Cathy's Posts

Gender roles and stereotypes in Disney movies

Intro: These ideas are being shown to children at very young ages during a time in their lives in which they are quite impressionable and I doubt that this is just a coincidence. As children grow up, they are being taught how to participate in our society based on many factors (gender being one of the largest influences on an individual’s expected actions).

Beauty and the Beast

This film, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, has a showcase of numerous gender roles. In the beginning of the film, Belle is walking around her town reading her favorite book. Nobody understands why she would be interested in reading because it’s not in a woman’s typical job description to be interested in something like that. The only thing they see in her is her beauty.

An excerpt from the musical number during this scene:

[Belle:] There must be more than this provincial life

[Bookseller:] Ah, Belle.
[Belle:] Good Morning. I've come to return the book I borrowed.
[Bookseller:] Finished already?
[Belle:] Oh, I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?
[Bookseller:] Ha Ha! Not since yesterday.
[Belle:] That's all right. I'll borrow . . . . . this one!
[Bookseller:] That one? But you've read it twice!
[Belle:] Well, it's my favorite! Far off places, daring swordfights,
magic spells, a prince in disguise -
[Bookseller:] If you like it all that much, it's yours!
[Belle:] But sir!
[Bookseller:] I insist.
[Belle:] Well, thank you. Thank you very much!

[Townsfolk:] Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle

[Belle:] Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my fav'rite part because you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three

[Woman:] Now it's no wonder that her name means "beauty"
Her looks have got no parallel
[Shopkeeper:] But behind that fair facade
I'm afraid she's rather odd
Very diff'rent from the rest of us
[Townsfolk:] She's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, diff'rent from the rest of us is Belle

Belle is a very beautiful woman and that is all she’s meant to be according to the rest of the town, especially to Gaston. 

  

Gaston is the polar opposite of Belle in this movie. He is not interested in intelligence at all, rather, he is interested in being strong, handsome, masculine, and using these things getting Belle for himself. He wants to woo her into his arms strictly on the fact that he is so masculine and that he will provide for her as she stays home and in her domestic realm where she belongs.

Now, even though Belle seems as if she wants to escape from society’s norms about women, she is not completely straying away from their expectations of her. Her main goal is to find somebody to marry: a “prince charming”, like the one in her favorite book. She is also fairly soft-spoken and tends to use a very feminine approach to her rebellion. In one scene, Gaston “proposes” to Belle and promises her everything she’d ever want:

Gaston: This is the day your dreams come true.
Belle: What do you know about my dreams, Gaston?
Gaston: Plenty! Here, picture this: A rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire, and my little wife massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs. We'll have six or seven.
Belle: Dogs?
Gaston: No, Belle! Strapping boys, like me!
Belle: Imagine that.
Gaston: And do you know who that little wife will be?
Belle: Let me think...
Gaston: You, Belle!
Belle: Gaston, I'm-I'm speechless. I really don't know what to say.
Gaston: Say you'll marry me!
Belle: I'm very sorry, Gaston... but... but I just don't deserve you!

 As he is telling her about how she should be dreaming of her life as his domestic house wife, for a while, she uses studied nonobservance and attempts to ignore how intrusive and insulting he is being to her. She is smiling nearly the whole time he is insulting her (as a woman “should”) and allows him to speak his piece. However, she steps out of her feminine role when she switches to a sarcastic tone and kicks him out of her house in a rejection of his proposal.

Gaston doesn’t understand how his good looks aren’t getting him the one thing he really wants (Belle) because every woman he’s ever seen practically falls to his feet and praises him for his “charm”. The three women in town who idolize Gaston are known as the “bimbettes”.

The bimbettes idolize Gaston because of his masculine he is. They are dressed scantily, wear extensive amounts of makeup, have white bodies, and promiscuous identities. All of the bimbettes look pretty much the same because they are living up to what is expected of women (to be busty, blonde, and beautiful). They are ideal women to everybody in town, except Gaston. He is focused on Belle even though she wants nothing to do with him.

(Note: for added laughs, see the green bimbette’s left hand – Hook ‘Em!)

Moving on in the movie, Belle steps out of her strictly feminine role again when she decides to rescue her father from the Beast’s castle. Typically we see the female being rescued from castles by a man in these types of films, but not in this case. She offers herself to the Beast in order for her father’s freedom. However, she has to be submissive to the beast in order to save him, once again showcasing her femininity.

Eventually, Belle and the Beast begin to spend more time together and he discovers that if he she falls in love with him, his curse will be broken and he will go back to being a man. Gaston becomes insanely jealous and gets the town to follow him as an angry mob in order to “kill the beast”.

Gaston: Were you in love with her, Beast? Did you honestly think she’d want you when she had someone like me?

Gaston saw Belle as his property, even though she never expressed any interest in him. When she rejects him, he loses his masculinity in front of all of the townspeople. In order for him to regain “face”, he has to try to use the corrective process to make sure the people don’t think lowly of him. He sees himself as the perfect man, so everybody else should see the same thing. The more she rejects him, the more he tries to get her in order to regain “face” for the rest of the townsfolk.

His last effort to regain face was his battle with the Beast. Hirshi’s control theory says that we conform because we imagine the consequences of our behavior. The more involvement you have with other people, and the stronger beliefs in conventional morality you have, the less you will deviate because you know what the consequences for your actions are. Gaston had never seen the consequences for his actions until this point, when it was already too late. His push toward the ultimate masculinity proved to be a fatal task for him.

In the end, of course, everybody lives happily ever after. Belle and the newly-transformed Beast can now be together and Belle is happy to have found what she wanted all along: her own personal prince charming, even if he may not have been so charming at first.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101414/ (beauty and the beast)

http://www.lyricsmania.com/belle_beauty_and_the_beast_lyrics_disney.html (beauty and beast Belle lyrics)

Cinderella

This film, directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske, makes gender roles practically jump off of the screen. Cinderella is depicted as a beautiful young woman. She is light skinned, skinny, blonde, and feminine. She is living the perfect life with her mother and father until her mother dies. Her father then remarries a very mean woman who we know to be her wicked stepmother. Cinderella’s father dies, leaving her to do the bidding of her wicked stepmother and her two wicked stepsisters, Drizella and Anastasia. Cinderella is treated as a slave in her own home.

 One morning when Cinderella woke up, she began to sing about her hopes and dreams. Can you guess what it is foreshadowing?

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true

Cinderella is forced to spend day and night cleaning every surface of the house while the rest of the women are being pampered. It is interesting that she is being forced to do these chores by other women, rather than by a man or a group of men. However, in our society, everybody strives for power and domination over other beings. Power is one of the most prominent values in our culture and society. Even though Cinderella’s wicked stepfamily were all women, they were going to do anything possible to retain that power and not lose face.

Another thing to note is that each member of this wicked trio is not depicted as being physically beautiful while Cinderella is. Even though they are in power, they are not attending to what is expected for a woman to do in their life such as domestic work and submissive behavior. This has caused them to lack physical beauty. Cinderella is gentle and kind, and she is living up to her societal expectations as a woman (even if it’s being forced upon her), which allows her to showcase plenty of physical beauty.

 Eventually, she overhears something that may be her way out of the tyrannical household. The king of the land has decided that his son, Prince Charming, needs to find a suitable bride who will give him the perfect number of grandchildren. So, they organize a royal ball in which all eligible women are invited. How is Cinderella going to gain her freedom? By finding a man to marry. However, she must not marry just any man, it must be Prince Charming. This is the epitome of gender norms at play!

Since Cinderella has no friends in her life, she makes friends with some mice and other various animals who help her create a dress that she can wear to the ball using her mother’s old wedding dress as a template. 

  

When she put on the dress, she felt so beautiful and happy. She was ready to go to the ball. However, when her stepsisters saw how beautiful she looked, they began to get insanely jealous. They didn’t like the idea of losing face by being seen as less beautiful than her. So in order for them to save face, they ripped her dress into shreds.

 All hope is not lost, though! She meets her fairy godmother who magically bestows upon her a new beautiful gown, an enchanting horse-drawn carriage, and beautiful glass slippers in order for her to still be able to attend the important ball. Interestingly, she has always been showcased as beautiful in the movie. However, she doesn’t feel beautiful enough without the help of a huge ball gown and a bunch of jewelry. This is another thing that is being taught to young female viewers of this movie. Perhaps you can’t be beautiful without wearing makeup adding a bunch of sparkles and jewelry to your body?

 Regardless, Cinderella finally made it to the important ball and completely wooed the prince. However, her fairy godmother told her they her spell would only last until the stroke of midnight, so she must leave the ball before that time. This becomes a struggle as she just barely makes it out on time. She manages to escape, leaving behind only a single glass slipper. Prince Charming was so smitten by Cinderella’s beauty that he vows to marry whoever fits into the lost slipper, in hopes of finding her again. Her beauty was enough for him to realize he wanted to marry her so those extra sparkles must have really helped. 

The prince went and had every woman try on the slipper but it didn’t fit anybody. He made it to Cinderella’s and the stepsisters immediately tried to save face by trying to fit their feet into the shoe. Of course, it didn’t fit them either. Finally, it is Cinderella’s turn and it is a perfect fit.

 Can this be true? Her prayers are answered by her Prince Charming. Once he realizes that this poorly dressed woman is the same beautiful woman as before, they get married and live happily ever after. She has attained her goal of marrying Prince Charming through her beauty. Once again, our female children are taught to aspire solely to be beautiful. Also, they are taught that beauty can help you gain things that you wouldn’t be able to get without it. Interesting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042332/ (Cinderella)