Whitney Bowen

English 380-50

Dr. McGee

December 13, 2005

Disney Females Characters: Are They Progressing?

Disney characters have greatly progressed over time. Despite this, they still undergo great criticism. Disney movies do have a significant impact on the viewers, but this impact is not necessarily negative or harmful. There are many arguments against Disney characters of which I am fully aware, but there are very few that acknowledge the progression of the characters. In the following, I will discuss this progress, as well the elements found in Disney movies such as typical-case prototype and agency. I will focus mainly on Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and The Incredibles.

Looking at the early Disney figures, commonly referred to as the Disney princesses, most of the characters are very similar in appearance. This category of females is comprised of Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel, and Jasmine, from Aladdin. These heroines are often viewed as very weak due to their passive personality and the fact that their happiness lies in being with a man. These characters are also heavily criticized because of their beauty. Their beautiful, perfect body does not accurately portray women. Before Disney, animators chose to depict themselves in their pictures. When Disney came along, he changed this. The story was not as important to him as astonishing the audience with the animations. Although many people criticize Disney for the way females are portrayed in the films, he followed the description given in the original fairytale of the character. In Bell, Haas, and Sells book, From Mouse to Mermaid, the description of the characters from the original fairy tale is given:

The bodies of Disney’s teenaged heroines begin as thumbnail sketches for kind and beautiful young girls in the literary tales. Snow White in the Grimms’ tale is “white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony….When she was seven years old she was as beautiful as the day” (1972, 249, 250). Charles Perrault first describes Cinderella with an “exceptionally sweet and gentle nature” who was “a hundred times more beautiful than her sister” (1961, 58, 60). Under the bad fairy’s spell, the princess in Sleeping Beauty seems to be dead, but “the trance had not taken away the lovely colour of her complexion. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips like coral” (pg. 4). Andersen describes the little mermaid, the youngest of six sisters as “the prettiest of all, her skin was soft and delicate as a rose-leaf, her eyes as blue as the deepest sea” (1945, 87). (Bell 109)

This shows that although these characters undergo much criticism for the way they are portrayed by Disney, it is how they were originally described. Look at Hollywood today; they are all living Disney princesses. They are full figured with a small waist and flawlessly beautiful. Models and actresses do also get criticized because the average woman does not look like that. But obviously their appearance is how the American society views beauty. For this reason, it should not be as heavily criticized when these characters are shown in animated films. They are seen in almost every other film. The heroine is always beautiful with a perfect body, so why would a person expect anything different from a cartoon. It is what society expects, and in my opinion desires. In fact, many of the characters have been referenced to actresses of the time. Janet Gaynor, representative of Snow White, and Grace Kelly, representative of Cinderella, were viewed as the beautiful girls next door. The princess in Sleeping Beauty is often seen as resembling the modern Barbie. Ariel with “her huge blue eyes, upturned nose, and excessive bangs recall the ‘70s wholesomely lithe pin-up girl, Farrah Fawcett” (Bell 110). Although there are references made of these characters resembling these famous people, many of the characters were modeled after professional dancers. “Marjorie (Belcher) Champion at 18 years old modeled for Snow White, and Helen Stanley for Cinderella” (110). Sherri Stoner was the live model for Ariel and Belle (113). Although many women do not look like that, it is their desire, not only to look the way the characters or models do, but to live a princess life. They get to escape from the mundane life to a fairy tale world where happily ever after is not out of reach and the heroine is always perfect. “Indeed, the Disney apparatus buys into and then sells the twofold fantasy of little girls who want to grow up to be princesses” (111). In some of the more recent movies, the images of women have begun to change. This is seen first with Lilo and Stitch. In the movie Lilo is a child, who has a full figure. She is by no means the skinny, voluptuous figure that one would imagine in a Disney film. People could argue that this is because she is a child. Though, if you look at her older sister Nani, she does not have the hourglass figure one would expect to see. She is very beautiful, but has a rather small top and thicker bottom. Although she may not have the Disney princess shape, her waist is still tiny and she is still beautiful. In the Incredibles, once Miss Elastic is older and married and then called Mrs. Incredible, you can see that she has put on weight in places as one would expect a middle-aged woman to have. She is still very small, but her bottom half has become much fuller. Often older women are drawn with more of a pear-shaped body in Disney films. (108).

The fairy tale princess is the typical-case prototype. She, as described above, is beautiful, usually passive, and needs to be protected by a man. This is what people assume when they think of Disney’s heroines. In an article called “A Modern Cinderella,” Karol Kelly wrote:

Perrault, on the other hand, wrote to socialize the children of the bourgeoisie, that is, to prepare them for the roles he believed they should play in society. He sexualized society, providing clear gender stereotypes. Thus Perrault’s Cinderella is beautiful, polite, graceful, industrious, obedient and passive. She does not threaten men either by coquetry or intelligence. She waits patiently for the right man to come along to recognize her virtues and to marry her” (88).

Many of Disney’s earlier female characters are viewed in the same way. The characters do not have any agency and their happiness lies within being rescued by a handsome prince. Although this may be true for many of the earlier female heroines, in some of the more recent movies, the females have much more agency. “For both Ariel and Belle, Disney storymen departed from the gendered stereotypes of the tales. Both are active, intelligent young women in pursuit of their dreams” (Bell 113, 114). In Mulan, the main character, Mulan, takes initiative to fight in the war against the Huns in order to save her father, knowing this act is punished by law with death. Lilo, in Lilo and Stitch, is the young girl who saves the life of the alien Stitch. She breaks and defies rules in order to save the friend whom she loves. In the most recent Disney Pixar film, The Incredibles, the female characters play a very important role. The female characters are the main reason the Incredible family survives the tragedies they endure. Women have begun to have a much more important roles in films as well as much more agency, by being able to act as they desire, as seen in the examples given above. In the Incredibles, it is the Mrs. Incredible who actually has to rescue her husband, Mr. Incredible. There are also several instances when the adolescent girl has to save her family. The Incredibles shows females with a much more active and important role. So, one could say that Disney is beginning to move in the right direction.

Another way Disney female characters are seen as typical-case prototype is in their ethnicity. The earlier characters are all Anglo-Saxon Europeans or European-Americans. For this, Disney has received much criticism. Many critics say that Disney is “culturally insensitive and even racist” (Faherty 2). But there is a good explanation for many of the earlier characters being portrayed as they were. “The high percentage of European and European-American characters may be due to the fact that many of the Disney classic films are based on Western European folk tales” (2). When the people were reading a Westernized fairy tale, the image of the characters was probably that of a Westernized person. Bell says, “The animation of race and ethnicity was unproblematic in the early Disney shop. Animated heroines were individuated in fair-skinned, fair-eyed, anglo-saxon features of Eurocentric loveliness, both conforming to and perfecting Hollywood’s beauty boundaries” (110). The issue of representing many different ethnicities and races in Disney films was not as big of an issue when they were being made. People expected the characters to have these qualities, not only because the fairy tales were from Western Europe, but because they showed qualities seen throughout Hollywood at the time. As stated before, people wanted to see characters that embodied perfection and beauty in animation, just as they did in Hollywood. But in more recent movies, there has been a more diverse ethnic and racial composition. This began with the Arabian characters in Aladdin. Although many people were upset at how the Arabians are portrayed in the movie, it was a step away from Westernized characters. Then there was Pocahontas who brought Native Americans into a lead role in animated film. “Mulan defies the image of the passive oriental female. She is a woman warrior; a classic character type in Chinese culture and film who is ‘an independent outsider, resolute and aggressive in her efforts to institute correct order’” (Lee 2). This says a lot about Mulan’s character. She is not passive but aggressive and is not dependent on a man but independent. All of the characters in Lilo and Stitch are natives of Hawaii. And in the Incredibles, one of the super heroes is African American. Although many people are not happy with the way Disney portrayed some of these groups of people, there has been progress made to satisfy people wanting more ethnic and racial characters in the films.

Disney is everywhere. “The impact that the Disney Corporation has exerted on domains as varied as entertainment, leisure, aesthetics, education, business management, technology, and even regional land development can only be characterized as stunning” (Faherty 1). Americans are exposed to Disney all the time. For this, the Disney characters do have a major impact on our lives. But is this impact necessarily bad? I do not see it as being any worse than looking at magazines filled with picture perfect models or watching TV with picture perfect characters. Yes, Hollywood has gotten better about casting roles filled with more “normal” characters, “normal” being more like the “average” person in appearance. But Disney has gotten better as well. In many of the newer Disney films, the progress towards being politically correct is becoming more evident. There are many more ethnic and racial groups being represented. Females have begun to have more agency and are also much stronger characters in more recent films. Though Disney receives much criticism for its female characters, I do not see the harm in the way they are presented. In the earlier films, they represent their equal in the written fairy tale in appearance and character. Now, in more recent films, the characters have begun to change to fit more of what society wants and expects. Would a Disney film be the same without the beautiful female character? Although many people would not like to admit it, many girls do identify with this character. She is what some girls dream of being. Although many people argue that the messages Disney films send out are harmful, sometimes identifying with these female characters is an escape for a young girl who has experienced hardships. People complain that the characters should be more like an “average” person or more “normal.” But if film is made with a character like this and is successful, could another film of the same kind also be a success? Would people want to see the perfect princesses once more? I believe so. I believe being able to identify with the female characters is the whole purpose of the movie, and she takes the viewer to a place of fantasy. No matter what a person’s view is on the subject, one must admit that Disney has taken a step in the right direction and is starting to really show more diversity in its characters. Who knows what is to come with future Disney films.

Works Cited

Bell, Elizabeth. “Somatexts at the Disney Shop: Constructing the Pentimentos of Women’s Animated Bodies.” From Mouse to Mermaid. Ed. Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, Laura Sells. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

Faherty, Vincent E. “Is the mouse sensitive? A study of race, gender, and social vulnerability in Disney animated films.” Journals Division of University of Toronto Press. 11 Dec 2005. Aug 2001. Vol. 1, Issue 3. http://www.utpjournals.com.

Kelley, Karol. 1994. "A Modern Cinderella." Journal of American Culture 17:1, Spring.

Lee, Christina. “Mulan: Woman Warrior as Embodied Ambiguity.” Rev. of Mulan, dir. By Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft. Murdoch University http://www.murdoch.edu/au/othmdu.html. May 19, 1999.