“My waist didn’t dip
into an hourglass; in fact, according to the novels I read my think ankles
doomed me to be cast as the peasant woman reaping hay while the heroine swept
by with her handsome man in hot pursuit” (126).
In almost all cartoons and Disney
movies, this quote is true. Girls have
to be skinny and have a tiny waist in order to be viewed as “beautiful”. All of the Disney princesses have perfect
bodies including their facial features.
It seems to me that Disney is saying the only way a girl can be
considered beautiful is if she looks like a Barbie doll. Disney is sending horrible examples to our
children. This is why so many young
girls are going on crazy diets in order to be deemed as beautiful by our society. They are teaching children that beauty is
based on physical appearances and facial features. Instead, the message to children should be
that beauty is skin deep and that everyone is beautiful in their own way.
“Happiness means
getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved
through consumption” (133).
I usually hear girls say that they
are looking for their prince charming and sadly I am one of them. In order to achieve happiness and get a man,
girls must wear new clothes and have a nice hairstyle. Without beauty, it seems as if a girl will never
get a guy to fall for her. A woman does
not need to buy expensive clothing in order for a man to like her. But let’s face the facts, a woman does not
need a man to make her happy. Every
princess gets married at the end of every Disney movie. By saying “I do”, it makes young girls
realize that marrying a man will help them achieve their “happily ever after”. The only way for anyone to achieve their
dreams is to work hard and persevere.
“Our society’s
culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act” (126).
Young
children are being affected by society, the media, and television. Children are taught to dream a
fairytale lifestyle and how someday they will come true along with our Prince Charming
that will swoop us away to a “happily ever after”. Our society is sexist and racist because of
the cartoons and movies we watch. Since
childhood we were taught how to judge other people. I watch cartoons and I see mindless nonsense
that seems innocent enough to me, but when you take a closer look there
examples of sexism and racism.
Comments/Questions:
I love Disney movies not because of
the fairytale endings or the “happily ever after”, I enjoy them because it makes
me feel like a kid again. It sickens me
to realize that Disney is one of the major contributors to racism and subliminal
messages. They also make us stereotype
other minority groups, like the Indians in Peter Pan. I was oblivious to these as a kid, but when I
watched cartoons I did realize a few things.
I never saw many females in older cartoons. But the one thing that I always questioned
was, why won’t the people who created Tom and Jerry let me see the African
American woman’s face? I never
understood it until now. As children, we
are all taught the rules and codes of power as Delpit has described in "The Silenced Dialogue" and we do not realize that we know them until it is too late.
Here is another quote that I really enjoyed, “My dreams keep me from dealing with an unpleasant reality” (129). I feel as if everybody dreams so we can attempt to achieve those dreams. I know many of the things I dream seem nearly impossible to accomplish. Dreams help us to achieve success in life and inspire everyone with passion. We are in fact in an unpleasant reality and no one likes to admit that, so the best way to cope is to dream. It certainly helps if I do say so myself. Do your dreams keep you from dealing with an unpleasant reality? If so, how or why?
Here is a link I found that states why Disney princesses are
bad role models:
Here are two YouTube videos. The first is Disney racism and the second is Jenna Marbles and her opinion/rant on Disney princesses.
I really liked what you had to say and I completely agree. I also liked that you threw in Jenna Marbles to prove your point about this subject
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