The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I am an A level media studies student, working towards my January examination on my critical research. i have chosen to research the effects Disney films have on young girls, and whether the characters' images have an effect on how young girls feel about their own body image. Do these characters, who generally have a large chest, a tiny waist and red pouting lips, display the wrong ideals about body image? Do children subconciously look up to these Disney princesses and wish they had a waist that small?

In previous years, i have studied the effects modelling and celebrity media coverage has on teenagers and their body images, but i have never thought to look into smaller children, and the effects a supposed harmless cartoon film can have on how they view themselves, and how they want to look when they're older.

There has been some talk of how Disney films contain refrences of Nazism, and how Walt Disney actually purposely used Nazi ideals in his films as a sort of subliminal message. However, has anyone ever thought about the images of his female creations, and how their cleavages, tiny waists and pretty eyes may actually effect young girls?

id really appreciate someone elses view on this topic
help me out :)

XXX

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Hi Jenniferrr and welcome!

I'm doing a BA-thesis in somewhat the same area as you (portrayal of females, but in a different type of movie), and my teacher suggested looking at Visual and other pleasures by Laura Mulvey, as it is a central work in the area of women's portrayal on screen. I don't know if it deals with Disney or animation even (haven't read it yet), but you'll very likely find some background and theories that might prove useful. Another useful source might be Feminist film theory: a reader by Sue Thornham (ed.), which contains essays on the topic.

For as far as I can recall the Barbie-image for the female-'hero' is indeed in all of the Disney-movies and yes ofcourse that is going to affect those who watch it. On the other hand the villains have different appearances. Ursula in the little mermaid is a clear opposite with her large body and gray hair. However, if I recall correctly, there are also some scenes in which we see Ursula put on make-up, so here they relate make-up and false appearance (also when she later transforms into a human) with evil and the ideal is more of a natural beauty, rather than a constructed one. Other villainesses (?), such as Cruella de Ville, are rather slim and perhaps even thin, so perhaps it's also worth looking into that?

Those are just some thing that spring to mind, in a hurry as well as I am almost late for work now :P. Hopefully it'll help you make a nice researchpaper, and perhaps you can even post it here when you're done :)

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

It'd be interesting to ask some young girl viewers what they think themselves, and you must be young enough yourself Jennifer to remember what you thought of the females in Disney films.

Haven't the females got a lot more sassy since my childhood when I remember thinking that far from wanting to be Snow White, I thought she was the wimpiest girl I'd ever seen !

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

You're doing a research paper and so you ask an Internet forum of people about whom you know absolutely nothing--especially whether or not they are qualified to have an opinion on small girls' attitudes toward female Disney characters? Well, that's the lazy way of doing it--sit at your laptop and pull random comments literally out of the air. Don't bother to do research at your library of academic studies of what influences the self-image of young girls and the impact of media on that image. Don't do any research on Disney and his creations ("they" say his films contained "references to Nazism"--whatever the hell that is. Did "they" also tell you that the State Department recruited Disney to make pro-US cartoons to be shown in South America during World War II to combat fascism in those countries?). Or even for gawd's sakes poll a bunch of young girls about what they think about Disney characters.

Film school must be a lot easier than college or even high school where instructors insisted that I define my terms prior to research. For instance, to which female Disney characters are you referring? Snow White in the 1930s is very different from the more liberated Pocahontas in the 1990s. And not all Disney females are slim--look at the evil Mim in The Sword and the Stone or the female octopus in The Little Mermaid or Cinderella's fairy godmother or the three fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Even if you stick with Disney's lovely leading ladies, were they really proportioned so differently from the leading ladies in John Huston's films or any other directors? Is Cinderella any thinner than Julia Roberts or does she have bigger breasts than Dolly Parton? It's interesting that the inflatable life jackets worn by sailors and airmen in World War II were nicknamed "Mae West" rather than Snow White. And how does the influence of Disney characters seen on the screen compare with the influence of Barbie and other dolls with unrealistic figures that girls hold in their hands, play with, and even take to bed?

And are today's pre-teen females more subject to influence by Disney characters than were their mothers and grandmothers who saw many of those classic characters when they were children? I suspect that Disney's characters have remained constant and that it's our society and modern concepts of beauty and children that has changed.

Time to shut down the computer and go to the library for some serious research of your topic.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I think that you will find that the smaller girls are equally infuenced by the same media as their older sisters, maybe Disney is influntial and maybe not. Where I live I have not noticed a Disney influence but then I live on an island and perhaps we are luckier here and the influences of mainland Britain can be later in arriving.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

rufnek, dont you think you're being a little overbearing and judgmental?

I dont think there is anything intrinsically wrong with asking for opinion (and you cant get more readily available and wider opinion than on the internet), assuming you also have, or plan to have the other supporting information (acquired by research) at your fingertips.

There is a place for polled opinion. I'm not sure how statistically accurate it will be, but assuming that it is filtered through the lens of additional/greater information, there is a place for it.

I just dont assume Jenniferrrrrr will base her entire thesis on the replies of forum members, nor do I assume that she hasnt done, or will not do additional research. That would be really bad (F Paper bad). :eek:

Telling her to is not only making an assumption that she hasnt/wont, but is also kind of begging the question.

Other than that, I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject matter, because you seem to allude to greater knowledge. Seems interesting. Of course, if you are really just concerned that your depth of knowledge and ideas are simply going to be plagarized, then, by all means, dont.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I don't really think ruffy is out of line mack. He wasn't even rude, really. This is a movie forum after all and every couple of months it seems we get a lot of these same little "questions" and they always say the same things. In fact I believe someone was on here last year asking this very same question or one very close to it. If these folks really wanted to discuss this issue that would be one thing. But no, the vast majority of these I've seen have been exactly like this one. They make one post and then some people come in and give up their time and do this persons work for them (so to speak) and we never see them again unless they have another "question" they need answered.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I feel you Powdered, and maybe Im not here enough - but who in god's name could really write a thesis off of some answers they got online?? :confused: At most, they can get ideas for research, or have a thought they never considered presented to them. Everybody isnt [Insert Age Bracket Here], nor have they "arrived."

And the people here seem to be seriously invested in how much they know about movies, and they actually KNOW A LOT. Why would it ever be a bad thing for a person to consult an expert? It weirds me out for an expert NOT to want to be consulted.

I can see it now:

Person X: I'm an expert on the movies. ;)
mack: Oh, cool. I'm doing a research paper on (blah, blah, blah, blah, movies, blah blah), and was wondering about your take on this angle of approach about (blah blah)?
Person X: Screw you, Loser. Go study it yourself!
mack: Uh......ok? :confused:

I could care less about somebod's research paper/thesis. I actually think it is an interesting question, but I hardly know anything about the subject (other than subjective impression). I would've liked to follow any discussion on the matter. I dont guess that will happen.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I think that the online arena is only going to grow more and more, and I see nothing wrong with asking opinions of people whom are members of a movie forum about their thoughts on movies, be it Disney or otherwise. Where I do see a problem is if one is treating the question as either an interview or a statiscal thing or a place to steal thoughts. If you use anything from this site then include it in a bibliography. If that is done I have no problem. All that being said n stuff:

It is not just Disney films although I know that is your focus, I see my grandaughter (she is two) copy more of what her mother does than anything she watched on the tube, be it Disney or otherwise. I see no indication, as of yet, of her seeing anything other than a "fun time".

Now, boys on the other hand are just little unoriginal beasts;) .

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

At least you know what boys are up to:yup: .

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Personally, I believe that the "body image" thing is a little played out. Guys & girls alike, at some point feel insecure about their image, blaming the media is a bit of a cop-out. Children should learn to deal with their self esteem. There is always going to be some form to aspire to, whether it is a boy wanting bigger biceps, or a girl wanting a bigger chest. It's the kids that need to have their value reinforced, not the media that needs to be altered. If kids were instilled with these ideals, then the media would be of no consequence.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I want to start with this comment. To me, it sounds like something somebody connected to Disney via the content of Leni Riefenstahl's films. I will be the first to admit that I've never heard this charge rationally leveled at Disney, but if you understand the charges against Riefenstahl that her filmic presentations of "perfect" bodies in both Olympia (my vote for the most artistic depiction of sports in film history) and her "home movies" and photographic essay books of the Mesakin Nuba tribe in Africa, her detractors pretty much believe that they can find Hitler's desire for a "perfect race" to be present in all her work, even if it's a non-white race.

Let's look at Riefenstahl and compare her to Disney, at least visually. You be the judge.

Here's Riefenstahl:
http://blog-static.excite.eu/it/blog...hl_olympia.jpg http://www.faheykleingallery.com/ima...rica_29_bg.jpg http://www.riefenstahl.org/actress/1...ch-olympia.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...sse_Owens1.jpg
http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/image.../olympia/6.jpg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/grap...7/baview07.jpg http://meganmcmillan.typepad.com/pho...ed/olympia.jpg http://www.helmut-schmidt-online.de/..._africa_13.jpg

Here's Disney:
http://www.platformfestival.com/sche...ite_Disney.jpg http://www.disneyweddinginvitations....Cinderella.gif http://disney.goochemnet.nl/galerie/...beauty/p45.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1363/03228mp8.jpg http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb...4-31DA7D76.jpg http://www.freewebs.com/thedisneycla...ocahontas4.jpg http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...ily/mulan4.jpg http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...fNotreDame.jpghttp://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...a-man_41_2.jpg

I will admit that there may be some similarities, but I find far more differences. In fact, I want to discuss them right now, but I believe we would have a better discussion if others shared what they think first. I'll sneak out that Disney's heroines (when they aren't animals, or maybe even if they are, seem to be fair-haired whites, but after his death, the studio seemed to include heroines of color more often, even if a gypsy is blue-eyed.) I shall return irregardless.

This is somehow an examination of how Disney is supposed to be pro-Nazi. WTF? (I really worry about the way people process information.) Click "Play" if it doesn't automatically start up in ten seconds.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed5_1173409405


Also, if the Nazi angle is something you still believe you want to pursue, check this.

I hope this stimulates something positive!

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

When my daughter was young, the only thing she was concerned with from a Disney film were the dresses that the characters wore. We had to buy several so we could put a different one on her long enough to wash the one she had been wearing.

I beleieve that if a parent does their job, that a girl will feel beautiful no matter what she looks like. Don't all little girls feel like princesses? I know I did.

When you get to adolescence, that's when the opinions of the world at large start to matter. Magazines, music videos, and ads, all work to make a girl question her self-concept. That's the evil here, not Disney.

I think the portrayal of Disney Heroines as pretty is to show their inner beauty. The evil characters are almost always unattractive, or at least severe looking to show their true ugliness inside.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Firstly I'd like to say that I seriously doubt anyone bases an essay entirely on forum responses and there's no harm in asking people their opinions.

Secondly, I'm doing Film Studies at university so I'm actually in a position to lend this person a hand so its not a stupid idea to throw a question out there to see varied responses. You never know who maybe reading.

I would suggest really looking at Laura Mulvey's work - shes the tip of the top when it comes to feminist film readings.

Something you must remember about Disney is that for every leading lady they draw they have a real life model to pose for them in the studio - one could argue that they are drawing a real woman and not just an idea of a woman.

I would also suggest a poll of currently young girls and older girls, the contrast of image as well as disney that they're seeing because of the different times may contribute to what they think about women.

When writing a critical/research essay you've got to break down your questions. You said:

Are the characteristics you mentioned really wrong? how are they wrong? Are they fitting with the social image of women at the time they were drawn? e.g. Mulan would have never flown with a 1940's audience - not only was she Chinese but she also pretended to be a man, unusual in animation too, and this would have been a deviation from the traditional image of women in society.

We dont want to promote anorexia or anything like that but at the same time we have a childhood obesity problem - could your essay apply to this e.g. would it be better to have a chubby princess? Or is it better to have a slim, beautiful princess who always gets the guy?

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Who can take Disney females seriously? They are nice to look at but that's all.

I remember an English cartoonist got a job at Disney about 15 years ago. He sent in some drawings of original characters, just copying the basic generic face of the Disney females.

Tinkerbelle gets a makeover:


http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...inkerbelle.jpg

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Miss Kitty gets a makeover:

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/Godzilla.jpg

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Who says She isn't doing all the other research too, i am actually her classmate, i introduced her to the forum, this forum is a gethereing of people interested/experienced and knowlegable of the media, all she is asking is:

id really appreciate someone elses view on this topic

An opinion on the topic.
not for you to Critisise destructively, and not to do thge work for her.
Thanks all, some really good ideas though here. :)

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

okay okay
for starters, i cannot persue my primary research on my specific topic, and gain ideas from this forum, if all people are doing is arguing about the justification of me posting a question. yes, i posted a question for help, but only for ideas and a look into some other people's opinions ON MY QUESTION.
i did not, however, ask your opinion on the reasons for my post, or for your comments on my methods. i really appreciate you guys that have helped me, it has been very useful, thankyou.
this is not my only method of research, and you claim i know nothing about this website, yet you know very little about me.

thankyou for your constructive comments :)

x

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

love you passarelli :)

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

just because some people believe that alevel students are lazy and just using forums to get the answers to there work, doesnt mean that jen is exactly the same to other alevel students

she is a very hard working student and has already carried out several other forms of reasearch by asking people on their own oppinions

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Giggidy Giggidy!!

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

No
No, I never claimed to have "greater knowledge" on the subject. That's something you assumed along with your assumption that the other party has done or will do mountains of research on the subject. I don't have any answers, but I've got a heap of questions that such a paper should answer.

First of all, explain to me, please, exactly how opinion can be used to support or defeat an argument that is supposed to be based on fact. The purpose of the report based on what was said in the initial post is whether or not Disney female characters are a bad influence on young girls, presumably in their images of themselves. I can say I think Disney's influence is minimal at its worst, and you can say you think the opposite, but what exactly does that prove? Two conflicting opinions by someone who calls himself rufnek and someone who goes by mack. Do either of us have the knowledge and credentials to state any hard facts of this subject?

As for the subject itself: First of all, is there any evidence that the majority or even a large minority of young girls have a negative image of their bodies? I'm sure there are people who have made detailed studies of this. I'm equally sure that you will not find them or their works through this forum. And what exactly do you mean by young girls. Age 6 and up? Age 11 on down? 6 to 16? 3 to 20? If you are going to do a report, you have to start from some basis of fact, define the problem you plan to explore (including the ages of the group studied), and then proceed with some facts pro or con that can be cited in footnotes, not some opinions pulled off the internet from sources that cannot be identified.

Also if young girls do have a negative image, how much of that is directly traceable solely to Disney? Is Disney's Cinderella and Snow White more or less of an influence on young girls than are Wilma Flintstone, Betty Rubble, Judi Jetson, and all of the other, often more recent cartoon females now seen on TV and in the movies, including the Japanese contributions? And if cartoon characters are influential, are they more or less influential than live enterainers like Hannah Montana or current actresses on TV and in the movies? What role is played by the slim models seen in ads on TV and magazine ads? I think the last time an old or "un-slim" woman was used to sell products was in the "Where's the beef?" and Josephine the plumber commercials. Do you really think that individual opinions on the alleged "Nazism" of Disney cartoons is going to support or refute any of those other issues?

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

OK, this is a forum where people talk a lot about movies. Some even know a lot about certain films. But how many of us have ever made a deep study of how movies influence society? Particularly, the influence of a certain type of movie on audiences of a certain gender and the uncertain description of "young" (How young? How old? Would the influence differ by nationality and location?)?

I still do not see what it contributes to the report to ask the forum in general "What do you think?" The resulting information would boil down to one line in a report. "Out of XX respondents, X blamed Disney for the negative self-image of some girls, X said Disney wasn't to blame, and X said they didn't know or care." Even then it doesn't get around the fact that opinion means nothing in an essay; only the documented facts do.

I could see if someone wrote in asking if anyone knew of any sources on the subject. But she made an entry under General Movie Discussion, and asked "What do you think?" I responded by sharing my thoughts on the subject. Perhaps the researcher would benefit from a guiding rule among trial lawyers: Never ask a witness a question to which you don't already know the answer. That way, you're less likely to get a response you don't like.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I think you mean opinions, and that is exactly what you got. If you don't like someone's opinions, ignore them, or debate them. You are free to do this as much as you want in this forum.

Telling people what they can and can't post in this forum, however, is not something that concerns you; that's up to the owner of the forum and his mods.

In other words, please don't attempt to lay down some sort of illusory rules for this thread, which doesn't belong to you. If someone posts something you don't like, simply ignore it.

That said, I think many of Rufnek's points are quite valid.

Also, you got plenty of helpful responses (as Jeniferrr has stated, herself) from other people, so I am unsure what the complaints are about.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Hey Ruffy,

You've got no argument from me on those points, as I agree with Sedai, that they are very valid....if you are the professor! :D However, I do think opinion counts in most research in some context and is given some weight - perhaps very little weight, and with many restrictions - but considered nonetheless. AND, it can be argued that the context and weight of the opinion is definable not by the opinion-giver (you and me :D), but by the author of the paper and/or their professor.

The other thing I think is key is that people are often good sounding boards in an idea-formation stage. Kinda like, between you and mark f's starting points, I could probably choose an angle and write a 30 pager!

But I digress when I'm already ready and willing to concede a fundamental point: I think posts 17-21 have proved Powered WaWa's point about your point. ;)

I hate being proven wrong. :(

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

A-Level students in Great Britain are the equivalent of Seniors in American high schools. I already know, from over 17 years of experience, that my daughter looks to me for almost everything, so it's no biggie if she asks me questions. However, I DO realize that some students would never ask their fathers, who they spend more time with than anybody else, a serious question. However, that's not my kid!

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I'd like to think my responses also were helpful in pointing out better sources and research methods than collecting opinions from unkown sources.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

There was some speculation at one time that Disney's Tinkerbell was based on Marilyn Monroe, suggesting that big girls influenced the shape of Disney female characters rather than the other way around. But I think the timing of the release of Peter Pan and especially the time it took to make that cartoon feature placed Tinkerbell's birth well in front of Monroe's rise to stardom.

I don't remember Snow White looking particularly sexy in Disney's first feature-length cartoon, but at another studio Betty Boop was vamping cartoon characters and movie audiences long before Disney put pen and paint brush to Snow White.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I’ve always thought Fritz Lang’s films had that Teutonic modernism look of German films and posters during the years of the Reich. Especially in Metropolis (1926), M (1931), The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), Rancho Notorious (1952), and to a lesser extent The Blue Gardenia (1953) and The Big Heat (1953).

He was a contemporary of Riefenstahl’s. In fact, Lang claimed he had a meeting with Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, who told him that (1) his recent film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) was being banned as an incitement to public disorder and (2) asked Lang to head the UFA German film studios at a time when Lang was already plotting to get out of Germany. Lang's wife Thea von Harbou joined the Nazi party in 1932 and they were divorced in 1933. Lang left Germany in 1934 and eventually came to the US.

One interesting study would be to contrast the work of Riefenstahl who played up to the Nazis and Lang who says he rejected a proposed Nazi reward. They came from a similar heritage, were schooled in the same film techniques, and subject to the same influences from the film worlds of Germany and Europe, and yet took very different paths in their careers.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?

Interesting question.
To be honest, I haven't thought much about it over the years.
I do know that people can study and analyze just about anything into the ground.
That's not a bad thing though.
I would say right now that the images don't really affect young girls that much.
I have always seen Brutus from Popeye as a role model and he hasn't affected me.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

:laugh:

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

:) As I remember it, the Disney characters as role models charge surfaced in the 1960s as part of the feminist movement and was embraced, I think, by the National Origanization of Women (NOW). I'm sure they published data in support of their charge, and I would imagine non-believers also published data challenging that charge. If you looked in college libraries, you'll probably find lots of graduate dissertations from the 60s and 70s on that subject.

However, as I remember, the complaint was not about how Disney females looked but that so many of the heroines ended up waiting for a man to solve their problems--the prince to come around with the glass slipper for Cinderella or kisses for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Now contrast that with more modern Disney cartoon females as the young Chinese woman who becomes a warrior and the beauty Belle who saves and transforms the Beast with her love.

And here's another point, the Disney heroines at the time Disney was alive and in charge (from the 1930s on through the 1960s) were--with the possible exception of Wendy--young women, not young girls. On the other hand, with the later cartoon series of Charlie Brown which has appeared in newspapers, books, TV, and on stage, the female characters are all young girls who look like young girls at an early age before they develop any curves at all. Seeing Lucy out-smart and torment Charlie Brown, do young girls view her as a role model for the revenge they would like to inflict on brothers and male school-mates?

One of the best known feminist writers was Betty Friedan who wrote a best-selling well-researched book about how women viewed themselves and their lives. I remember one icon blamed as turning women into sex objects was the Playboy Bunnies at all the Playboy Clubs that were such a big rage in the '60s. (There was a book on that subject by an ex-Bunny, but I can't recall her name.) That seems to me a more logical target than Disney characters.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Pft. Not really, no. If having an impossibly tiny waist is a good influence. Mostly the others have already said it all.

I thought you meant real-life female Disney stars for a second there; I was about to start having a go at Miley Cyrus.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

OK..thread seems to have strayed a bit but I still think the original question's interesting so here's my thoughts: I think that being skinny and having big boobs is so ingrained into today's society that there's nothing we can really do about. There are so many more factor's going into what is looked upon as the perfect body image, and it's my belief that the media's influence is much less than what it's made out to be. Little girl's will look up to somebody who has an inhumanely perfect body, so I don't blame the studio's for making money off of that fact.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

The whole "some day my prince will come thing" is not a great expectation for little girls to internalize.

OTOH, Disney girls are generally, very take charge and powerful in some ways. It depends on exactly which Disney girl we are talking about.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

This is an interesting topic "Disney characters and their effect on young girls. I think that it depends on which age gap you are talking about. The girls under 12 years are definitely affected especially is there is no parental guidance while watching this films. We have to remember that these girls are impressionable and they are sill at that magical stage in life where everything is imaginary. If a an eight year old watches Cinderella and sees how the fairy God Mother transforms her, she will assume that in life someone will always come and make her look good.
============================================================================
Marie

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Yeah, I think in the last couple of decades, female Disney characters have become more proactive just as real actresses now portray lawyers, police, soldiers, business executives--people who are carving their own careers rather than wait for Prince Charming.

But I also think it's wrong to single out Disney to blame because of Snow White and Cinderella and the other ladies in the early cartoons who had to rescued by the prince. Look at the regular movies from that period and you won't find many strong Auntie Mames or His Girl Fridays or Mildred Pierces because most women were portrayed in most films as taking a backseat to the males. Andy Hardy loved his mom who was always cooking and washing for him, but when he needed a wise person to advise him, he always went to his dad the judge.

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

I've always thought it odd that most of today's young stars are slim and better-looking than any of the real people we know, when statistics tell us most Americans today are overweight, some of us dangerously so. So why are we not seeing more stars who are as chubby as Kathy Bates or Mama Cass or Marlon Brando in his later years? Can't fat, old, ugly people be talented, too, or is it that we'll settle for even minor talent so long as the singer/actor looks good (Anyone remember Fabian?)

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

:D I love it!

Re: The effect of female Disney characters on young girls, are they bad role models?
 

Disney princesses will never be fat... that would not look right when they're being served to kids through the drive thru windows at McDonald's.

Besides the need for an even bigger plastic baggy for the plump princess to reside in while she waits for her new McDonald's lovin' friend, another issue is the prince. That knight in shining armor. I know these Disney movies are just fantasies, but would a handsome prince really go and save a fat princess from the clutches of evil?

If the evil also happens to be an evil woman who happens to be slim, not a chance in hell. Many heterosexual men like b!tches. Women like The Evil Queen from Snow White, Cruella De Vil and Malificent from Sleeping Beauty are hot, passionate, male torturing dominatrixes. I just watched Sleeping Beauty the other day... she put the prince in a dungeon and even handcuffed him to a wall. If Sleeping Beauty was fat, you think he'd come after her when he's already got something going with a woman who likes to boss around men? They'd only want Sleeping Beauty to wake up so she could move around and get some exercise.