Disney Princesses

Disney is an entertainment company which produces movies watched by people of all ages. They have produce 100’s of movies but the ones most iconic are their princess movies. Every girl while growing up watched multiple princess movies such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and many more. These movies have built in stereotypes which we don’t notice we absorb since childhood.

(Photo)

Body Image

Disney represent an unrealistic concept of body image through their princesses in the movies. All princesses have the same similarities in their body shape. These similarities are  skinny, long haired, small waistline and even small feet. The Disney Princesses have created an unreachable stereotype within the movies for body types.

Waistline

Every single princess is a tiny waistline examples of this are:

Cinderella (Photo)Megara (Photo)

As shown in the photos on the left Cinderella has a very small waist which would be impossible for any average girl to get their waist the same or similar size. On the right the photo of Megara shows the extremities Disney had gone to for her waist line in the picture we can easily see that the width of her pony tail is longer than the width of her waist which is an unrealistic demonstration of the female body. These impossible standards set by Disney can cause the average teen girl to want to achieve this waistline due to this being impossible the attempts can cause them to get serious illnesses such as body dysmorphia in which she would want to have plastic surgery in which they would have to remove some ribs in order to achieve the small princess like waist; And if plastic surgery isn’t in the price range they would could potentially get other illness like bulimia where they would vomit to loose the weight and be left to just skin and bone.

I don’t understand why Disney go to such an effort for the extreme waistline of every princess when clearly a princess with a normal waistline would be more relatable  to the viewer and they won’t have to go through ridiculous procedures to achieve the “Princess Look”. Here are some examples of what Disney princesses would look like if they were equipped with a normal waist

 Aurora (Photo)

Ariel (Photo)

Villains

Disney villains are represented in a much different manner than the princesses. The Disney woman are represented as either fat, old or ugly which is completely different in comparison to the princesses.

An example of a fat Disney villain is Ursula (photo) Ursula is the villain from the little mermaid. By promoted the curvier figure as the villain and the skinny figure as the princess affects  teenage girls especially those you are curvier than others as if being curvier than others is a bad thing and that everyone should be skinny in order to be seen as the pretty one. This affects girls confidence as in the film ‘The Little Mermaid’ they will see Ariel as the prettier character with the skinnier figure and then they will be introduced to Ursula as the fat character who is viewed as the evil villain and is not in any way equivalent to Ariel’s beauty. With seeing this they will then feel like they need to loose the weight and have a more Ariel like figure. This could result in a serious illness called Anorexia where there is a lack or loss in appetite for food.

An example of an old Disney villain is the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Photo) The Evil Queen was so obsessed with appearance and wanting to be the fairest of them all that jealousy had consumed her when she heard that Snow White was now the fairest she instantly wanted to get rid of her due to her being threatening to her ego.

An example of ugly Disney Villains are the ugly step sisters from the film Cinderella (Photo) In the film it is clear to see their jealously of Cinderella’s beauty due to them bullying her and making her to do all their choirs. A scene within the movie where the jealousy shows is the scene where Cinderella is all dressed for the ball but in the end they both destroy her outfit due to the both of them being envious of what she was wearing to the ball (Scene). This scene shows teenage age viewers that if you are ugly you should be envious of the prettier teenagers and you should do anything to bring them down so you will feel superior. Which sets up a bad behavioral patterns in teens when faced with jealousy.

The similarities between the characters of the Evil Queen and the Ugly Step Sisters are they are both very insecure about their appearances due to them wanting to look like the prettier character in the film in this example that is Snow White and Cinderella.

Disney also promote the concept in which if you are equipped with the traits of the princesses such as the skinny waistline you will live happily ever after where as with the Disney Villains that are equipped with the traits of being fat, old or ugly have never found there ‘one true love’ which does not send a very positive message to those teenagers already insecure. This could cause teens to begin to pick at the flaws of themselves and begin to relate themselves more to the villain side of things other than the princess side of things. Doing things like this can illnesses such as  depression due to teenage girls already going through puberty which can already make them insecure about there body but once watching movies as previously stated can make them see their selves in a whole other light; Opening new things to be insecure about especially for the single girls as they will begin to question their selves asking “If they were as fat as Ursula” or “As ugly as one of the step sisters” and wondering if this could be the cause of their relation less lives

Ariel (Photo)

Ariel is a 16 year old mermaid and is the youngest daughter of King Triton. She had decided she no longer wanted to spend her life in the sea and wanted to roam on land with the humans. Her father and her often fight over the concept of her going to land. One day Ariel saves prince Eric from shipwreck and instantly falls in love with him. Ariel desperate to become human and be with Eric she goes to Ursula who is a sea witch. Ariel makes a deal with Ursula giving up her voice in order to become human for 3 days and within the three days will have to receive a true loves kiss to stay human and if not she will transform back and belong to Ursula.

In the film Ariel rebels against her father King Triton in order to go to the surface. This represents a stereotype in which all teens are rebelling against their parents. This causing society to believe that teens are not trust worthy and are sneaking out to go do what they want to. Parents may begin to believe the stereotype and think that their teenagers are rebelling and sneaking out therefore not fulling trusting them. This affects teenage girls because with the lack of trust given to them by their parents they will not be able to go and spend as much time with friends or sports e.t.c. because their parents think they are out their doing something else.

Ariel making a deal with Ursula to turn human shows the viewers that they need to change who they truly are for a boy. This means that in society if you were to like a boy  you should change your personality and looks in order for him to like you back and be with him. This affects teenage girls because they will believe that they can not be their selves around the opposite sex because they will not like the original them. This then can make girls self conscious about themselves and will believe that who they are isn’t good enough and will then suffer from confidence issues and insecurity issues.

Ariel gives up her voice in order to become human temporarily and after receiving her true love kiss from Eric she will become permanently human. By Ariel giving up her voice this shows that looks only matter and your words don’t. This affects teens because this shows them that appearance matters more than what you have to say. The importance of appearance is emphasized due to Ariel doesn’t say one word to Prince Eric (because she can’t) but in the end he still kisses her and it is a true love kiss without even knowing who Ariel really is. This affects teens because they will begin to change their appearance and become more appearance conscious. This can cause the more curvy of girl  get a serious illness such as turning anorexic or bulimic in order to change the shape of her figure to make her seem “more” attractive to the opposite sex. They will also clip back their intelligence and appearance because in the film it shows that that doesn’t truly matter therefore not allowing themselves to be who they really are.

Snow White (Photo) 

Snow White takes refuge in the seven dwarf’s cottage while trying to hide from her evil stepmother. During her refuge she does the cleaning, cooking their food, and doing home chores such as washing the dishes. This represents the stereotype that woman should be at home doing the chores than physically cleaning. Snow white even quotes whilst in the seven dwarfs cottage “You’d think their Mother would — Maybe they have no Mother” In recall to the state of their home being a mess. The seven dwarfs were not going to let snow white stay as she was just an extra mouth to feed and would be useless towards them until she said “If you let me stay, I’ll keep house for you. I’ll wash and sew and sweep and cook.” And from then on Snow White became a mother towards them by completing all their responsibilities as well as reminding them to wash.

Snow White showing that women’s job is to take care of the house and it is the man’s job to bring the money home to the family. This affects teen girls to believe that they will never have a real job and that they will only be a caretaker for the family and house which can therefore cause girls to feel worthless and unequal to men. This also affects societies perceptive on working women as they will believe that they should be at home cleaning etc instead of earning an income. Society perceptive therefore causes inequality in the work place between men and women.