Katie Lopreore Gender Roles Essay

Transitioning on from the perspective of a communications graduate, we move on to see how gendered roles are portrayed in Disney Princess movies and how they affect young children, from the perspective of a psychology graduate. Katie Lopreore, the psychology graduate from Middle Tennessee State University, writes about how the influences of the Disney Princess films shape children through their gendered characteristics, in her journal Gender roles portrayals of modern Disney royalty: stereotypical or androgynous? Lopreore starts off with an evaluation on how many children are exposed to the Disney Princess culture, she writes “Disney brand, found that 97% of children they surveyed between ages 2-11 years old were familiar with Cinderella, one
Lopreore finds that Disney seemed to have stuck with what they know best and since it sells, they never really veered from it. Moreover, Lopreore in an article, we learn that girls may follow in the footsteps of the gender roles that are exhibited from Disney Princesses. She states Disney princesses tend to “emphasize the importance of physical attractiveness and dutifulness in women, whereas the important qualities in the male characters included leadership and exploration” (11). This becomes problematic for both genders, because girls would begin to limit themselves in what they can do, like Collins stated, when they watch their favorite characters are only doing domestic work; furthermore, boys would grow up expecting women to do all the housework, and believe that they are far more superior than women are. Lopreore writes, “when such popular character such as the prince and princesses in Disney movies are portrayed in rigid, stereotypic roles, the children inspired by the characters are left with limited choices for the role - models” (11). These implications that are seen from the prince and princesses of Disney movies can greatly mold the child’s future and their perception of the opposite