The Little Mermaid (1989) is an animated, musical, fantasy based film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. It was released on November 15th, 1989.…
I decided to write my evaluation essay based on “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” (Chapter 23) written by Stephanie Hanes. I looked through most of the essays from the textbook and this really spoke to me. I used to enjoy watching K-pop music videos with my 9-year-old sister but ever since she obsessively desired to dress like the female K-pop stars and to have a body like them, I stopped showing her those kinds of videos. It must have been very stressful to my mom because my sister would no longer wear skirts that are “not short enough” and follow celebrities’ diet meal plans when she was supposed to get well nourished. It took me long enough to realize that I was exposing her to the sexualized media environment when…
Peggy Orenstein elaborates on how the classic fairytale of Cinderella does indeed have a negative effect on girls. Orenstein clearly states and debates throughout her article that the "princess craze" is a world-wide phenomenon and is damaging young girls. The damage Orenstein is referring to is depression caused by girls feeling that they must fulfill the princess image, and when they do not, it makes them feel as if they are not good enough the way they are. Orenstein also goes as far to say that women who are "perpetually nice" are more likely to be depressed and less likely to use contraception.…
Are little girls growing up to fast? In today’s society that seems to be a question that parents are frequently asking themselves. Parents seem to be having issues with the fact that their children are being exposed to sexuality at a young age. In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect by Stephanie Hanes, the author analyzes and argues the truth as to why little girls are growing up so quickly and the negative impact it has on them. Hanes provides statistical evidence, research articles, and claims that makes this Article more credible. She also uses several emotional appeals to draw the attention of the parents, and help convince them that oversexualization in younger girls is an issue that we are facing now in today’s world.…
Disney has expanded their enterprise into many different areas, one of them being television. As Disney has explored the medium of television, they have focused the shows for the audience of children. In 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club was one of the first shows that Disney had on television. In order to appeal to younger audiences, the show had “young attractive stars performing before a live audience, clowns, magicians, cartoons, guest stars, educational elements, and music written for the show” (Pendergast). Children liked to watch the show because they were watching kids that were about the same age as them, and they could relate to the actors. The children watching the show were heavily influenced by the Mickey Mouse Club because they looked up to and saw the actors as role models (Telotte). They wanted to be like the actors, so Disney profited off this generation of children by putting out merchandise related to the show. In this way, Disney started making more and more money because of these child actors. Many people argue about the effect that watching Disney’s television shows and “their positive and negative influence on kids” (Hillstrom). However, what about the effect that Disney’s television shows have on the child actors? These children spend their childhood on the sets of television shows, “being a kid is a full-time job, with scripts to memorize, and tutoring to endure” (Corliss). They are playing the characters of normal kids, without being able to experience a normal childhood themselves, it is no wonder that many child stars get into trouble when they “start growing up and moving out” (Armstrong, Markovitz) and leave Disney, because they have not been able to experience normal life growing up as a Disney actor.…
Firstly, I believe that fairytales are atrocious for little kids, for the subject of body image. Body image is a major controversy when it comes to Disney movies. Beautiful locks, ‘perfect’ eyes, ‘perfect’ nose and thin waist are what most all of the Disney princesses look like. In the Disney original movies the bad guy, for example the stepsisters in “Cinderella” are portrayed as ‘ugly’, while in the original version they are known as beautiful, and delicate. In the Disney version of “Cinderella”, it suggests the prince did not look towards the stepsisters because they did not look ‘perfect’. This further proves that Disney movies suggest viewers to have beautiful looks, and skinny to posses the power for a prince or anyone to fall in…
Hanes’ purpose is to provide reason to believe that little girls are becoming involved and corrupted with inappropriate ideas of how women should behave and look. Young girls are convinced that they should become a Disney Princess and mothers have found that this idea can lead “down a path of self-objectification to cyberbullying to unhealthy body images”…
Since March 9th, 1959 the United States has had a very influential piece of plastic, called the Barbie. Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, of Mattel Inc. after discovering a doll in Germany named Bild Lilli. The Barbie doll was named after Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara. The Barbie was introduced to the United Sates at a time when the word “teenager” was becoming a popular trend on television and in movies. A teenager is the time between childhood and adult life. Mattel took the opportunity to release Barbie at this ideal time. It was released as a teenage fashion model. Although the Barbie was pricey, many girls loved the idea and the Barbie doll became a very popular toy. With becoming popular Barbie had a huge impact. Barbie has negatively influenced body image, stereotypical female rolls, and enforced commercialism. Although, it has modernized…
In today’s generation, young minds are imprinted with a set of “standards” concerning female appearance. Beginning at an early age, girls observe advertisements and other forms of media that establish expectations for a body that meets society’s standards. “A girl’s body, almost from birth [. . .], often reflects cultural…
Growing up I can remember how I felt after watching the Cinderella story. Inspired by the rags-to-riches fairy tale, I can remember hoping that maybe someday I could be like Cinderella. I never imagined the story I knew all-too-well would have been dramatically altered from its original version. Though the lesson remains the same, comparisons reveal numerous differences between Walt Disney’s Cinderella to the earlier Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella: Or the Glass Slipper”. Variations are noticed in characters, events, and outcomes of this world-famous…
The purpose of Stephanie Hanes’s “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” is to bring awareness to the problem of increasing sexualization of little girls. While this trend is widely noted in the media and consumer market, it is a growing concern for parents and early childhood specialists, as it is taking a toll on the girls’ mental and emotional development. It starts when girls are young and goes unnoticed, but this trajectory eventually becomes evident. Stephanie Hanes is a freelance journalist who has written many U.S. publications. This article first appeared in the Christian Science Monitor where parents of little girls are her intended audience. Hanes not only presented to them the problem but also solutions to this ongoing predisposition. Hanes succeeds at proving her argument through providing anecdotes that appeal to her audience emotionally, logically, and ethically.…
Cited: Heubeck, Elizabeth. Helping Girls with Body Image. WebMD Feature, ND, Web 4 Sept. 2012.…
Disney films are not for childrenWe were a generation that grew up with the Disney films. The Lion King, Snow White, Mulan, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and we could recall more of these famous stories without a second of hesitation. We enjoyed them, loved them, and most of us repeated our favourites like we could never grow tired of them. We loved their adventures, the world Disney films created for us. We adored the romance between the hero and the heroine and they were popular subjects to talk among friends. Yet despite all the fun Disney films brought us, hidden messages embedded in the films also came along at the same time.…
the author informs us that “Psychologists and psychiatrists largely agree that pageants, such as “Toddlers and Tiaras,” reinforce negative female body image issues that result in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. As evidence of this they mental health experts point out the trend towards the onset of eating disorders at much younger ages than ever before” (Schwartz). Being part of a beauty pageant the producers emphasize the “Barbie doll” image of what children need to look like in order to win. It is not possible for a human being to look like a Barbie it’s too overemphasized. For beauty pageant girl’s looks are number…
The perception of the perfect female body image always differs depending on who is asked. To some, the ideal body image requires constant transformation whether it is through plastic surgery or artwork such as piercings and tattoos. The body image is perceived as “the picture of our own body which we form in our mind, that is to say the way in which the body appears to ourselves”. (eating disorders 87) This perception is believed to have been integrated into the minds of individuals since a young age, coming from television, parents and toys such as Barbie dolls which young girls played with every day while in their youth.…