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  • Essay / Representation of gender roles and stereotypes in Disney films

    “Gender is the structure of social relations centered on the reproductive arena and the set of practices that integrate reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes . » (Connell, chapter 1, 2009). Unfortunately, gender also implies hierarchy, in which we examine inequalities in terms of power, wealth, and privilege. Cinema is one of the ways to learn about gender roles and the types of social norms and expectations that exist in society. While the socialization process begins in early childhood, Disney films are a good illustration of this in terms of questioning the representation of roles. In this article, I will examine the representation of gender roles and stereotypes by comparing three Disney films: Snow White, Pocahontas, Frozen and try to explain how the representation has changed over time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Before taking the gender stereotypes course, I didn't pay attention to the movies I grew up with. When I go back to my childhood, I can't describe the happiness I felt watching Disneyland movies. There is only one movie that I haven't missed so far, the one directed by Walt Disney. Even though my mother warned me that not everything I saw in movies was a real or accurate depiction of real life, I loved comparing myself to princesses and dreamed of being beautiful like them. Now I understand how the child's sense of self-structuring is structured by pop culture. I now realize what kind of stereotypes every movie I watched. My analysis will start with my favorite Disney animated film called "Snow White", released in 1937. From the first point of view, the film shows how a princess has a good relationship with dwarves and an interesting romance at the end of the film occurs. ending happily with cheerful music in the background. However, if we dig deeper, we can see that this young woman represents the expectations of women in society. She does housework and acts as a mother to the dwarves by feeding them. She is so naive that she can accept an apple from a stranger and mostly waits for the prince to save her. In the schema of masculinities, Snow White can be associated with emphasized femininity because she has "a gentle, docile personality that expresses such things as sociability rather than technical competence, fragility in mating scenes, respect for men's desires for titillation and ego-stroking, as well as acceptance of marriage and childcare” (Howson, 2005). The prince who saves her from her stepmother is the ideal type of masculinity, which is hegemonic since he possesses all the characteristics such as whiteness, wealth, education, etc. On the other hand, the release date of the film allows us to connect the concept of the film with the first wave of feminism. Since the 19th century, women have been fighting for equality. This movement spread, notably with the acceptance of the 19th Amendment (women's right to vote). However, this activity slowed in the late 1920s with the Great Depression. There were researchers like Simone de Belvoir who challenged this movement through their writings. According to him, women were the other and should be oppressed by culture. In my opinion, at that time, men were afraid of losing their power in society and did not want to empower women in that sense. After Snow White, Disney made three films: Cinderella and Beauty in the Wood.