As the Disney theme fills the room with joy, you sit there, enthralled by the magic happening behind the screen. At that moment, life seems far too innocent as a kid. However, beneath the surface of these films that have captivated young audiences for decades are the underlying ideas slowly altering a child’s perspective on society.
Although these movies have been one of the peaks of our childhood, ideas like female submission, male dominance, and racial stereotypes remain prevalent throughout them.
These ideas end up changing the schemas of kids at a young age, causing some to believe that princesses are only of certain races or that women always need someone to save them in the end.
Personally, I noticed these ideas in the Disney movies I watched as a kid, which led me and many others to wonder if women really need saving, as depicted by almost all of Disney’s content.
My favorite Disney movie, Tangled, had the entire plot centered around Rapunzel getting saved by her prince, Flynn Rider. She then went to live happily ever after with him, implying that if she wasn’t saved by Rider, she would have been stuck in the tragic life she had before.
Aside from this, many of the songs in Disney movies represent stereotypical norms that are being ingrained into young children.
Songs like “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” or “Someday My Prince Will Come” just seem to be Disney classics, however these beloved songs represent the concept of male superiority to an even greater extent.
Additionally, as a child, I would specifically notice how Disney ultimately set unrealistic expectations for what the word “pretty” defined, ingraining into my mind that that’s what I should strive to be.
Disney’s lack of representation of different body types and ethnicities leaves some kids on the sidelines questioning their true beauty.
Aside from just affecting young girls, Disney’s underlying motifs have also been seen to suppress the emotions of young boys as well.
According to Concordia University, “Disney movies portray the image that men do not show their emotions. This sends a message to young boys that men are supposed to express their emotions physically or violently instead of emotionally.”
This truly makes me upset, as something that should be bringing joy and happiness to a child’s life, is making them follow through with stereotypes that assert unhealthy dominance over others.
When I would watch these films, another key idea I would question was the overall damsel in distress themes.
Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White, for example, would always seem to me as if they needed saving by a man. While wanting to find true love isn’t wrong, it seems to audiences that the only way they can acquire love is by being dependent.
Another thing I would often see was the lack of cultural diversity Disney had when I was a child. Although there is recognizably more diversity now than ever before, I still remember wondering why there weren’t any princesses that looked like I did.
Quite recently, Disney has begun incorporating a wider range of races into its live-action movies more than ever.
This can be seen through their remake of The Little Mermaid, as they cast a Black actress for the 2023 film. This helped the process of diversification from the stereotypical idea of a Disney princess, but at the same time, it received backlash from many.
According to the Guardian, “Just like the hate campaign against the movie in the US (which included the infamous #notmyariel hashtag), Chinese and South Korean social media were inundated with bad, unverified reviews and outcry over the casting of a Black Ariel.”
Ariel is never specified to be White in the original fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. Just because Ariel was White in Disney, sparked outrage among many though.
This proves how now more than ever, Disney has been involving more cultures and perspectives in their animated and live-action films, despite certain forms of backlash.
This progression in representation and diversity will truly be a stepping stone to showcase cultures in a way children all over the world have never seen before, but can’t replace the mistakes Disney made in the past. Eyes will be on Disney as they come out with hopefully more inclusive and open-minded media.