Disney movies have become the new family amusement. This films are made for young children because of what they demonstrate. When children watch Disney movies, especially young girls, it can affect their understanding on how they should act at a young age. Snow White is a tale about a young beautiful girl who lives with her stepmother, the queen. Snow White’s beauty triggers her stepmother to be jealous of her, and the queen orders for the murder of her innocent stepdaughter. Later she discovers that Snow White is still alive and hiding in a cottage with seven friendly little miners.
Disguising herself as an old-women, the queen brings a poisoned apple to Snow White, who falls into a death-like sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince. Today’s new lifestyle is teaching young girls that their beauty is more valuable than their mental capacity and it also reminds girls that a man is needed in their lives to find true happiness. Kids absorb everything they see, so educating parents on Disney princesses or any other characters should be a priority to be able to teach them what is good and what is bad.
Times have changed, it’s obvious, the things past family members did, parents now do it different and we will be doing them differently too. Same goes for Disney. Disney reflects images of women as they are in each particular time period. For example, Snow White, she was the maid of her household and when she lived with the dwarfs she was also cleaning their home, which in those times that was something most women did. Women were not focused on becoming well educated or obtaining a careers, their attention was only to be the care provider for their homes and families.
Girls now are watching this movie and nothing has changed. Some girls are dazzled by this character and want to be just like her. The fact that women in this kind of films are always happy when cleaning can be an advantage for young girls and parents because it’s teaching the importance of organizations and cleanliness. Cleaning turns out to be enjoyable in this film because Snow White always is always singing and smiling as she is doing it. Even though cleaning might have a positive side here, it’s going to be used as a way to educate instead of a breaking the chain of female stereotypes.
We’ve all been told that beauty come from within and we don’t need to change anything to find true happiness, but as we grow and start understanding what movies are showing us, that opinion changes. Most of the Disney characters, like Snow White are described as young beautiful princess with bright red lips, and attractive bodies. Even the mirror describes her as the girl with “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).
In this movie, beauty is important because it’s having young girls idolize these dreamy characters and that is why many girls are having body and confidence issues. Disney princesses are influencing girls to become thinner at a younger age and look more like the princess or any other character they admire. If a princess goal isn’t to find a man to be happy than the story won’t have a “happily ever after”, that’s what they make all viewers think.
In most Disney movies like Snow White, the beautiful princess needs to be saved by the prince and become part of his life instead of creating her own, which shows young girls that a man is needed to survive. The fact that girls are not able to live without a man figure in their lives might affect young girls because it stresses the idea that women are incapable to find happiness. Snow White desires for her man to find her. When the movie begins, she sings “I’m wishing for the one I love to find me” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).
During the whole movie, all she does is think about her handsome prince, who she will marry one day. In reality not all women end up marring their true love, in fact some women choose not to be married or to be with a man. In Disney movies, almost every princess marries the man they call their true love but in reality that does not always happen and “happily ever after’s” aren’t always real. Kids do what they see and say what they hear, so it’s important to explain what’s done and said so they understand and do the same.
Parents should be responsible for educating their children with the content of every movie or show they allow to be watched. Everyone watches movies with a different point of view, what adults might think is bad, a kid has no idea because it’s been viewed with a different perspective. In the article, “In Defense of Princess Culture” by Crystal Liechty, the author, who is also a mother of two girls argues that she’s not against her daughters loving princesses or being tomboys as she states in her argument, “If she’s into pirates or animal or ninja spies, I will totally support her in that.
And use that culture to teach her the values I want her to learn”. The author explains that whatever her daughters like, she’ll use it as a tool to teach them the appropriate side of anything they are been shown. Educating children at a younger age about what films or movies are displaying is a way to teach them that not everything they see needs to be imitated and they are always supposed to be who they really are.
Young kids are also influenced by Disney characters and we can see it clearly when it comes to the way they want to act after they watched any film. Children entertainment, like the princess movie Snow White, is teaching girl to not be happy until they have the perfect body, beautiful face and a man in their life to be happy. Parents should always be informed about the films or shows they allow their children to watch in order for them to be able to comprehend the good instead of developing inappropriate thoughts.