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.