Student Independent Projects Social Cultural Studies 2015: The Power of Disney: History, Gender & Disney Princesses

Abstract

Walt Disney has been argued as the most influential American entertainer in the 20th century. Disney has been critiqued on their representations gender and gender roles in each of their films. The five films I will be looking at in order are Snow White (1937), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Frozen (2013). I focus on the structure of the films and how both the themes and representations of females have changed over the last 60 years. I have explained simulacra, simulacra and hyperreality to analyze the films and show that representations of gender shown may affect our gender performance in everyday life. I have also found that there is a connection between feminist critiques of gender and the changes Disney’s has made in their gender representations over the years. As well, I have found that we can trace gender norms through analyzing Disney Films