"Once upon a time ..."

Here's a post from Shari:

When I think of animated Disney movies, I always think of “once upon a time…” and “happily ever after.” But I have never stopped to think about the way that gender is portrayed in these movies, and what kind of messages these movies send. In the context of what we have learned about the decades, it is extremely interesting to compare the animated Disney features of each decade with the social norms of that decade.

The 1950’s was a decade centered on the importance of family. As a post-war decade, women were returning home from the workforce and men were returning to work. Women were encouraged to return to home-making as men were transitioning back into being the sole breadwinners. Traditional gender roles were apparent in the 1950’s, as little girls played with Barbies and boys played with Roy Rogers and Davy Crockett dolls. These gender roles were not only enforced through the toys that children played with but also by the movies they watched. Cinderella was released in 1950 and essentially shows Cinderella moving from house chores to being someone’s wife. Her life goes from the hell of essentially being a slave in her own home to being ecstatically married off to the prince at the end of the movie. Throughout the entire movie, Cinderella sings songs and daydreams about escaping from her home, yet not surprisingly, her escape is right into the arms of a man. In 1953, Peter Pan was released by Disney. Although the gender roles in this movie are not as blatant as in
Cinderella, there are many examples of traditional gender roles. In the
beginning of the movie, Mr. Darling is shown getting upset and scolding Wendy, not allowing Mrs. Darling to get a word in about the situation. Mrs. Darling is extremely submissive to her husband, which their daughter Wendy seems to imitate as she does not try to explain her behavior but rather, just takes his punishment. In addition, their housekeeper, albeit a dog, is a female dog. I view this as a statement that the only acceptable housekeepers are female. Throughout the movie, Wendy and her brothers learn to fly and fend for themselves, yet as expected, Peter Pan comes to their rescue when they are captured, and leads them home, reinforcing the incapability of females to fend for themselves.

The 1960’s was an era of feminism and movements for equality. This is somewhat reflected in the animated features of the decade, most notably, 101 Dalmations portrayed Perdita (the mother of the dalmations) as a strong-willed female character, who stops at nothing to rescue her puppies. She stays right alongside Pongo in the harsh weather and scary situations, showing her dedication and willpower. However, the humans in the movie, Roger and Anita, show a typical marriage, in which Anita says she wants to quit her job to have a family. In addition, Roger and Anita have a female housekeeper. I think that the portrayal of family life in 101 Dalmations shows that although there were radical movements for change in the 1960’s, the traditional family was still considered the norm. However, the portrayal of Perdita showed that women were on the verge of equality with men, and that women were not scared to take a stand.

The 1970’s saw an increase in participation in the women’s movement. There was a rising divorce rate and the end of the Vietnam War left Americans disheartened. The animated features of this decade pose an interesting conflict to what was happening in society at the time. The Aristocats from 1970 depicts a desperate mother cat trying to find her three kidnapped kittens. Although at first it shows her taking initiative and being fearless in her attempt to find them, it quickly shifts to her needing the help of a male cat to find her kittens. The movie ends with her “marrying” the male cat who reunited her with her kittens. My opinion is that this simply reinforces women’s inferiority to men, by showing the mother cat’s dependence on a male to achieve her goal. Interestingly though, The Rescuers, of 1977, portrays a male mouse and a female mouse who are essentially detectives trying to find a missing orphan. This movie shows the female mouse, Bianca, as the assertive and fearless character, while the male, Bernard, is more tame. In addition, there is a love story involved in the movie, but this love story focuses predominantly on Bernard doting over Bianca. The fact that Bianca does not get distracted by love, but instead focuses on her duty to save the orphan, mirrors the growing strength of women in the 1970’s.

The 1980’s was a decade centered on egoism and the need for individuals to care for themselves before they cared for anyone else. The Little Mermaid, released in 1989 emphasizes this idea in that Ariel selfishly puts her life in danger to satisfy her need for exploration, despite her father’s warning and worry. Although there were major milestones for women in the 1980’s, including the first woman Supreme Court Justice, the portrayal of women in animated movies featured women searching for a “happily ever after.” Ariel trades her voice for a chance to be human, all to get the attention of a man. In the end, she leaves her family behind for a man she’s known for a total of three days. The message this sends to children is horrendous. Essentially, it is saying that it is okay to change yourself and abandon your family for a relationship which I wholeheartedly disagree with.

By the time the 90’s came around, women were being portrayed more equally in the media with men, and there were many more prominent women in society than ever before. Although the 90’s were home to some classic “happily ever afters,” like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, it is more interesting to note the exceptions to this. Most notably, Mulan focuses on a female who is brave enough to join the army to protect her father. What’s conflicting is that in order to be in the army, she has to pretend that she is a man. But the fact that she has the fearlessness and the courage to join the army mirrors the strides that women have made in the recent decades. Similarly, in Toy Story 2, released in 1999, Jessie, a new friend of Woody’s is a natural leader, showing fearlessness in standing up to the Prospector and being
assertive to Woody throughout the movie. However, despite her courage, she still
ends up getting rescued by Woody and Buzz at the end of the movie.

Although over the decades, Disney animated features have somewhat shown the progress that women have made throughout the years, they have also reverted back to traditional gender roles as well. Even the movies that have made strides for women, such as Mulan and Toy Story 2, still portray women as the weaker sex. I am not sure if it is realistic to expect these animated movies to mirror the ever-changing status of gender, but one thing is certain, these movies have more of an impact of gender roles than what first meets the eye.

Continuing to Explore Gender and Popular Culture

These next entries are posted by Professor Burke's Fall 2009 students in WGS 220, "Gender and Popular Culture." Join the discussion!