Femisnist Article
This article pointed out many things in the Disney movies that I never observed. I didn't realize how the women are always the antagonists, except in Beauty and The Beast. When my niece was 4 years old she asked me, "Why are all the step moms bitches?" I gave her this look and she and asked her to repeat her question, she changed it to witches. Even as a young child I never thought of it that way and didn't see the correlation with the females in the same movies that my 4 year old niece was watching. Her step mother is my older sister so I thought she was talking about that, hopefully not. It's amazing how smart pre-schoolers can be.
I had always hated Disney movies because all of the singing and the female characters were too girly. The article also pointed out that the women are absent in the climax of the movies, like fight scenes I guess. I realized that it was true. I don't remember that much from the movies, but I think it's mostly true. Often, the females fall asleep some how or they are trapped and need to be rescued by the prince. I'm not surprised because the females are portrayed as delicate flowers and are powerless unless they are the antagonist.
Although the authors did make sense at certain times, it was very analytical and in a bad way. I would never see those movies as that. It is expected of fairy tales to have a prince save the day. The authors contridicted eachother by saying that Pochahontas and Bell were exceptions. They were "rebellious" and had to give up themselves for love. Naturally, the movies would change with the times and that's why the women had different mindsets and went for what they wanted.
Simply, I think these movies are made to enjoy and should not be looked into too deeply.
Comments
Malaysy,
I really like your post. I think that it's hilarious that your niece asked you that. It's true that most movies and TV shows provoke this idea, and that's probably where she got it from. I was also surprised with the amount of things that I had never noticed before, especially coming from a Disney movie! Great posting!
Rob
Posted by: Rob Shields | April 4, 2007 8:10 PM
I agree with you when you say that these movies shouldn't be looked into too deeply. There are some things that were never made to be how they are interpeted, and at this point they are seen as classics, not mind altering phenomenons. Like many classics, there are things that might be politically incorrect, but it's not like people can't still just have fun and watch them.
Posted by: Miriam | April 5, 2007 3:08 AM
In your post I read it, and really thought about the female characters in Disney princess movies in some of the ways you pointed out. The one in particular was if the woman had any power she had to be the antagonist character, that was interesting. Also I agree that these films shouldn't be taken too seriously, hopefully young kids can at least enjoy them. I mean you can analyze their structure and whatever else as much as you want. But to me too they just don't need to be taken that far.
Posted by: Aaron Windels | April 5, 2007 10:37 PM