January 11, 2014
As long as we can all remember, Disney movies have entertained us from our early ages until we became mature and no longer believed in princesses, fairy tales, fairies, kingdoms, and happy endings. As we lost our innocence, the stories that once made our eyes sparkle no longer had the same magical effect.
As long as we can all remember, Disney movies have entertained us from our early ages until we became mature and no longer believed in princesses, fairy tales, fairies, kingdoms, and happy endings. As we lost our innocence, the stories that once made our eyes sparkle no longer had the same magical effect.
Just as our love for these cherished
movies has diminished and become almost nonexistent as we've grown up, so has
the meanings and morals these Disney movies were supposed to teach us.
The values of young women portrayed in Cinderella, Snow white, and Sleeping
beauty have all become extinct in our modern society, and Disney has began replacing these outdated values by releasing
movies that depict almost the complete opposite values in their older movies.
We saw this once upon a time ago when Mulan came out, what is happening now is
a huge step forward. Not only are they releasing movies with themes other than
love stories depicting the very distinct roles of females and males, they are
completely straying away from the ancient morals of Sleeping Beauty and other
Disney movies. The replacements depict male and female roles completely differently from traditional Disney movies.
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Brave, released recently, depicts the female main character not as dainty, obedient, reserved, and modest, but rebellious, wild, and adventurous. Merida is not comparable to Cinderella, or Snow White, who always have to be rescued and depend on magic and men to survive and have a happy ending. She is a princess, soon to be queen, but abandons the role her mother has set out for her as this proper, up tight, modest and duty full queen, to chase her dreams and be free, as a young girl should be. On top of her training to be queen, Merida also is expected to leave her activities a normal young girl her age would be engaging in to find a suitor to serve as king by her side.
Disney seems to be showing girls a new way of thinking, a new way that Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty would not have fit in with. Not only are these movies obviously very graphically advanced, the values they depict have also advanced. When these princess movies came out in the 90's, girls were expected to learn to cook and clean, be kind and obedient, duty full, modest, and reserved. But, this is the 21st century, and these ideals have certainly changed. Girls now a days play the roles most men would play, and roles that some men wouldn't have the guts to. There are women on the battle front, serving in the army, as cops, as firefighters, not home, as housewives, cooking, cleaning, and depending on their husbands. Society now requires women to be stronger , more independent, and self-reliant, just as Merida depicts in Brave. She climbs mountains and waterfalls, rides horses in the wind, shoots arrows, and pushes her boundaries, with her untamed, bright red hair that is the perfect symbol for the personality she has. She was born to be adventurous and wild, and no threat of the responsibility of a kingdom soon to fall in her hands will whip her into shape if she's not ready.
Although Disney has been releasing these new movies that change how we see the roles of women, they still do focus on important values. It's not like they've just abandoned the values of traditional movies. In Brave, Merida still learns that making decisions is important, and that every decision comes with a consequence. She learns that she has responsibilities of her own, and that when she is ready, she will have to assume them, and learns how to live life with the best of both world; living free, but still fulfilling her duties. This teaches girls that its OK to be adventurous, to be free, yet to be responsible, and to be aware that there are some responsibilities they will eventually have to assume. It teaches girls not to make decisions at the spur of events, because sometimes the consequences are not so pleasant. And above all, it teaches girls to be themselves, but to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground.
Disney has not completely abandoned the important values depicted in the more traditional movies, such as loyalty, modesty, and kindness. Although it seems that they stray more and more from these values and from the traditional role of young women, it is necessary as our society has become more modern. But, of course we cannot abandon these values we learned as kids watching Disney movies, even though Disney has been upgrading their values and gender roles depicted in their films.
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Brave, released recently, depicts the female main character not as dainty, obedient, reserved, and modest, but rebellious, wild, and adventurous. Merida is not comparable to Cinderella, or Snow White, who always have to be rescued and depend on magic and men to survive and have a happy ending. She is a princess, soon to be queen, but abandons the role her mother has set out for her as this proper, up tight, modest and duty full queen, to chase her dreams and be free, as a young girl should be. On top of her training to be queen, Merida also is expected to leave her activities a normal young girl her age would be engaging in to find a suitor to serve as king by her side.
Disney seems to be showing girls a new way of thinking, a new way that Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty would not have fit in with. Not only are these movies obviously very graphically advanced, the values they depict have also advanced. When these princess movies came out in the 90's, girls were expected to learn to cook and clean, be kind and obedient, duty full, modest, and reserved. But, this is the 21st century, and these ideals have certainly changed. Girls now a days play the roles most men would play, and roles that some men wouldn't have the guts to. There are women on the battle front, serving in the army, as cops, as firefighters, not home, as housewives, cooking, cleaning, and depending on their husbands. Society now requires women to be stronger , more independent, and self-reliant, just as Merida depicts in Brave. She climbs mountains and waterfalls, rides horses in the wind, shoots arrows, and pushes her boundaries, with her untamed, bright red hair that is the perfect symbol for the personality she has. She was born to be adventurous and wild, and no threat of the responsibility of a kingdom soon to fall in her hands will whip her into shape if she's not ready.
Although Disney has been releasing these new movies that change how we see the roles of women, they still do focus on important values. It's not like they've just abandoned the values of traditional movies. In Brave, Merida still learns that making decisions is important, and that every decision comes with a consequence. She learns that she has responsibilities of her own, and that when she is ready, she will have to assume them, and learns how to live life with the best of both world; living free, but still fulfilling her duties. This teaches girls that its OK to be adventurous, to be free, yet to be responsible, and to be aware that there are some responsibilities they will eventually have to assume. It teaches girls not to make decisions at the spur of events, because sometimes the consequences are not so pleasant. And above all, it teaches girls to be themselves, but to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground.
Disney has not completely abandoned the important values depicted in the more traditional movies, such as loyalty, modesty, and kindness. Although it seems that they stray more and more from these values and from the traditional role of young women, it is necessary as our society has become more modern. But, of course we cannot abandon these values we learned as kids watching Disney movies, even though Disney has been upgrading their values and gender roles depicted in their films.
Great blog! I liked the part where you mentioned the female protagonist's actions as examples of stronger, less "disney princess" type activities. I would have liked to see more of that, and maybe some more specific examples. It would also have been interesting to see the dialogue between Merida and other protagonists or antagonists. Seeing how her new roles are treated in the movie and who supports them would have made for stronger evidence. Still, I like your take on keeping the good parts of old Disney yet creating new empowering roles for Disney princesses.
ReplyDeleteFirst and for most I would like to say that I absolutly love this movie. I agree with that disney movies are changing tremendously and that brave can actually be considered the turning point of that. Yes mulan also was a big change but in recent times it was brave. I like how you brought in the outside world of woman roles and connected it back to brave and disney films. Be careful with spelling errors. It's "dutiful" not "duty full", but thats nothing too serious but just be mindful of it. Keep up the good work over all.
ReplyDeleteNice Brisa. I did something a bit similar to this with How To Train Your Dragon. However, I went negative so it is refreshing to seem someone take a positive spin on child entertainment. I like your introduction because it gives a nice outline of your subject and gives some context behind your purpose. Great work!
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