Ophelia+Shelter

=** The Disney Effect **=

__Fantasy__

As children, we are taught to listen to our elders, to look at family members as role models. When I was a little girl, however, the

only person I idolized was not even real. She was a two-dimensional character in a Disney film. She was what I thought a woman was

supposed to look like and act like. Her name was Ariel. As I got older and came to the realization that I looked nothing like her, was

nothing like her, there was a twinge of disappointment. It is extremely difficult to break the Disney spell once it grabs hold of you. I

began to think, what is Disney //really// teaching us? Are these "lessons" necessarily good ones?

Children are exposed to Disney films at a young age, when they are most impressionable and least likely to understand the

messages the movies send out. Unlike other forms of media that showcase anti-feminist concepts (pornography, for example), children

are not discouraged from watching Disney films. We are expected to. Then, come Halloween time, all the little girls want to be Disney

princesses: Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel. Not just one of each, but multiples, carbon copies our their Disney idols.

Girls are not the only gender afflicted. Ask any child under the ago of ten where they most want to go and I would bet their answers are

frighteningly similar.

Usually, before a Disney movie starts, their will be a commercial for the Disney theme park. Children are bombarded with images

of smiling faces and the tag line, "A place where dreams come true." The theme park becomes the promise land because they can actually

see these characters in the flesh. The Disney theme park becomes the Mecca for which they must make their pilgrimage.

I went, for my first and only time, when I was eight. As a little girl, the place I most wanted to see was Cinderella's castle. The

adrenaline of seeing the castle in the distance, peaking over the top of the park, was almost more than I could bear. When we finally

stepped foot inside, I was heartbroken. The exterior of the castle was just show. There was nothing inside except a few mural stills from

the //Cinderella// film and a gift shop. The castle was not real and, by extension, neither was Cinderella. The enchantment was shattered. It

was my first taste of the lies that Disney was perpetuating behind the glamour.

Disney encourages us, as we learn in //Peter Pan//, to never grow up. After the visiting the theme park and seeing Cinderella walking

around with Snow White and Belle, we see that we can become the princesses when we are older. We can work in the park. We can be

Cinderella forever. We can be young, thin and beautiful forever. Is it merely a coincidence that young actresses in Hollywood look like

the Disney princesses we have all grown up watching? Women like Keira Knightley, Victoria Beckham and the actresses on the

television show //90210// are all example of the "Disney princess effect." They further maintain that, if you want to get a man, you have to

look like us.

__Reality__

So, what lessons do we learn from Disney? When we are young, the movies are a way to teach children about morals. Little do parents

know, underneath it all, are sexist and racist notions that Walt Disney has been responsible for teaching children since 1936, when

Disney released its first full-length animated feature film, //Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs//.

This film is the most important in the Disney collection because it serves as the prototype for all the Disney movies that followed.

Snow White is the beautiful stepdaughter to an aging queen who wants her killed for jealous reasons. The young princess is rescued by a

handsome hunter and protected by seven male dwarfs. When the queen learns of this, she disguises herself as an ugly, decrepit woman

and poisons Snow White with an apple. Snow White is presumed dead until the hunter restores her to life with a kiss. They ride off into

the sunset together.

Snow White becomes the template for her the typical Disney princess. She is a, "virginal housewife who sings a song about 'some

day my prince will come,' for she needs a dashing male saviour to order herself and become whole" (Zipes, 2002). Two constants in

Disney films that are established in this movie are the evil stepmother and that "bad" characters are inherently darker complected than the

others. The prime example of the latter is Disney's 1994 film, //The Lion King//. Scar, the king's evil brother, is a dark-featured lion with a

black mane. His equally evil minions, the hyenas, are also dark.

With //Snow White// also came the basic plot of every Disney movie. "The oppressed heroine must be rescued by a daring prince. Heterosexual happiness and marriage are always the ultimate goals of the story" (Zipes, 1997). This is not just a pattern in Disney films. Many Disney films take their basic plots from folklore written by Hans Christian Andersen, for example. Though they take the more adult themes out, the story remains intact. Disney's films are meant to captivate children and sweep them away with, "delightful and erotic images." (Zipes, 1997) (Image II). Children lose themselves in the fantasy they see depicted on screen without knowing that the more they buy into the imagery, the more of themselves they ultimately lose. Though almost every Disney film has the above mentioned elements, the worst of the bunch was my beloved, //The Little Mermaid//. It follows a teenage mermaid princess who, "desires independence and entry into the human world, but who eventually desires the handsome Prince Eric instead" (Bell, Haas & Sells, 1995). When her father denies her entry into the human world so she can be with Eric, she turns to the bitter, overweight sea witch Ursula (who is purple skinned and dressed in black, image I). Ariel is given legs for three days (standard time to make any man fall in love with you) but must give up her voice in return. Ursula laughs to herself, for what man would fall in love with a girl would could not even speak? How wrong she was. The anti-feminist undertones of the film can be seen perfectly in the scene when Sebastian sings "Kiss the Girl" while Eric and

Ariel are taking a boat ride. Sebastian coos, "She don't got a lot to say but there's something about her... yes, you want her. Look at her,

you know you do. It's possible she wants you too, there is only one way to ask her" (Menken & Ashman, 1989). In the beginning of the

scene Ariel plays coy, innocent and diminutive. She bats her eyelashes, twirls her hair around her finger and tilts her head to the side.

Eric eventually relents and goes in for the kiss before Ursula thwarts their plans. When Ursula sees Ariel may actually get him to fall in love with her, she transforms herself from the ugly villain into a tall, slender

woman who steals Eric from Ariel i.e. the way to win a man is by physically transforming yourself. Ariel gets Eric in the end but what

message is sent? Ariel went from being under the control of her father to being Eric's wife all at the ripe old age of sixteen. She has no

independence and seeks advice from male characters (Scuttle, Flounder and Sebastian) throughout the film. In fact, Ariel rarely thinks for

herself. Disney has made some progression, though. Until 1995, all Disney heroines were white. This all changed with the release of

//Pocahontas//, one of the better princess role models. She refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her and she is the first Disney

character to date outside her race. Though some of the other stereotypes are firmly in place, she is a step in the right direction. Once, I

would like to watch a Disney movie and not see the female lead married off by the credits. Before Pocahontas, there was Belle. On the surface, //Beauty and the Beast// seems to be Disney's attempt at an age old lesson: beauty

is only skin deep. They cannot, however, seem to get away from their prescribed plot points. Disney has crafted an ingenious equation

that is in place, especially during this film, "beauty = passivity = femininity" (Zipes, 1997). Our heroine sacrifices herself for the well

being of her father. She is rewarded for being, "docile, virtuous and obedient" (Zipes, 1997). These are the messages that young girls

and little boys are brainwashed with.

__Solutions?__

What have we learned? To gain the affections of men, women must be young, thin and beautiful (being able to sing and dance does not

hurt either). The older women get, the more bitter and unattractive they become. If you are evil, then you must be dark complected. You

do not need to talk to a man for him to fall in love with you, however, he will leave you if someone prettier comes along. Independence

and thinking for yourself is overrated. Are these the lessons you want taught to your children? I did not think so.

How do we rectify the situation? The answer seems simple. Disney can create more empowering female characters. Children need

positive role models. Why are literary figures not as admired as Ariel? Where is Scout from //To Kill a Mockingbird//? Even Katniss

Everdeen in the new //Hunger Games// trilogy. Maybe the best thing Disney can do is stop making movies and let children discover a

world outside the magic kingdom.

__Appendix__



Image I

Image II

WORKS CITED

Bell, E., Haas, L. & Sells, L. (1995). //From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture//. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Menken, A. & Ashman, H. (1989). Kiss the Girl. On //The Little Mermaid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack// [CD]. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Records.

Zipes, J. (1997). //Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry//. New York: Routledge.

Zipes, J. (2002). //Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales//. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.