Examples Essay

Strong Independent Disney Princess that don’t need no Man Since the 1920s Disney has had a large influence on generations of children especially when Disney debuted their first full lenght film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” on December 21, 1937. Since the release of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’’ Disney has introduced many other Princesses such as Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) ,Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Rapunzel (Tangled), Merida (Brave) in the last 90 years. Films such as these have often been studied because they are such major source of entertainment for so many children and can have an impact on their social, emotional and mental development. One of the main studies of these movies are the gender messages conveyed through out them. Over the years Disney has worked harder to change this bad reputation by creating stronger more independent princesses and shying away from the “damsel in distress” and has succeeded. In Disneys “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’’ Snow White is a Innocent, feminine, young (almost childlike) girl whose main mannerisms consist of being a very affectionate, nurturing, submissive, trusting and lets not forget romantic. Throughout the movie Snow White is portrayed to have her head in the clouds and be dreaming of nothing more but being saved from her terrible stepmother by the love of her life, prince charming ( a man who shes barely spoken and seen once). “Someday my prince will come.. to be happy forever I know... And wedding bells will ring, some day when my dreams come true” -Snow White. Throughout the movie she is also depicted as a “typical woman” she does nothing but clean ,care , and cook throughout the whole movie. Forty-one years later in 1991 disney introduced another princess to the mix Belle from “Beauty and the Beast’’. Belle though similar to Snow white in her innocence and feminine personality was very different from Snow White. Belle was created to look older for her