Animated Disney films retain a very large role in creating and reinforcing gender stereotypes into the minds of their viewers. For many years, Disney has entertained families and especially children with animated films and fairytales. The reinforcement of stereotypes projected within these films are very influential in shaping societies ideas of gender roles presented to the vast number of the target audience. These gender representations can be found in Disney movies such as Beauty and the Beast (1992) and The Little Mermaid (1990), depicting men and women in certain ways to reinforce the roles of the genders in society. The expectation to be physically attractive is reinforced in these Disney films through the natural yet very unrealistic beauty of the Disney Princes and Princesses. Similarly, the stereotypical gender roles are also heavily reinforced by having women and men only completing certain tasks appointed for their gender. As well as these roles, the idea is enforced that the two genders are to have certain character attributes, never crossing the thick line that differentiates the two.
Disney’s films reinforce the idea that men and women are to be physically attractive and they set appropriate body proportions that are completely unrealistic. It is a fact that when people hear “Disney Prince” or “Disney Princess”, they automatically think of an attractive person with a flawless complexion, hair and body. This says a lot about the messages that Disney are getting out to their audience. Just take a look at Belle and Ariel. They are both petit, with small waists, yet have nice curves and breasts, gorgeous flowing hair, large eyes, and fair flawless skin. However, physical beauty representations are not only represented through princesses and princes. The Bimbettes in Beauty and the Beast, who seem to appear everywhere in the movie, are constructed into the blonde, beautiful, dumb and male-desperate category of stereotypes. This well-known stereotype has a big impact on people in today’s society expecting that all beautiful blonde women are bimbos and promiscuous. Teri Polo, a very successful and very blonde actor, is one of many victims in this situation. She said “People take a look at me and say, “She's cute. She's blonde. She's an actress. She's a bimbo.” You know? So I take great pains to show I'm intelligent, to show I'm not a twinkie.” Polo knows that people automatically judge, and place her into that blonde female stereotype, but she knows that’s truly not her, and the same case goes for many other blondes. Ariel’s sisters, who are just as beautiful, and voice-talented as Ariel and Belle, have very similar traits to the Bimbettes as their breasts are unnaturally perked up all the time and have a constant stance that visibly shows their unrealistic curves. What is this saying about how women are viewed in today’s society? Disney enforces a standard of beauty in society by conveying to the audience that for a female to have a happy ending and find true love they must look beautiful and have curves like a Princess, and for a male to be successful and find a woman, he must be as physically attractive as the average Prince. This includes being handsome, having great hair, big muscles, and nice fitted clothing to expose those muscles. As young children watch these Disney films, it is inevitable that that are going to grow up aspiring to be exactly like these characters that are clearly unrealistic. This can easily stimulate future disproportionate self-images for the viewers of these films. These reinforced stereotypes in Disney fairytales are highly influential and can be harmful because the male and female body proportions and beauty expectations are unrealistic and physically impossible to conform to.
As well as physical expectations, stereotypical gender roles are heavily reinforced in Disney’s family entertainment films. It is accepted worldwide that the stereotypical woman cooks, cleans and spends a large proportion of her time keeping her physical beauty in high maintenance. And of course, on the other hand, the men are to go to work, earn the money and be the backbone of the household. These images of posters from the mid 1900’s, of women working in the house, support and assists in heavily reinforcing this gender role into society, along with Disney animated films. Although these images portray only women from Western countries, this domestic stereotype is universal. The personified house objects in Beauty and The Beast, strengthens these gender roles. The females are associated with the objects used by stereotypical women; teapot, dust brush, wardrobe. Whereas the men are the candle and the clock; objects which are seen to be useful and very independent. Reinforced gender roles in Beauty and the Beast can also be seen when the Beast heroically and bravely saves Belle from the hungry wolves in the forest, implying that men are always to save the women who are too physically weak to stand up for themselves. This is followed directly by Belle comforting and caring for the Beast with a hot wet towel, applying her domestic and nurturing skills, which is a stereotype of the role of all women. These roles of men being strong and brave, and women being domestically educated and have a nurturing nature are prominent in Beauty and The Beast. Also, in The Little Mermaid, Sebastian’s duty was to look after and keep an eye on Ariel to keep her safe. This reinforces the idea that a woman needs to be assisted and protected by a male at all times as she is incapable of taking care of herself, regardless whether she is brave or not. Disney films have a prominent contribution in reinforcing gender role stereotypes to their viewers by conveying how men are to have strength and bravery and women are to have domestic skills, and that these are their main purposes.
A stereotypical attribute that is evident within the Disney animated fairytales is that women are emotionally and physically weak, whereas men are emotionally and physically strong. In both films, only the main female characters were depicted as absurdly emotional and weak. Ariel is seen twice in the movie, crying her eyes out and the same goes for Belle. Furthermore, in typical Disney style, they maintain their poise by being positioned gracefully when they are crying. Through these scenes, Disney successfully demonstrates to the audience that women are exceptionally emotional, yet they fail to identify that males are just as emotional as women. According to a study by neurologists at Mindlab, men are actually more sensitive than women when reacting to different emotional stimuli. Scientists asked 15 fathers and 15 mothers, to watch a series of videos while their physiological responses were measured by skin conductance electrodes. They were to watch videos that were categorised into: blissful, funny, exciting and heart-warming – and experts were surprised to see that fathers tested higher for emotional responses to a range of stimuli. Even more surprising was the results for the “heart-warming” category, as the experiment showed that men responded twice as much to this content than women. This study proves that the common assumption that women are emotionally weaker than men, is incorrect. Furthermore, Disney reinforces the idea that women are to be polite, reserved and respectable. At the beginning of The Little Mermaid, Ariel had an adventurous and risk-taking character, and her father punished her for being like this and disobeying his orders. When Ariel finally lives her happily ever after with Prince Eric, she conforms into the common agreeable woman like every other Disney Princess, hence losing her adventurous side. This also occurs in Beauty and the Beast. Belle used to be the intelligent outcast that read books all day long, and people would call her strange, but her marriage to the Prince changed that. Disney tells their audience what certain characteristics are acceptable for a Disney Princess to have and what aren’t. So what do young Disney viewers think when look up to these Princesses and aspire to be like them? Clearly these films outline and reinforce the idea that women’s lives are supposed to be dependant on males, and that they can only live their happily ever after once they conform to the stereotypical attributes of being polite and reserved.
Animated Disney films have a very large role in creating and reinforcing gender stereotypes into the minds of families and especially children with animated films and fairytales. The stereotypes projected within these films can be hazardous and very influential in shaping societies ideas of gender roles because of the large target audience and the completely incorrect messages that are being portrayed. Young viewers grow up with the ideas that women are required to be physically attractive, be domestically educated and nurturing, and polite in character. As apposed to men who are also supposed to be attractive but embody totally different attributes and roles to women. This can easily stimulate future disproportionate self-images for the viewers of these films. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid are both films that depict men and women in these certain ways to reinforce gender roles in society.
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