In this photo is my four year old cousin Hannah, she loves Disney princesses. If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you "The Little Mermaid" when you tell her that isn't a real job, she'll tell you princesses don't need real jobs. When she watches the Disney channel she sees how princesses are portrayed in such a positive manner when in reality princess lifestyle isn't real and a happy ending is hard to find. When children are at this age parents tend to not notice that their daughters are trying to be the princess they see in their favorite movies, or when their sons are trying to be the wrestler from Monday Night Raw. It doesn't seem to really affect our parents minds till we get older and we can start to take charge of ourselves. When that little girl inside us is still telling us to be a princess we have to fit that mold. The beautiful, skinny, proper, perfect, princess and for the most of us, this is an impossible standard to reach. Girls at our age resort to drastic measures to become "perfect," dying our hair, fake nails, fake tans, dieting, caking on makeup, designer clothes, all of these are standards we are taught to meet from a young age. Before I took this photo Hannah was playing outside with her friends, she was the princess trapped in the tower and she needed to rescued. When it was time to come inside she told me "I have to wait for Prince Eric to come" (prince Eric is off the little mermaid movie). When I see Hannah mimicking these princesses it makes me wonder where she will be when she realizes that there are no castles, prince charmings are in short supply and life isn't a fairy tale. I think this photo shows how easily children are drawn into what they see every day, and unlike most adults they don't realize it isn't real. At the end of each Disney movie the princess is rescued by the hero and they live happily ever after, in real society our ever afters show a 50% divorce rate, 25% of our "princesses" will experience domestic violence, and 1/3 teenage girls will have their own little princess before they reach 20. I don't remember Disney showing this kind of an ending.
5 comments:
Disney is a major contributor to how our nation’s children grow up. You can see on the television that the little girl is watching Disney. Disney portrays majority of its female characters as little princesses. In all Disney stores you can buy dress up clothes and all of the little girls always want the princess gown. I’m pretty sure every little girl has dressed up at least once as a princess, either to wear around the house or as a costume for Halloween. I remember as a little girl I always wanted to be Jasmine or Bell.
This is very true. Disney has a a lot of influence towards children and after Disney officially made the Disney Princesses known, many little girls aspired to be just like their favorite princess. When I was a child, the Disney princesses were not as emphasized and made as popular today. Because of this popularization, there's more influence and encouragement towards these little girls to want to be a princess.
Oh disney, you have done it again! Disney movies are cruel in a sense because disney princesses are seen as perfect, beautiful, and weak. It is almost as if disney is sending the message that woman cannot develop their own identities because they may not be seen as strong if they do. I love How Chrissy put the statistic at the end of her explanation. It was really thought provoking!
The Disney industry is one that affects many children in our society. Those who create these movies for children always have a princess who needs a prince to save her and they live happily ever after. However, children see this maily girls and think that this is how life really goes on. Boys feel the need to save the girl and fight battles, while the girls feel teh need to be princesses who are helpless. This is what our children are learning about socity and how it is ran. Also, as the author brought out, in these movies these princesses are super thin and very pretty. Little girls feel the need to look like this and it has an effect on their adolescent years. Great post!
I really liked how you mention that the models females attempt to emulate are like grown up princesses-unrealistic. When we try to become this idea of what is perfect, we end up manipulating ourselves and our bodies by doing all of the things you described (fake tanning, hair, makeup, nails, etc.) The statistics at the end of the movie are terrific as they show how simplistic franchises like Disney make the world and the reality that hits little girls like Hannah in the face when they grow up and realize nothing is what they imagined.
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