Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), course: Applied Linguistics, language: English, abstract: Media is a big part of people’s everyday lives. It influences both how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. Media can be divided in many different types, for example: television, shows, movies, the radio, newspapers, advertisements and the internet. One of the most famous producers of children’s media is the Walt Disney Company. Since 1937 many movies, shows and other products were designed and published in order to entertain children. Thus, results a huge influence on children’s perception of the world and how they see themselves in the world. In all of them are images of women and men, which are represented in different ways and with different traits. One popular production of Disney is the Disney princess line which was created 2001 and includes more than 25,000 different products. Currently, the line includes ten movies; four of them will be analysed in this term paper: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), "Pocahontas" (1995), "Tangled" (2010) and "Frozen" (2013). These movies have an influence on children and their images of gender roles. But, how are gender roles represented in these movies and is there a remarkable change over time? This term paper will give an overview about the most influential movies of the Disney Princess line and how the image of female characters is presented. It is difficult to analyse all aspects of gender roles but the most obvious ones are regarded and how many differences exist in these four movies.

An in-depth view of the way popular female stereotypes were reflected in—and were shaped by—the portrayal of women in Disney’s animated features. In Good Girls and Wicked Witches, Amy M. Davis re-examines the notion that Disney heroines are rewarded for passivity. Davis proceeds from the assumption that, in their representations of femininity, Disney films both reflected and helped shape the attitudes of the wider society, both at the time of their first release and subsequently. Analyzing the construction of (mainly human) female characters in the animated films of the Walt Disney Studio between 1937 and 2001, she attempts to establish the extent to which these characterizations were shaped by wider popular stereotypes. Davis argues that it is within the most constructed of all moving images of the female form—the heroine of the animated film—that the most telling aspects of Woman as the subject of Hollywood iconography and cultural ideas of American womanhood are to be found. “A fascinating compilation of essays in which [Davis] examined the way Disney has treated female characters throughout its history.” —PopMatters

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, University of Osnabrück (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Introduction to Gender Theory, 28 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 'How can they tell if I am male or female?' With this last line of 'The Ballad of Mulan' the (anonymous) author raises the gender question already in the 6th century. In this essay, I would like to analyse The Representation of Gender in Walt Disney's 'Mulan', using the structure of the movie to focus on The Protagonist Fa Mulan, the Treatment of Women and the Depiction of Men. Additionally, the inquiry concerning the Meaning of Song Texts in Disney's 'Mulan' appears useful as these always play an important role in conveying movie themes. In order to establish a connection to the seminar on which this paper is based, I will illustrate how the movie is a good example for Judith Butler's theory of Gender as Performance. Last but not least, I would like to show the Influence of Disney's 'Mulan' on Society because fairy tales and movies '[...] do influence the manner in which children conceive the world and their places in it [...]'. Drawing the 'Conclusion', I will try a careful approach to find out if Disney's 'Mulan' might even be considered as a feminist movie. (...)

In this volume of 15 articles, contributors from a wide range of disciplines present their analyses of Disney movies and Disney music, which are mainstays of popular culture. The power of the Disney brand has heightened the need for academics to question whether Disney’s films and music function as a tool of the Western elite that shapes the views of those less empowered. Given its global reach, how the Walt Disney Company handles the role of race, gender, and sexuality in social structural inequality merits serious reflection according to a number of the articles in the volume. On the other hand, other authors argue that Disney productions can help individuals cope with difficult situations or embrace progressive thinking. The different approaches to the assessment of Disney films as cultural artifacts also vary according to the theoretical perspectives guiding the interpretation of both overt and latent symbolic meaning in the movies. The authors of the 15 articles encourage readers to engage with the material, showcasing a variety of views about the good, the bad, and the best way forward.

"The Cinderella Complex" offers women a real opportunity to achieve the emotional independence that means so much more than a new job or a new love. It can help you no matter what your age or your goals. You cannot read it without changing the way you think - and maybe the way you live.

Although its early films featured racial caricatures and exclusively Caucasian heroines, Disney has, in recent years, become more multicultural in its filmic fare and its image. From Aladdin and Pocahontas to the Asian American boy Russell in Up, from the first African American princess in The Princess and the Frog to "Spanish-mode" Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3, Disney films have come to both mirror and influence our increasingly diverse society. This essay collection gathers recent scholarship on representations of diversity in Disney and Disney/Pixar films, not only exploring race and gender, but also drawing on perspectives from newer areas of study, particularly sexuality/queer studies, critical whiteness studies, masculinity studies and disability studies. Covering a wide array of films, from Disney's early days and "Golden Age" to the Eisner era and current fare, these essays highlight the social impact and cultural significance of the entertainment giant. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 2,3, LMU Munich, language: English, abstract: If we look behind the “sparkling stars” and “memorizing magic” that is Disney, we might see that these Disney princesses are not the best role models for children. Therefore, this research paper aims at showing these role models in Disney movies and give an awareness of problems they bring with them. “How can they tell if I am male or female?” This last line of The Ballad of Mulan shows that the gender question was already raised in the 6th century. This research aims at analyzing the representation of females in Walt Disney movies: the appearance and intelligence, helplessness and the need of protection and domestication. Before doing so, there has to be a definition what gender role is, in general, but also in Disney movies.