Disney princess effect
Adelina Palaj
The disney princess effect
Overall this article seems to have a negative view on disney princesses, but it doesn’t pose all blame onto them. While, disney princesses affect self esteem in young girls, disney princesses are not the only source of this self esteem issue. Social media and just regular TV also have this effect on girls and women. In addition to that, a lot of problems with disney princesses stick with the girls well into teenage years. This article, which was written in 2011, states that there has been a change in problems associated with disney princesses, which is quite surprising. Before more modern times, the problem with disney princesses was that they didn’t encourage girls to fight for themselves and that they needed a boy to protect them. However, data shows that this isn’t really a problem anymore. For every 3 girls who graduate college 2 boys graduate college. So, disney princesses don’t encourage being a housewife as much as they used to. The problem with disney princesses now is that they tend to over sexualize and promote unrealistic beauty standards, not to mention the lack of diversity. Up until “Princess and the Frog” or “Moana” disney princesses were usually white, excluding “Mulan” and “Pocahontas”. Also regular TV show doctors and lawyers who are women which is great, but there is always something “sexy” associated with them. Which just ruins it. TV and movies aren’t the only problem around the issue of telling girls what’s sexy and what’s not. The recent usage of social media could also be having a negative effect on girls. There is a sense of validation if you post a picture and there are comments saying your butt looks great, but this is more harmful than helpful. The article was really surprising and highlighted issues that i didn’t think were as impactful than they actually are.
Personally, I do see the the problems mentioned a lot in society. I also have experienced it myself. Growing up I was overweight and I’ve always had problems with body image. It didn’t help not see bigger disney princesses who weren’t really skinny. Disney princesses’ bodies were perfect to me, and I didn’t have that. It did have a lasting impact on me and it takes a while to realize that bodies are built differently and not everyone can be a size 0. And I’m white, it’s hard for me to imagine what little girls who aren’t white felt like. Never seeing a princess who has the same skin color as you can make you feel like you could never be “a disney princess” and while that is something that disney has tried to fix, it’s still a problem. Having unrealistic beauty standards doesn’t stop with disney princesses. In regular TV it’s some weird standard that the female characters had to be feminine and beautiful and sexy. Which is completely ridiculous. Women can finally be doctors and lawyers on TV but they almost always have to have sex with the man male character. Like on grey’s anatomy, Meredith Grey goes to a bar and has sex with some guy and the next day it turns out he’s a surgeon and her new boss. And throughout the show it’s always implied that he helps her get successful. This doesn’t mean sex in TV shows in bad per say, but it’s all completely unrealistic and usually pins the women to be a “slut” but the guy is rewarded for it. All in all I know first hand how it feels to fall victim to the unrealistic beauty standards and I constantly feel the effects of it and I think it’s something that needs to change.
I agree with your point about how newer Disney princesses actually encourage girls and women to fight for themselves, older Disney princesses were all about the prince that saved them but that has changed since then.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your point about diversity in Disney princesses, there were very few princesses that weren't white in the past but that has changed and Disney has been creating more and more Disney princesses of color.
I really liked how you had a realistic point of view, not all about statistics and proven facts but also what you have personally seen or experienced in day to day life in this society.
I agree that Disney princesses have a lack of body diversity and cause many girls that are not of a certain body type to feel isolated and ashamed of their bodies because media has a great effect on people and how they perceive themselves and others. I disagree with the idea that Disney princesses no longer promote women to be housewives or depend on men. While princesses now have more active roles and multi-dimensional personalities, the end result tends to be the same. In the end, the princess finds a man that she has fallen in love with, her prince. This "subtle" messaging shows that it is still a common belief that a woman needs a man to be complete, therefore leading to dependence. I like that you shared how Disney princesses personally affected you. It made your writing very compelling and more relatable.
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