Analysing Disney Stories: How Disney Princesses are Depicted

Abstract

We live in a globalised world in which what is considered politically correct is in vogue. Since childhood we understand that the knight is the one who saves the princess and not vice versa. Throughout this paper, sexism in famous tales will be visible to the reader analysing different modern versions of those classical stories popularised by Disney. These tales, nowadays turned into movies, had made their moral more accessible and direct, but also they give us the chance to deeply analyse their contradictory message: mankind inner improvement at the expense of the relegation of the figure of the woman. With the aim of corroborating this hypothesis, female figure has been treated from sexual orientation, seek and attitude towards love, physical appearance, to aspirations and main goals in life. Moreover, we will pay attention to the characteristics and roles of fairies and villains, strongly stereotyped, and how they help in the construction of a patriarchal message, which it can be considered the main reflection of modern American society. After the analysis, the results obtained confirm that the conservative and old fashioned message our Disney Princesses transmit to our younger generations is based on the importance of beauty, submission and dependence of men.