Essay Example on The way which female body is depicted in Disney

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The way which female body is depicted in Disney movies depend on the current socio cultural assumption of how women s form should look like Herbozo et al 2014 Disney Princesses are representations of Western standards of female beauty such as thin graceful attractive The body image of each princess is idealized where the lead female character has small waits full breasts and delicate face features England et al 2011 For example Cinderella s small and delicate feet proved her identity and thus helped her to find the price Do Rozario 2004 In the first era the female beauty was summarized through hair lips and being able to sing and dance For instance princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty was given three gifts for her birthday and two of them were outer beauty and beautiful voice These characteristics were later the ones to attract the prince In this movie it can be noticed that beauty is equated to young age and older age is a synonym of evil and unattractiveness Johnson 2015 Also Snow White as she rushes through the forest she sees the branches as old and wrinkled hand that are trying to grab her Chrismanna 2016 Both princess are put into a long sleep by old and ugly women because they are thought to be the most attractive and at the same time most threatening for the evil witches Both Aurora and Snow White have fair skin big eyes and lips Their waist is very small breasts are full and their silhouette delicate Stover 2013 Herbozo et al 2014 Ariel Mulan or Pocahontas represent second period in the Disney Princess movies The ear is characterized by the females being more provocative and sexualized 



The perfect example here is Ariel who moves and sings in a suggestive manner Stover 2013 Chrismanna 2016 Her consume is very skimpy as she only wears seashell strapless bra Also her body is the only thing she has to attract her love because while meeting Prince Eric she does not have a voice She portrays many traditional feminine body features such as lustrous hair which never get messy even in the water her eyes are very big and nose is slim Also even though she engages in physical activities her arms are slender and not muscly As for Pocahontas the princess has a Barbie doll body tall with long legs and arms huge breasts and a tiny waist Aidman 1999 p 4 Even though the second era still puts an emphasis on stereotypical and traditional beauty features it incorporates new traits The princesses not only move with feminine grace but also with a grace of a sportswomen For example Ariel saved her prince from the water Pocahontas demonstrated athletic features though jumping over waterfalls and running across the country Whelan 2012 When it comes to Mulan she fought in the war equal with other man and eventually she saves her lover s life and the country Johnson 2015 The third era of Disney Princesses opened with a movie The Princess and the frog 2009 with Tiana as the main female character Later the period quickly expanded to include movies Frozen 2010 with Anna and Elsa or Brave 2012 featuring Scottish Princess Merida


These mentioned above movies have been discussed on many forums Magazines such as Washington Pots the New York Times or Time have been debating the messages about the body image and gender roles the latest Disney Princesses exhibit Stover 2013 Many scholars stress that the newest Disney era made an enormous progress when it comes to body image and that the latest movies break the stereotypical female body portrayal Stover 2013 Johnson 2015 Chrismanna 2016 However according to Lester 2010 the stereotypical portrayal of beauty of women was not genuinely altered As an example he examines Tiana first African American princess Like all the other princesses she is young and has a slender silhouette and lustrous straighten hair This case shows how Tiana fits the idealization of beauty and how the movie does not try to portray different beauty image by changing Disney Princess physique Lester 2015 Johnson 2015 Also the body image of Princess Anna and Queen Elsa from the movie Frozen arouse controversy Both of them exhibit typical Western beauty standards namely extremely small waist thin body large eyes and small slim noses and shiny long hair It has to be mentioned that Elsa's appearance changes strongly when she leaves her kingdom


Her dress becomes more skimpy her makeup heavier and she starts to wear her hair down Law 2014 Wachutka 2015 Some researchers point out this is a display of confidence and discovery her physical maturity Lewis 2013 but Chrismanna 2016 stress this is measure sends a message that a women in order to find her inner strength must first change her outer beauty The first Disney female heroine to finally break the traditional depiction of Western beauty is Merida from Brave It could be noticed she does not wear any makeup and has multiple freckles on her face Also Merida s hair is very curly and messy Stover 2013 As for her silhouette she is slim but her waist is not exaggeratedly small Furthermore she has curvy hips and her bust is not as big as previous princesses Most importantly she does not care about her appearance though and consider dressing nicely and unnecessary Saladino 2014 Although Merida s mother question her beauty on multiple occasions the princess


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