By : Nimisha Lall
Walt Disney started his career in animation in 1920, but started making fully- animated films by 1927 which featured 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.' However, it was after the release of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' that the effectiveness of the animation came to audience notice. It was then followed by 'Cinderella' (1950) and 'Sleeping Beauty' (1959). It was then from these movies that gender roles establishment took place. The films made under the banner of Disney were watched by children and widely influenced them. Young girls wanted to be a princess and boys, their so-called 'knight in shining armor'. Although it went on to gain wide publicity and acclaim, it did set up some ideas for a perfect girl /boy. Disney movies tend to represent the Romantic lives of princesses. They acted as a source of powerful gender ideologies through their characters. They project femininity and make people construct very specific judgments of what is or not is desirable in females. These characters in the movie became Archetypes under various titles. The characters also remain static throughout the plot and don't undergo any kind of change in their lives.
Normally, the Archetypal characters of Fairy Godmother, Foils, and The Good are depicted in the stories. In this, the Fairy Godmother represents a matriarchal figure to the protagonist often serving as an aid. They are genial and benevolent. The Evils are stepsisters or stepmothers. They are spiteful, perpetually scheming, evil accomplices, a stark contrast to female animal friends, and ultimately jealous of the princesses. The Good is the heroine who remains kind and gentle in the story. They are pretty and possessed an hourglass figure and voluminous hairdos. They cater down authoritative images of beauty. These heroines are often domesticated by their stepsisters where they are held in charge of the scullery. They are prized by
men because of their attractive looks. Sometimes, their fathers dote on them which was seen in ‘The Beauty and The Beast’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘The Little Mermaid’. The absence of biological mothers is common and pretty much non-existent. The heroines are naive that is, they are easily tricked by Villains and have no agency. They are dependent on men to save them. The portrayal of these characters often insinuates ideas into the minds of those who watch them. They mirror the gender ideologies which are constructed, disseminated, and perpetuated through these plots.
These men are princes of some kingdoms who fall for the beauty of these women. They are strong, handsome, and good-looking and are seen at the end of the movies. The ultimate goal, however, lies in the marriage of the heroine and the prince with a notion of happily-ever-after. It reminds of Jane Austen's genre of writing. She focussed on how women are to be married to the right kind of a man. Through her matrimony, she can modify her social status and built a good future ahead. Her heroines are also kind and intelligent but do always depend upon men to uphold their status like Elizabeth in 'Pride and Prejudice' and Anne in 'Persuasion'. Ariel stands as a metaphor for 'housewife in making'. She is hyper- sexualized to the point of absurdity. These issues of a woman's legal and social equality became a part of the second wave of Feminism.
However, these heroines are not the ones that can be looked up to in modern times. Disney gave a makeover to the heroines by ‘Disney Renaissance’ films like The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Pocahontas (1995), and Mulan (1998). These newer princesses reflected society’s drastically altered beliefs about who women are and how they should act, as each princess has a distinct personality. They personalized new moral codes and new femininity. Ariel and Jasmine have an exposure of skin mainly the midriffs. These heroines are empowered and make their own choices. They are nuanced and flawed. They decide their fate. Ariel trades her voice in exchange for human legs; Jasmine seduces Jafar to rescue Aladdin; Mulan disguises herself as a man after her father's death to join the army; Pocahontas resists marrying a man her father selected for her and Belle a strong independent, rebellious woman teaches Beast some manners. These heroines emphasized the empowerment of culturally and racially distinct women.
Disney most recently released ‘Bravo’ (2012) and ‘Frozen’ (2014). Bravo’s heroine Merida refuses to marry a man of another clan and instead tries to make amends to her mother. Anna and Elsa of ‘Frozen’ meanwhile redefine their sibling relationship. In these romantic relationships becomes a matter of secondary consideration. Finally, female characters save themselves without any kind of help from a male. We may soon expect to see a plus-sized or a lesbian princess defying the ideals of a perfect body or role.
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