Disney films have been constructing gender, giving certain ‘feminine’ qualities to females, and certain ‘masculine’ qualities to males. Researchers addressed concerns that gender shaping has influenced children since birth. Detailed studies discovered that Disney films have negatively impacted young women, causing them to grow up believing they are required to behave and look a certain way. Women are expected to be and are portrayed as skinny, beautiful, and incapable of protecting themselves. This is extremely insulting to women. Disney has shaped masculinity as well. Men have to prove their masculinity by slaying the villain and marrying the princess, solely based on her attractiveness. Men can never be seen as submissive or helpless. Other researchers believe that Disney has shifted how gender roles are defined, giving women power in movies such as Frozen or Moana. The most recent research is still indecisive. Some argue Disney has not changed and is not heading in the direction of change. On the contrary, many campaigns have came to light, showing women's strength and power. People think Disney has begun to make women seem more powerful.  This paper will go into detail questioning if Disney has really shifted, and if so, in what ways. History has proven women have been treated as weak, helpless beings; the Disney films had backed up this claim. Women were given no rights compared to men. Men were always on top, saving the women who were seen as incapable of helping themselves. Now there is a time that women's rights are addressed and Disney has been helpful and spreading awareness. Although new research confirms a positive shift on how women are depicted in Disney animation, the shift is not drastic. I propose parents should decide whether or not they should allow their children to watch Disney movies. This should be based on if parents think Disney has shown women as more powerful, not inferior and helpless. 

The first Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1937. Around this time, women had few to no rights. Mothers were housewives, taking care of children, cooking, and cleaning. Each were denied equal education, employment, pay, and property. Snow White displays identical gender roles of the occurrences of that time period: “...though Snow White is a princess and a child, she is still taught that in order to be a good girl she must obey what she is told to do. This includes the cooking and cleaning the dwarfs ask of her” (Anders 1). Snow White ran away from the evil queen and settled down with the seven dwarfs. She is only accepted to stay because the seven dwarfs love that she cooks, cleans, and takes care of them. She is seen as a maid, not a developing, strong character. Disney started shaping gender with their very first film. This culture all began with women at the bottom. Women were sexualized to look perfect everyday for their husbands. Paying jobs were not awarded to women, so they were forced cook and clean all day. Mothers were treated as nannies, raising a family and pleasing their man. These constructs were all displayed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; setting up an unstoppable media influence.

Having agency is the best thing a girl can possess, yet Disney says she cannot. The theory piece, Agency, explains that possessing agency, (the power to act and produce a particular result), can change society, preventing history from writing it for you. “We cannot, in other words, ignore the fact that people create history by doing things; history is made rather than found” (Nealon 193). By have agency, you can voice your opinions, not becoming weak and submissive to another. In the Disney classic, The Little Mermaid, Ariel does not wish to give up her voice, yet she becomes submissive and takes Ursula's bargain. Ariel losing her voice is a metaphor for losing her agency. She does this for the sole purpose of changing her appearance because she knows Prince Eric will never accept her for who she is. She is presented to look foolish, giving up everything, her fins, her family, and her voice, for a man she has only glanced toward. Leaving all these factors behind in the ocean, Ariel is also leaving her identity under the sea as well. She comes to the surface as a completely new person who abandoned her life to be with an individual she just met. She is now just a face. Ariel is showing little girls to become subjects and not have a voice. She is showing them to give up everything they love for their man. Ariel gave up her best talent and her agency just to have a date with a man. This film was released in 1989. That was fifty two years after their first Disney film was created. Fifty two years later, Disney is still prescribing traditional gender roles.

The film Enchanted is about a princess who is lost in an unknown world and tumbles into a man that saves her life. Over the course of the whole film, she acts dysfunctional, only composed when her ‘savior’ tells her what to do. The same scenario occurs in the Disney animation Aladdin. “The vender grabs her arm to cut off her hand (as a punishment for thievery), when Aladdin comes to her rescue, pretending that she is his insane sister. He brings her back to his home, and the two bond over the fact they feel trapped in his/her life” (Davis 110). The Princess, Jasmine, is shown oblivious to how society works outside her palace. She is shown as uneducated or ditsy. To avoid having a limb removed, a man has to swoop in and carry her away. She cannot function on her own. Disney is influencing girls to believe a man has to save them, girls cannot take care of themselves. “Giroux contends that “as one of the most influential corporations in the world, Disney does more than provide entertainment, it also shapes in very powerful ways how young people understand themselves, relate to others and experience the larger society” (Ibid.),” (Pershing/Gablehouse 8). The protagonist in the film Enchanted, Princess Giselle, wears a large, pink frilly dress with an inhibiting corset, making her waist look like the size of a peanut. Princesses are made to look flawless, skinny, and feminine with their humongous pink dresses. This makes girls believe that if not a size zero, they are an outsider. This movie was released in 2007. This was seventy years after the first Disney film aired, and also only ten years ago. 

Latest research argues that Disney has done a great job with transforming their message. New films, such as Moana, Frozen, and Brave, have women as main characters who are self sufficient and try to fix problems on their own without a male companion. All of these characters, Moana, Elsa, and Merida have never had a love interest. Elsa voiced her opinion to her sister of how marrying a man she barely knew was unacceptable. Merida hated the idea of marriage. Moana did not even have any love connection at all, only love for helping people. These are the first Disney movies to show women do not need a man and not all princesses need love from a man. Girls have other aspects of life to focus on, like friendship, family, and helping others. Moana becomes best friends with a man; her and Maui are the best of friends by then end of the movie. Disney managed to have different gendered main characters who stayed friends without falling in love after their journey.

There has been a photograph scattering the internet of a young girl wearing a Snow White gown. Also in this photo, she is covered in mud and dirt. She has a side smirk on her face saying: princesses can be tough too. “While there is evidence that exposure to Disney princesses can enforce "damaging stereotypes," a new photo series is aiming to shift classic ideas of what a princess can and should be” (Lakritz, 2). This was in August of 2017. Positively influencing girls at a young age is essential to their mental growth. If every young girl saw this campaign, the photo would make them feel it is acceptable to play in the dirt just as boys do. All women do not need to be perfect, clean, fragile princesses. 

A population argues that Disney has shifted their views on gender. But in what ways has this shift begun? History always has said, “It is observable that the female is, so far as strength is considered, inferior to the male” (Wollstonecraft 4). Disney has shown this through all of their princess films such as The Little Mermaid and Cinderella. Women have always changed themselves to get attention from a male, and ultimately marry them. “For girls, it can negatively impact their body image and educational experiences, making them less likely to gravitate towards math and science” (Sieczkowski 5). Gender has become a social construct. Disney has only encouraged these ideas, making them progress. Young girls should not have to worry about their appearance or interests are up to standards. They should be happy with what comes naturally to them, not feel the need to be a character out of a Disney film.

The movie Frozen was the first film in Disney history to show a dramatic shift in gender. But stereotypical male roles are still evident in this movie. The protagonist, Anna, was about to get married the second the prince proposed. “The goal of a woman is to marry well (a prince if you can!)” (Stavis 1). This was within knowing him for five minutes. Actions such as these influence children to think women only long for love, and if that man is handsome, that is the only quality he needs. Although the ending was a more modern, the beginning of the film still displayed gender roles depicted from the 1900s. In Moana, although she saved her island, she was told to find a man, take him to a destination, and have him restore the seas to how they once were. She was never told she could make this journey alone. A man would perform the final battle, receive all the credit, while the woman would be seen as weak and unhelpful in the background. When Maui and Moana first met, he treated her with the utmost disrespect because she was a girl. Maui kept calling Moana a princess. “Moana clarifies that she is not a princess, she is “the daughter of the chief.” “Look,” Maui says, “if you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess.”” (Kirby 5). Moana attempted to show her strength by preaching she was the daughter of the chief, that she was more than a fragile princess. Maui disregarded her argument and treated her as a powerless piece of garbage. This continued for most of the film. Situations such as these teach boys that they can disrespect women. Exposing these scenes to females teach women that allowing men to treat them disrespectfully is standard.

The shift of gender prescriptions in Disney films is not drastic. Change is happening, but the change is to minor to make a difference. If Disney is looking to recreate their image, they need to start from scratch. Disney needs to work on their imaging. Media streamed on our televisions influences daily decisions or thoughts whether realized or not. Children should not be growing up with confined gender roles and attitudes. Each child should think of one another as equals, not boys as superiors. Parents may have their own opinions, but should highly consider what they are exposing their children to. Disney animation should careful analyze their scripts due to their obligation to do right by the children. Children are Disney’s main audience and that needs to be respected. 
