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Cassie Schafer
English 201-12
Kathy Rowley
14 May 2012
Argumentative Essay:
Disney Films and their effects on Children
“Walt Disney Company, one of the leading producers worldwide of popular
culture texts, transports messages of American dominance as well as ethnic and gender
stereotyping in their texts” (Muller-Hartmann 399). Children pick up on social issues
through television shows and films. No matter how old children are they seem to
understand that there are differences in the films and they tend to pick up on those and
begin to ask questions. “Disney films function as “teaching machines” educating children
in ways we might find surprising” (Giroux 567). Many people would think that by being
‘children’s films’ they do not do any harm to children but studies have shown the
opposite effects on children. On the other hand, people argue that researchers look too
much into Disney films and children do not look that in depth while they watch the films.
Weighing the pros and cons of this argument, Disney films show social issues like ethnic
and gender stereotyping in their films and are teaching children the wrong ideas about
society at an age where they should not be worrying about social issues.
Disney is one of the largest corporations and their main audience is focused on
children. “For most Americans, ‘Disney’ is synonymous with entertainment, childhood,
and family values” (Tavin, Anderson 22). People have studied Disney films to see if they
teach children about social issues in underlying meanings. Many people argue that
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children do not understand the underlying meanings of the social issues shown in Disney
films. Children understand much more than people think they do. They make act like they
do not understand but in their head they know something is different. Children might
learn social issues before they should learn them but are researchers looking too much
into it or is this issue going to affect children in the long run? People have their own
opinions but it ultimately comes down to if there are effects on children from watching
Disney films and being taught about social issues at a young age?
“More than 200 million people a year watch a Disney film” (Tavin, Anderson 23).
200 million people is a huge amount of people and that huge number means that more
people are being affected by the Disney films that are being produced. The main target of
Disney is young children, ranging from age five until about thirteen. After the age of
thirteen most kids move to the PG-13 movies if they have not already started watching
them. That being said, out of the 200 million people who are said to watch a Disney film
most of those are children. The ones affected by the Disney films and learning about
social issues are children. Children do not necessarily control what they think or feel and
we cannot blame them for realizing the differences of characters like their skin colors or
their gender roles.
“Self-image in children is shaped in some degree by exposure to images found in
written texts, illustrations, and films” (Hurley 221). Through studies that have taken place
researchers have discovered that children, especially little girls, have mental images
about what princesses and in some cases what princes should look like. Disney princesses
are the main princesses that little girls focus on because they are hugely popular these
days and that is what little girls want to be. The problem with Disney is that the mental
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images that little girls have about their fairytale endings are not always achievable. “The
implications that most if not all children, including children of color, see “White” as
good, living happily ever after, and pretty, are disturbing” (Hurley 222). Disney is putting
the wrong mental images in children’s minds that if they do not fit that they will never
become a princess and much less they will not live happily ever after.
This specific example goes to prove that children have the wrong mental image of
Disney princesses. There has not been one single African-American princess until they
came out with The Princess and the Frog in 2009. “Snow White was Caucasian, Mulan
was Chinese, and Jasmine was Middle Eastern” (Gibbs 62). The Princess and the Frog
was not easily accepted by Disney and took a long time for Disney to accept it and
produce the movie. “This story was so racially sensitive that it required the input of
several Black leaders, viewings by several focus groups, the solicited reactions of several
Black Disney employees and finally, the machinations of quite possibly the world’s
largest marketing machine” (Gibbs 62). All of those things had to be done for one movie
just so the princess could be African-American. Our society says everyone is equal but
not according to Disney. What is this teaching to little kids, especially if they are AfricanAmerican? They cannot be fairy-tale princesses because of their skin color. Keith David
wrote a quote saying, “it’s about time that little Black girls can look and say, ‘I can be a
princess, too” (Gibbs 62). Most children already have made up the mental image in their
mind about the perfect princess so to come out with an African-American princess after
many years will create many questions among children.
Children question why there are people who are different colors in the Disney
movies because they have for the most part always been white. A study was done in an
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Elementary Art classroom to see what children thought after they watched clips from
specific Disney movies like: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lady
and the Tramp, Oliver and Co., and Tarzan. They watched specific clips from each of
those movies and then were asked to think about what they watched and answer
questions. “Students were asked: Who are the main characters in the movie? What do
they look like, and how do they behave? Where does the action take place?” (Tavin,
Anderson). They were also asked specific questions about the different movie clips they
watched. The responses were eye opening because many people do not realize that
children understand much more than we give them credit for and may not express what
they see or what are thinking because they are afraid of being ridiculed. One question in
particular raised a lot of eyebrows. They asked the children two specific questions about
Tarzan. “If the movie takes place in Africa, where are the African people? Why do you
think there are virtually no non-White people in a movie set in Africa?” (Tavin, Anderson
34). These two questions generated a healthy discussion and one student commented on
the last question saying, “there are many non-White people in the movie, ‘they are Black;
they are the apes”. (Tavin, Anderson 34). This left most of the group speechless until
another student said, “Blacks are not animals”. “The student’s comment confirmed that
these movies and other forms of popular visual culture can have a tremendous impact on
how children view themselves as well as others.” (Tavin, Anderson 34).
Race is a big issue in the Disney movies as well as gender. “Each of the Disney
Princess movies features a central female character, the princess, and a male character
who is romantically linked with the princess” (England, Descartes). Every child looks up
to that main female character and will repeat everything that she does. Gender roles have
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been a huge issue in our society for a long time and they may not be as prominent as they
used to be fifty years ago but they still do exist. Society teaches us that woman should be
house wives that cook, clean, and cater to their husbands who are supposed to be the
main bread winner. Now-a-days more woman work and some dads are even stay at home
dads but the Disney films portray the gender roles of their characters as the stereotypical
gender roles that society has tried to diminish.
Many of the Disney movies demonstrate and portray the stereotypical roles of
men and woman. In the movie Mulan, Mulan and her father are discussing how Mulan
does not think it is fair that her father has to go to war for China. Mulan’s father tells
Mulan that he knows his place, now it’s time for her to learn hers. “He also insisted on
putting Mulan in her place, the inferior place for women” (Yin 62). This quote states that
women should not go into war and they should strictly stay and clean the house and do
housework. This quote is stating that women should be in the kitchen like the typical
stereotype society has implemented over the years. In the Disney princess movies they all
do some kind of housework. “In Cinderella, the princess did domestic work as an act of
submission” (England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek). Cinderella is almost like a slave to
her step-mother and it shows children that it is okay to be treated that way. Disney
movies started to not portray the princesses doing work until the most recent princess
movie, The Princess and the Frog. “The princess, like her mother, made a successful
career from traditionally feminine labor” (England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek).
Watching these movies gives the wrong impression to young children. It makes
stereotypes in our society even stronger and reinforces them.
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Children look up to Disney films to find role models and get mental images of
what they can do and succeed in life. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a role
model is defined as, “a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated”. By
watching Disney films children are going to understand what their place in society is and
believe things that are not true. Disney characters have been said to be a great role model
for children but when the films get broken down it shows children the complete opposite
of what we want children to learn. By children learning their role in society it affects
them psychologically and socially. Socially children will begin to notice differences as
they do in their everyday life but take what Disney showed them and do exactly that.
“Children’s media influences a child’s socialization process and the gendered information
children view may have a direct effect on their cognitive understanding of gender and
their belief (Graves 1999)” (England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek). The relationships
they have with people will change because of what they see in the films. Children will
change their mind set to think what the Disney films shows with shows the psychological
affects that Disney films have on children.
When we really look into Disney films and what they are teaching our children
we realize that they are teaching children about gender roles and racial stereotypes. That
seems hypocritical because our society for many years has tried to get rid of the
stereotypes saying we are all equal no matter what gender or race we are. Children will
eventually learn about them because it seems inevitable but they are learning about them
before they are learning them before they should be. “We must be attentive to the
processes whereby meanings are produced in these films and how they work to secure
particular forms of authority and social relations” (Giroux 586). As a society we must
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work to understand what children learn from Disney films and stop it. Until we stop the
stereotypes that are being reassured in Disney films, younger generations will carry on
the cruel stereotypes and our society will never be equal.
Suggestion: switch “gender and race” in your thesis to match the order in your essay. Do
the same in your conclusion.
Paper looks good. Use spell check for spelling and punctuation. Read aloud for flow.
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Works Cited
England, Dawn, Lara Descartes, and Melissa A. Collier-Meek. “Gender Role Portrayal
and the Disney Princesses.” Springer Science + Business Media 64 (2011)” 555567. Web. 23 April 2012.
Gibbs, Adrienne Samuels. “Disney’s Princess Tiana.” LexisNexis Academic LVX: 62.
Web. 23 April 2012.
Giroux, Henry. “Children’s Culture and Disney’s Animated Films.” From Inquiry to
Academic Writing. Stuart Greene and April Lindinsky. Eds. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2008. Print.
Hurley, Dorothy L. “Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale
Princess.” The Journal of Negro Education 74.3 (2005): 221-232. JSTOR. Web.
23 April 2012.
"role model". Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford
University Press. 13 May 2012 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/role
model>.
Tavin, Kevin M., and David Anderson. “Teaching (Popular) Visual Culture:
Deconstructing Disney in the Elementary Art Classroom.” National Art Education
Association 56.3 (2003): 21-24+33-35. JSTOR. Web. 23 April 2012.
Yin, Jing. “Popular Culture and Public Imaginary: Disney vs. Chinese Stories of Mulan.”
Javnost-The Public 18 (2011): 53-74.
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