After reading Carolyn Wallence’s post on Gender Inequalities I immediately thought about the ongoing controversy surrounding Disney and their portrayal of women in animated film.
While this is not the only issue with Disney’s productions, it is certainly one of the most important. I grew up watching and idolizing the Disney princesses, not realizing that they were being characterized as subservient to the major male characters. After going back and re-watching a few of the classics, I noted that many of the behaviors of Walt’s creations were quite alarming. Gaston blackmailed Belle so she would marry him, Jasmine used her sexuality to seduce Jafar in order to save Aladdin and Snow White simply sat back and allowed 12 strangers to handle her problems for her. This is not the type of behavior that we should encourage in our children. (Read “Gender Roles in Disney http://www.american.edu/soc/film/upload/Gender-Roles-in-Disney.pdf and Portrayal http://http://charlottesmedia.blogspot.com/)
Be that as it may, Disney has been trying to redeem themselves as of late with movies like “Brave” and “Princess and the Frog”. But some stereotypes still remain.
Remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoWRtsGP-nA
Did you pay any attention to what Judge Frollo was saying to Esmeralda? Cushundra Williams