My photo is a symbolism of how young females grow up with the implicit belief that Prince Charming will come and rescue them. The name for this behavior is called “the glass slipper effect”. It is how women who implicitly idealize men as romantic heroes who will rescue and provide for them and are less interested in pursuing their own dream. (Pg 221) In the photo the focal point is the magnificent dress that symbolizes the dress that she hopes to be wearing when he shows up. Romantic socialization starts early for a girl’s cultural modeling of gender roles. (Pg 215) At the early stages in life girls are exposed to lots of movies with the basic theme of how a beautiful princess is rescued by the prince. All through their lives their social environment constantly reinforces their self-identity. Whether it is their friends or parents telling them, “someday you will find your prince”, or by stressing the importance of physical attraction, or by all the advertising in the media. They hope to attract a mate by being beautiful, friendly, and timid.
Girls also internalize that they are not expected to be successful. This is interpreted in the photo by the books that are off to the side, translating that they are not important. Expectations from childhood continue on into adulthood. If she chooses a career that is deemed inappropriate for her gender she may give up on wanting to achieve success. This could force her to become backed into a corner by having no goals and always living for someone else. My photo is also shown as black and white to represent that without lack of ambition a person could live in a colorless world.
3 comments:
Joanna, you are absolutely right. I like how you used the “princess culture” to prove how much of an effect a widely known franchise are having on young girls today. I noticed that Cinderella is waiting by the window; however, I couldn't help but notice that the blinds were shut and not open. Every pathway to or from Cinderella is blocked and there is no escaping it. Her pathway is already made for her because it is literally laid out in front of her. It is a shame that some women have to live through shades of gray.
Joanna’s photograph “Waiting for Prince Charming” is a perfect example that shows exactly what romantic fairy tales have been encouraging girls for years. That it is completely normal to want to dress up like a princess, to wait for prince charming by the window, and to watch princess movies that encourage damsel in distress behaviors. Why do we tend to see young girls idolizing princesses and later see teenagers and young adults convinced that short skirts and makeup products will solve all their problems? It is because our culture uses sneaky yet effective methods of persuasion on advertisements, movies, commercials, and other media sources that encourage females to follow the “glass slipper theory” because it is the key to all of their problems. In addition, our culture finds countless ways to show women that they have to make them selves ten times more beautiful in order to find a man and settle down in order to live fairy tale lifestyles. Luckily, although I was exposed to a lifetime of these romantic fairy tales, I also had two very strong independent women as role models who have told me since I was born that I needed to embrace myself, that I was as equal, as important, as strong, as ambitious as a man and that I could accomplish anything. In essence, I believe that all of the elements used to create of this picture, the black and white color, the use of small space, and all of the princess elements are effective and accurately show how much of an impact romantic fairy tales have on girls, however like me different factors throughout an individuals lifetime can show girls that they too can be ambitious, strong, independent and still feel like a beautiful princess.
I didn’t realize how much of these Disney movies actually impacted my life throughout my childhood. These movies shaped my entire life; I thought this is how it was suppose to be. Men are supposed to be sweet and protect you and save you. This is the glass slipper effect, which I didn’t understand till recently that this isn’t a positive reinforcement for children. All the older Disney movies made it seem as if women weren’t capable of saving or protecting themselves they always have to put the men first. Being a damsel in distress isn’t how society should portray all women as. We are just as strong as men; we are just as capable as anyone else. As this idea keeps progressing into the future we see this more in the newer Disney movies such as Brave and it’s great that as a society we are slowly but surely changing.
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