Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2017 Breaking the Glass Slipper: Analyzing Female Figures' Roles in Disney Animated Cinema from 1950-2013 Brianna Prudencia Gutiérrez Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gutiérrez, Brianna Prudencia, "Breaking the Glass Slipper: Analyzing Female Figures' Roles in Disney Animated Cinema from 1950-2013" (2017). Honors Theses. 39. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/39 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Breaking the Glass Slipper: Analyzing Female Figures’ Roles in Disney Animated Cinema from 1950-2013 By Brianna Prudencia Gutiérrez *************** Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program UNION COLLEGE March 2017 Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………iv-v Introduction: An Overview of Disney Animated Female Representation from 1950-2013 & Figures…………………………………………………………………………………………1-29 Chapter 1: The Traditional Disney Animated Female Characters & Figures ……………… 30-52 Chapter 2: The Complex Disney Animated Female Characters & Figures…………………53-91 Chapter 3: The Negative and Positive Non-traditional Disney Animated Female Characters & Figures…………………………………………………………………………...………….92-144 Conclusion: Disney Animated Female Figures Then and Now and Where They are Going & Figures…………………………………………………………………………...……… 145-152 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………...….153-159 ii Acknowledgments I have been asked why I decided to do a critical analysis of Disney Animated Cinema for my thesis. Throughout the study, I harshly criticize certain films I once adored. Why would I want to destroy something I love? The honest answer is because I love these films enough to analyze and question them. This study has become an offspring of mine and I am pleased to share her with the world. However, none of this would have been possible without the help of some amazing people. For Professor Andrea Foroughi, my most sincere thank you. Professor Foroughi has been my Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies advisor for the past four years. She has supported me and helped me in countless ways throughout my time at Union College. She truly is a role- model educator. I hope to educate and inspire my students one day as she has done for me. She has spent countless hours working with me to make sure this study was not only ready for the world to see but also to make sure that I as a person am ready to take on the world. She challenged me, encouraged me, and supported me in every facet during my time at Union College. It was a blessing to work with her as an advisee and I look forward to working with her as a graduate. For Professor William García, thank you for your unbounded support throughout this journey. Professor William García is one of the most talented and brilliant educators I have ever had the pleasure of working with throughout my four years at Union College. As my Spanish and Hispanic Studies advisor for the past four years, he has guided me into becoming the strong student and person that I am. He has helped me tirelessly both academically and socially. He made me realize that not only are the actions of these women in this study important, but the endings of their tales are just as important if not more important. His knowledge in film and cinematic elements helped me understand my position as a spectator and how to define the message of each film. He is passionate about his work and I can only hope find the same passion in my career moving forward. I have been blessed with him as my advisor and I look forward to working with him as a graduate. For my parents, Manuel and Nadine, and my twin sister Gabriela thank you for your support, advice, and guidance throughout this journey. To my parents, thank you for purchasing all those Disney films and products throughout my childhood. Without any of that Disney exposure, this thesis topic would not have even existed. To Gabriela, thank you for watching every single Disney film with me throughout our childhood. As an adult now, my family has helped me tremendously throughout this study from engaging in thought provoking conversations about Disney female characters to seeing current Disney films together. For Mr. Walt Disney, thank you for your creations and your ever-lasting legacy on the world. Thank you for never giving up on your dreams and teaching us all to keep chasing our own no matter what. Mr. Walt Disney has blessed the world with the Disney corporation and I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to it in its full capacity. Without Walt’s contributions to the animation industry, this study would have been impossible. Thank you to the current Disney Corporation as well that continues Walt’s work in the most profound and creative way. iii ABSTRACT GUTIÉRREZ, BRIANNA Breaking the Glass Slipper: Analyzing Female Figures’ Roles in Disney Animated Cinema from 1950-2013 In this study, heroines and villainesses in nineteen Disney animated films from 1950- 2013 are characterized as traditional, complex or non-traditional. A total of twenty-four female characters are classified based on their representation, actions, personality traits, appearance, and relationship status. Traditional female figures are beautiful, dependent on male figures, and engage in a heterosexual relationship as part of their ‘happily ever after.’ The traditional female figures in this study are Cinderella from Cinderella (1950), Lady from Lady and the Tramp (1955), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) from Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Duchess from The AristoCats (1970). Complex female figures are, in the beginning of a film, independent from male figures, and outspoken, but by the end of a film, they are dependent on male figures and they always end their tale with a man beside them. The complex female characters are Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989), Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jasmine from Aladdin (1992), Meg from Hercules (1997), Mulan from Mulan (1998), Jane from Tarzan (1999), Tiana from The Princess and the Frog (2009), Rapunzel from Tangled (2010), and Anna from Frozen (2013). Non-traditional women are all independent, outspoken and determined. Non-traditional female characters are separated into two sub-categories: negative and positive. The negative women are evil and masculine in appearance while the positive women are inherently good and feminine in appearance. The evil villainesses are Lady Tremaine from Cinderella (1950), Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959), Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians (1961), Ursula from The Little Mermaid (1989), Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), and Mother iv Gothel from Tangled (2010). The positive non-traditional women are Pocahontas from Pocahontas (1995), Nani from Lilo & Stitch (2002), Helen Parr from The Incredibles (2004), a Disney and Pixar film, Merida from Brave (2012), a Disney-Pixar film, and Elsa from Frozen (2013). There are two phases of changing representation: traditional to complex and negative to positive non-traditional. When Ariel appeared in 1989, it marked the shift from traditional to complex female figures. Likewise, in 1995, Pocahontas signified the transition from negative to positive non-traditional female characters. Disney’s animated female characters in the 1950s to early 1970s reinforce Cold War values of modest femininity and devotion to family. Walt Disney’s influence is crucial to the traditional female figure image. Most of the “princesses” of the 1990s-2010s reflect changes brought about by feminist activist efforts of the 1960s-1970s, attempting to incorporate multicultural and feminist ideals in their representations of heroines. With recent positive portrayals of independent female characters, Disney has experimented with representing non-traditional families, which are increasingly prevalent in 21st century America. The recent rise of positive portrayals of independent female characters in Disney animated cinema is in part due to the phenomena of consumer feminism. Based on current Disney films and media such as Moana (2016), Elena of Avalor (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017), it is evident that Disney continues to feature positive non-traditional female figures in their animated productions to capitalize on feminism. v Introduction: An Overview of Disney Animated Female Representation from 1950-2013 As a child of the ‘90s, the Disney Corporation has had an enormous impact on me. In 2014, I wrote an opinion article for Union College’s newspaper stating that Frozen (2013) was the first Disney animated feminist film. I based my opinion solely on the fact that one of the main characters, Elsa, stated: “You can’t marry a man you just met.”1 In one phrase, Elsa single- handedly denounced seventy-six years of Disney animated cinema that feature female characters marrying male characters that they just recently met. I, along with other audience members, was shocked by Elsa’s bold declaration. However, upon the publication of my article, I received a significant amount of backlash. Commenters challenged me with protagonists and films such as Mulan’s (1998) title character, Nani from Lilo & Stitch (2002), Helen Parr, also known as Elastigirl and Mrs. Incredible, from The Incredibles (2004), and the like that feature female characters focusing on familial and social issues instead of romantic relationships. Mulan saves China, Nani saves her younger sister Lilo from social services, and Helen saves her husband, Mr. Incredible, as well as her family, from falling apart. These examples caused me to question the assertion I made in the review.