Running Head: DISNEY & FEMINSIM 1 It Comes and Goes
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Running head: DISNEY & FEMINSIM 1 It Comes and Goes in Waves Liz Hornick UNC Chapel Hill COMM 450 K. Nishimura May 6, 2019 DISNEY & FEMINISM 2 It Comes and Goes in Waves Snow White, the first Disney princess, made her debut in 1937. Often remembered for tidying up after seven men and needing to be saved by a prince in a time of distress, Snow White’s movie became the most successful film during its time. In its first year, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs grossed $8 million- more than any other film before it (“The Success,” n.d.). However, today it receives a bit of backlash from feminists and other progressives due to its portrayal of stereotypical gender roles and unrealistic body expectations. Since 1937, Disney has created 12 more princesses each more bold and independent than the last. This can be tied to the progress millions of feminists have made in redefining femininity and what it means to “be a woman.” Many feminist scholars have separated the 13 princesses into three distinct eras based on different personality traits but it’s time to make room for a fourth one. By analyzing the different eras of Disney princesses through lyrics from songs in their movies, this paper will compare each era to the three waves of feminism, and advocate for a fourth era that coincides with the role of women in today’s society in what is the start of the fourth wave. This new fourth era of Disney princesses not only reflects today’s current political climate of empowering women, but also has a more positive effect on girls, especially their body image. The concept of femininity can be defined as a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. This includes but is not limited to appearance, specific personality traits, and clothing. When it comes to understanding gender roles and expectations, many people turn to the media to see what characteristics they ought to strive for. As a staple of American popular culture and the epitome of femininity, it’s no surprise that the Disney princesses are a main role model for girls in America. Just to understand how well known these characters are, a 2016 study conducted by a professor at Bingham University discovered DISNEY & FEMINISM 3 that out of a group of 200 kids, nearly all of them knew about the Disney princesses regardless of the child’s gender (Paquette). Because of the princesses’ widespread popularity, it’s very apparent as to why many young children, especially girls, turn towards them as their main role models. Each princess has her own individual movie detailing the journey she endures in order to make her dream come true. Often times this dream includes finding love and marrying her perfect man but as of late, the most recent princess movies, Frozen (2013), and Moana (2016), are taking on entirely new narratives. These new story lines exclude the famous love story and redefine what it means to be an independent woman. In Frozen (2013), Elsa is the first main character to not have a romantic theme. There’s also an important shift in the design of the characters. Moana is the first Disney princess with a relatively normal waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) hence making her the first princess with a realistic body type. Together, these two movies pave the way for Disney’s newest fourth era and provides girls with a new expectation of what it looks like to be feminine. The first era of Disney princesses spans from 1937-1959 and it directly corresponds with the first wave of feminism (Johnson, 2015). The first wave of feminism occurred during the early part of the 20th century, 1848-1959 respectively. The wave officially began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention lead by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Seneca Falls Convention was the first official meeting held in the United States that advocated for women’s rights. Nearly 300 people attended the convention in Seneca Falls, New York and they all fought for the social, civil and religious rights of women. Stanton started off the convention with a speech that stated the goals and purposes of the meeting. The overall motivation for the gathering was to protest against various forms of government and Stanton elaborates on this further saying: DISNEY & FEMINISM 4 We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed—to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love. (Editors, 2017) Stanton set the precedent for this first wave of feminism and the main objective for feminists during this time period was to open up opportunities for women, with a heavy emphasis on suffrage. During the convention, a Declaration of Sentiments was drafted that described all of the demands from those in attendance. It was primarily written by Stanton and it was a call to action for all women to fight for their rights as citizens that are granted to them in the Constitution of the United States. The document states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal.” The Declaration of Sentiments was directly inspired by the Declaration of Independence and it pushed for the equality of women not only in politics, but also family, education, jobs, and religion (Editors, 2017). This first era of princesses begins in 1937 with the creation of Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella from Cinderella (1950), and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (1959). These three princesses each have very different stories, but the similarities they all share are very distinct. For example, each princess in her movie is very passive and temperate. When connecting this back to the Seneca Falls Convention, the women who led this movement stand in stark contrast to the majority of women during this time period who carried out the expectations that were set before them. These expectancies include “fulfilling their destiny” has a mother and house wife. In each of their movies, all three of the princesses wind up in an awful situation, yet don’t do anything to push back or fight against it; their immediate response to hardship is to cry on the nearest set of stairs. This dramatic sob scene has become infamous in Disney movies and is now DISNEY & FEMINISM 5 a reoccurring meme within the online community. In order to ultimately escape their current situation, they rely on a man to come and save them. Snow White’s prince wakes her up with true love’s kiss, Aurora’s prince slays the evil dragon, and Cinderella’s prince brings her to live with him at his castle- away from her wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters. The way these princesses are portrayed reflects the expectations that were placed upon women during that time period. The most apparent trait seen in all three of the animated women is their extreme indifference to the situation they find themselves in. Each one recognizes that they are trapped in a situation far from ideal, yet the only action they take is dreaming for a better life and hoping it comes their way, rather than actively trying to achieve their dreams themselves. This specific quality is further exemplified through particular songs written for the film. Each one has its own song in which the heroine sings melodic lyrics pining for a better life. In her movie, Snow White serenades the seven dwarfs with her famous song “Some Day My Prince Will Come” that includes lyrics such as, “Someday my prince will come…and away to his castle we'll go, to be happy forever I know” and, “And the birds will sing and wedding bells will ring, someday when my dreams come true.” During this song, listeners are made fully aware that Snow White believes that the only way she can be saved is if she is rescued by a prince. The princess also appears to have only one aspiration: to get married. During this time period when the first wave of feminism began to take place, women found their worth through men and the widespread expectation was that women should be married while they are still young. In the 1930s, the median age for a woman who is getting married for the first time is 20 years old (“Median Age,” n.d.). DISNEY & FEMINISM 6 Cinderella sings a similar tune that is aptly titled, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” As made apparent through the song title, this ballad is all about her dreaming and making wishes until the day where they all finally come true. The lyrics that stick out most during this song claim that, “No matter how your heart is grieving if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” Dreaming until your wishes come true is an infamous motif that perpetuates the notion that women should be complicit and wait for rescuing. It goes even further to say that if men aren’t the ones doing the saving, then it must be from some other outside source or higher cosmic power than the woman herself. In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora combines both the theme of finding true love and dreaming for something better into her song “Once Upon a Dream.” She dances through the forest singing lines such as, “I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…But if I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.” This only reiterates the passivity found within the other two princesses and highlights indifference as a defining feature of this first Disney era.