Damsel In Distress

As a young child almost all girls are introduced to the world of Disney. The side of Disney that they admire the most are the Disney princesses. This is where many girls find their favorite princesses such as Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White, Rapunzel, Tiana, and who can forget Cinderella. They are admired so much because a princess is what most young girls hope to become. They hope and dream to live a life of fantasy.

Once upon a time...

All the princesses listed above play similar characters. In the beginning of practically all of these movies, we are introduced to the princess. She later ends up in some kind of danger that requires her to be rescued which we like to a call a damsel in distress. Of course it is a male who comes along and sweeps her off her feet and they live happily ever after. These movies are very appealing to a great amount of people but the message that comes across, especially to little girls, is nowhere near positive. The lesson learned from these movies is that a woman needs to be dependent of a man and only a man will be able to come to the rescue when she is in trouble. In order to have a “happily ever after” a man needs to be in their life. This is the reason why after watching these princess movies young girls everywhere dream of when they will find their prince charming. Not only do they convey a wrong message but they depict body image. Basically what some of those young girls pick up is what they should look like. Tall, thin, porcelain skin, and beautiful long hair. There are some exceptions such as Snow White with her short hair and Jasmine with her beautiful tan skin but for the majority, they are white and have long thick hair.

Fairytale vs. Reality

While there were and probably still are girls in lala land waiting for their prince charming to rescue them, there are girls you can come across that aren’t waiting for anyone. In fact most of these girls from the beginning knew not to follow under the stereotypical norm of a woman waiting for a man to rescue her. However, freshman, Melody Del Cid, picked up a valuable life lesson from these movies. “If you believe in yourself and try hard enough, your dreams can come true no matter how many people tell you your dreams are ridiculous.” Positive messages can be portrayed in Disney movies but that doesn’t cover up the fact that they display gender roles in order to do so. Ms. Mejia demonstrates the fact that “Disney uses gender roles to help guide most, if not all, of their plots.” Not only does she point that out but also the fact that the “Disney women are driven by romantic notions of love” and if we were to take a look at our society we would see that the women of today are still influenced by these movies and they “often shape their lives around them.” As for someone who never liked these Disney movies, junior, Samantha Garduño, never followed under these norms. She believes that the movies give “unrealistic dreams” to girls about finding “their perfect love.”

It’s not just a girl thing

Not only do these princess movies have an impact on females but males too. The prince’s role is also very similar in every single movie. Junior, David Carlos, believes that these male characters are “characterized on the epitome of what a man should look like” and how they should be. According to the movies, men have to be “handsome, tall” along with strong and brave. In the Disney movie Mulan, story about a caring daughter that impersonates a man that joins the war in order to avoid her ill-father from getting drafted, there is a scene where Mulan, now dressed like a man, is training along-side very poorly fit men. After viewing what kind of men he was dealing with, disappointed General Li Shang begins to sing a song titled “I’ll make a man out of you.” According to Disney, this song describes what a real man should be: fast, strong, and powerful. Basically the man has to be the “muscle of the pair” once they have saved the princess. Julian Cuevas agrees with this statement and adds on that they also “always get the girl.” These Disney movies are so far from reality. The guy can’t always get the girl. In fact, for the most part they don’t get the girl. In the real world people don’t just get married after knowing someone for two days, it’s just not how it works, so to expect a happy ending from that kind of marriage is unrealistic. Disney really does give a false idea of what a man and woman should be.

For the first time in forever

Not so long ago Disney released two disney princess movies that attracted a tremendous amount of fans. People all over raved about these movies because for the first time the princesses starring in the movies were strong, independent, and courageous women. The two movies I am talking about are Brave, released in 2012, and Frozen, released in 2013. In the movie Brave, a young, adventurous, and courageous princess, Merida, is forced by her parents to marry a man in order to be the “suitable queen.” However, Merida doesn’t desire romance, she would rather be independent and that is what she fights for. She would never let herself be tied down. In Frozen, two sisters Anna and Elsa teach us that you don’t need a true love’s first kiss to break a spell because a sister’s love is much more stronger. With these two new movies, young girls everywhere can now be taught the valuable lesson about being a strong independent woman rather than a damsel in distress. For that I would just like to give props to Disney for finally letting go of their old gender role stereotypes even if they weren’t intentional. Way to go Disney, keep them coming!