Even though Arielle broke her father's rules, she still is feminine. Arielle is abnormally thin, and wears dresses with bows in her long beautiful red hair. Disney portrays that this is how our society is or this is how it should be set up.


     Snow White is another good example of how Disney views/portrays gender roles. Snow White is a pale skinned, beautiful girl who is basically like a slave to her Step-Mother, the Queen. Snow White is a perfect example of how Disney portrays gender roles because she is constantly cleaning, but at the same times, she is still maintaining her beauty. She eventually wonders off into the woods after almost being killed, and finds her self in a house that is own by seven little men. Snow White whines up cleaning their entire house, and eventually taking care of them. This is a good example that Disney might think that women should be cleaning and taking care of the men while they work, and preparing dinner. The seven dwarfs could symbolize men as a whole, as portraying them as hard working. The prince could symbolize that men are strong, and are charming. Disney has this idea that this is how gender roles should be in society when in reality it's not.

Bonnie and Clyde & Thelma and Louise - Feminist Lens

   The Feminist lens is a good way to look at the films Bonnie and Clyde & Thelma and Louise considering the women in the film were bold and do not portray the "normal" female qualities. In Bonnie and Clyde, the film starts off as Clyde attempting to steal Bonnie's moms car. Instead of Bonnie calling the police on him for theft, she handels it herself and whines up going with him on his journey of robbery. Bonnie is not the "typical" female anymore as the movie moves along, she starts to lose some of her feminine traits despite her looks. She becomes more interested in robbery, and violence and enjoys the thrill of running from the law. Where as other females wouldn't typically act like that, but rather cater to their husbands, and stay at home etc. Bonnie does not fit into the "norm" of women.

   In Thelma and Louise, Louise also does not fit in with the "typical" women either. Louise is a lot like Bonnie in a way as the movie goes on. She starts losing the feminine traits that she once had. At one point in the movie she threw away her make up and even took off her jewelry which could signify that she is changing. Thelma on the other hand was really feminine. She was the one that would could for her husband, and basically a stay at home wife. Once she knew she was going on a road trip, she started to rebell and do what she wanted without asking her husband. Later in the movie, Thelma kind of becomes almost just like Louise. Thelma starts becoming more comfortable with the gun, robbing stores, doing illegal things, and running from the law. She is also not the typical women, but throughout the movie she keeps that feminine look that she had. 

   If you look at the men in both movies, they seem almost feminine compared to the women at some parts and wouldn't typically fit in with the "normal" or "average" man. In Thelma and Louise, Thelma's  husband Darrel was very tough and manly in the beginning. But as the movie went on, when he started to see that Thelma was getting into all sorts of trouble with the law, we saw his weaker more emotional side. We also so it with Louise's significant other, Jimmy. When he tried to purpose to Louise, and she rejected his proposal, you could see his emotional side by the look in his face and how he responded. The gender roles in these movies are "backwards" so to speak for society.

Citizen Kane & American Beauty

Citizen Kane and American Beauty have many similarities and differences. One of the main similarities is the rose. In Citizen Kane the rose is symbolic because it is on the sled; that being the rose is the name of his sled which is symbolic of his childhood. The rose is talked about throughout the movie, when we finally see the sled in the furnis which could also  be symbolic of his childhood withering away, and that he was never able to get it back. In American Beauty the rose is also symbolic, but in a different way. Roses appear multiple times throughout the movie, but not only roses, the color red. Roses seemed to appear whenever something was desired. For exampled when Lester and Angela were walking towards each other, right before they kissed there was a bouquet of roses in a vase on the table. That represented their desire for one another. In both movies the desire for happiness and childhood are big themes. In American Beauty, Lester has the desire to be happy, and one thing that made him happy was Angela. Angela could be symbolic for his childhood, and what he went after when he was younger. In Citizen Kane, Kane desired to be happy. He tried to buy happiness, when all he really wanted was his childhood back, but money couldn't buy that back.A symbol in Citizen Kane that could be a symbol for his Kane's childhood when he was happy was his sled. The sled was definitely a huge symbol because when he died, the last words he said was "rose bud" and that was the name of his sled which could infer that the sled did once make him happy because it reminded him of his childhood.        

Mise-en-scene in Caligari and Edward Scissorhands

The mise-en-scene of Caligari had a very animated look to it. The props looked like they were set up. The houses and town had an unrealistic look to it, also everything was very dark and dim with harsh shadows. The importance of the setting is to give off a certain emotion or feeling, particularly a "scary" or creepy effect, because everything in the town has a weird shape, and they cast creepy shadows. The setting helps the character develop emotions or feelings about the film. The major characters in Caligari   are Cesar, Dr. Caligari, and Franciz. Dr. Caligari is a crazy older man that controls a somnambulist, and gets him to murder innocent people. Dr. Caligari is important to the story line because he is the factor to why all of the chaos in the story is happening. The somnambulists' name is Cesar, who is under the control of Dr. Caligari..

In Edward Scissorhands the setting didn't look set up, it had an exterior design to it. The houses and outfits were bright pastel colors, and they all looked the same. That is to show how the people in that town are: that they are really aren't different from one another until Edward comes along. The major characters are Edward, Kim, and Peg. Edward is a misunderstood man, who then comes to live with Peg; Lisa's mother. Lisa and Edward find a deep connection with one another. The town however is not fond of Edward because of his differences, and because he is not like the rest of them.

The mise-en-scene of Caligari and Edward Scissorhands are different when it comes down to costume, and the setting. The costumes in Edward Scissorhands have a pastel, vibrant, plain color to them, aside from Edward's who's clothes are black. In Caligari, the costumes are really dark colors, and there is not much color to them. The same goes for the setting, the setting is dark, and doesn't have much color. In Edward Scissorhands, the setting is bright, the houses are bright pastel colors. However, Cesar and Edward can be looked at in the same perspective because they are both misunderstood. The town people look at them as if they are not human, when in reality they are; they are not monsters. Their costumes can relate because they are both pale faced with dark clothing and hair, and makeup around the eyes. The beginning of each story is also similar because they both start out with a person telling a story to another person, and then it flashes back to that story.