Disney Feminists

Every little girl grows up watching Disney Princess movies. From old school Cinderella to the newer one's like The Princess and The Frog. As kids we don't notice all of the messages behind the movies and what kind of influence that places on young girls for the future. The images above and below are a sort of "culture-jamming" done in opposition to the Disney Princess ideas that give a contradicting message you young girls. In The Princess Diaries, Mia is praised for being different- the odd ball, unique, and genuine. However, to be accepted by her grandmother and her country as royalty she has to undergo extensive beauty treatments and etiquette lessons. So wait, was she perfect before with frizzy hair and glasses or not? The movie preaches high self-esteem and self-acceptance, but at the same time belittles and changes everything about Mia that makes her Mia. Confusing isn't it? What kind of message does this send to young girls? That you should accept yourself as long as you strive to change and better your appearance, accept a work in progress until you can reach the expectations of beauty and be truly accepted by yourself and society? 

Disney Princess movies are iconic. I have never met a female who hasn't seen every movie Disney made. Most little girls have the dolls, coloring books, sheets, pajamas, and more to worship their favorite princesses. Girls don't understand the conflicting and belittling messages they receive when they're watching these movies because they aren't aware. Most of my female peers probably still don't pick up on these subliminal messages and contradictions. It's so sad to think that parents praise these movies because of their fun, innocent, and good hearted material to their children because don't realize that they could have a negative effect on their young daughters in the future. Education about girlhood and what it means to be truly accepting of yourself from the start is pertinent to fighting all of society's expectations about girl's/women's beauty and behavior. These movies are not all bad. Despite my understanding of the bad messages and disapproving of their contradictions, I love Disney Princess movies. What is important is that when I do show my children these films, I will do my best to educate them on the realities and use them as an example of the better options and messages.

Though, Disney has made strides in lessening the "damsel-in-distress" princess with their latest princess in the movie Brave, they still have a ways to go to depict positive messages properly and without contradictions. Through our discussion of Lipkin in class, we discussed all of the contradictions in the media about girlhood. Love yourself, but always try to better yourself; don't be a prude, but don't be too loose; dress fashionably, but not slutty; be intelligent, but not smarter than your male peers; and most importantly- strive for independence and equality, but don't be a feminist. Feminist has a bad reputation and the media does nothing to fix it. But just like these images taken from Disney with feminist opinions added, there is nothing that screams "man-hating", "hairy-legged", "angry" feminists. Throughout the class, we've learned that these adjectives are false descriptions. Feminism is a positive and necessary revolution, even in today's society.