Disney Princesses: A System of Commodities?
By Katharine
McLean
Growing up I loved all Disney Princesses, but
Cinderella was my favorite by far. I envied her long blonde hair, admired her
gorgeous gown, and wished for the day that my Prince Charming would show up on
my doorstep with the glass slipper that would turn me into a princess. Now, at
the age of nineteen, I cannot help but look back and wonder. . . have the
Disney Princesses I’ve grown up with caused me harm? I argue that the
stereotypical gender norms found in Disney Princess media and the capitalist
nature of popular culture leads to a narrow-minded view of femininity.
In Dustin Kidd’s book, Pop Culture Freaks:
Identity, Mass Media and Society, he defines popular culture in a myriad of
ways, but one that stuck out to me was the idea of popular culture as a system
of commodities. Kidd (2014) states, “popular culture is art, transformed into
commodity, working double time as advertisement” (p. 69).
This definition of popular culture can be applied to
the Disney Princesses franchise. In a study observing preschoolers’
interpretation of Disney Princesses, researchers found that the behavior of the
young girls exemplifies an emphasis placed on clothing and accessories (Golden
& Jacoby, 2018). The girls spent a substantial amount of time picking which
Disney Princess dress to wear and what accessories would best match. These
continuously displayed actions prove that these are not isolated incidents;
rather that the franchise instills the need for materialistic objects at a very
early age. Consequently, young “girls’ sense of beauty (is being) reduced to
the attainment of material possessions” (Golden & Jacoby, 2018).
As sad as it may be, Cinderella is one of
the worst perpetrators. Consider the reason Cinderella was able to go to the
ball. After her evil stepsisters destroy her dress, Cinderella is visited by
her Fairy Godmother who replaces all of the objects in Cinderella’s life with
newer, shinier and better possessions, including her dress. After taking a look
at Cinderella she says, “Good heavens, Child! You can’t go in that” (Disney
& Geronimi, Jackson, Luske, 1950). Her Fairy Godmother then transforms
Cinderella’s dress into a gorgeous gown, of which Cinderella replies, “Oh it’s
a beautiful dress! Did you ever see such a beautiful dress?” (Disney, et al,
1950). Only then, after being bestowed with a beautiful gown, is it
deemed okay for Cinderella to go to the ball. Cinderella will then meet Prince
Charming, who falls in love with her.
Giroux and Pollock’s work (as cited in Golden
& Jacoby, 2018) states that “Disney sells the princess images to girls
along with the message that they need to buy Disney’s ready-made princess items
if they want to be pretty like the princesses.” Consider Cinderella. To a
little girl watching this movie, there is a message being sent. That message
is: “if you want to be happy you need beautiful things and if you want to find
love you need Cinderella’s beautiful gown.” While it may be subtle, its
deliberate, and it works.
The Disney Princess franchise is popular culture
that can be defined as a system of commodities. Cinderella starts as art in the
form of a Brothers Grimm fairytale, is made into a commodity in the form of a
movie, and then expands even farther in the form of costumes, accessories,
dolls, games and so much more. By emphasizing the need for materialized
objects, girls are being exposed to a narrow-minded form of femininity, which
becomes harmful, putting “girls at risk for developing depression, anxiety and
disordered eating attitude and systems” (Golden & Jacoby, 2018).
I loved Cinderella so much that I dressed up as
her for Halloween four years in a row. I had the dress, the accessories and, of
course, the “glass” slippers. My idea of gender started at very young age, and
I can’t help but consider how my favorite princess contributed to how I see
myself today.
Disney, W. (Producer),
& Geronimi, C. & Jackson, W. & Luske, H. (Director). (1950). Cinderella [Motion picture]. United
States: RKO Radio Pictures.
Golden, J. C. & Jacoby,
J.W. (2017). Playing princess: Preschool girls’ interpretation of gender
stereotypes in Disney princess media. Sex roles, 79(5-6), 299-313. doi:10.1007/s1119-017-0773-8
Kidd, D. (2014). Movin’ on
up: Class perspectives. In Pop culture freaks: Identity, mass media, and
society (pp. 63-93). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Word Count: 652
Keywords: Disney Princesses, Popular Culture, Cinderella, Gender Norms, Femininity
Katharine,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post because you brought gender norms in something I had not even thought about. It is really hard to go against something you have grown up with for your entire life. I believe by adding your own personal experience, your drew the audience in because I am sure many people were able to relate. I also enjoyed hearing your take on Kidd's "class perspectives" chapter.
Great Job!
Destiney Davis
Terrific post, Katharine. I especially appreciate the way you leveraged your experience with Disney princesses with academic work. This is a productive way of thinking, one that moves beyond personal anecdotes and yields important insight into pop culture and/as commodity form.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, you've made excellent use of several academic sources, including but not limited to, one of our textbooks. And as you may have noticed in the course of your research, media and cultural critics have made quite the study of all things Disney. Giroux's work, which you mention, is an excellent starting point.
Equally important, your writing is clear, concise and engaging. Just the thing we're looking for.
A few minor formatting issues: Put your title in CAPS. No need to put title in the body of your post. Hit return on the first line of your post to avoid the capital letter in the first line . Finally, make sure your font color is consistent throughout your post. Looks like a different color font in the paragraph after the image.
In sum, you've set a high bar for this week's post. Thanks for consulting me as you finalized this fine essay.
28/30 pts.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI rather enjoyed your piece. In a clear and concise manner you show your audience how it is that Disney has what may be inadvertently harmed young women and girls and continues to harm them. I also grew up watching Disney princess movies and fell into the hype of being a prince charming, the ramifications that come from those characters are a lot less harmful to me as a man, than they are to you as a woman. I do feel as if Disney has attempted to make strides to change the way they portray their princess, making them come across much stronger and self sufficient than in the past, and I think this is first shown in Mulan and has been continued since.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteJust as everyone else has said, I really enjoyed your post. This has been one of my favorites to read, partly because I had very similar experiences growing up as well, so it was very relatable. Before reading this, I knew that Disney princesses and specifically Cinderella were bad influences on young women, but more for the looks and desires that she has. I had never thought about, as Kidd and you mentioned, the commodity part. That it makes us buy the accessories, games, dolls and more.
I also think it would be interesting to see how the princes that go along with all of these Disney princesses compare. As an example, what kind of harm is done on young boys looking up to these "men?" Do they have the same type of desires for the accessories, games, and clothing? And what kind of examples do they give these young boys on how to treat a woman?
One last thing, it is also would be interesting to research how these Disney princesses and princes affect the LGBTQ community and young people trying to figure out their sexuality with watching all of these gender norms play out.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteYour article is well written and brings about an issue that is unique. I really enjoyed how well summarized the story. You did an excellent job thoroughly explaining your opinion well not expressing much bias. Overall, I really enjoyed your post and I think you have made an excellent contribution.
Another interesting point to consider is how race is/ is not represented in Disney Princesses. Looking at these intersectionalities can help change the future of animation for the newer generation. This could be another research opportunity as well.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI think this is such an interesting blog post topic considering Disney princesses have served a role in the lives of so many young women. I agree that some depictions of Disney princesses can be harmful by teaching young girls that they need a man to be successful or that clothing is somehow more important than what's on the inside. I think Princess and the Frog, the first Disney movie featuring a Black princess, successfully fought against stereotypes affecting women. In the song "Almost There" Tiana makes it clear that hard work to get where she wants to be in life is one of the most important things to her. Strong work ethic is something young women should absolutely aspire to develop.