This semester flew by faster than I can fathom, but I did come out of it as a stronger writer. There were so many different strategies that I can now incorporate into my future writing. I will admit that I was very reluctant to take this class because I completely despised writing, but this course was actually really helpful.

From this class I can use all of the writing techniques I learned for other classes as well. If I ever have to write a summary on an article or book for another class, I now know how to properly write a summary/strong response. I never patchwork writing existed and was considered plagiarism. From now on when I summarize or paraphrase, I know how to properly cite my information without plagiarizing.

Also for other research assignments in other classes, I know whether or not a source is reliable and credible or not. In the past I would never check to see if the source was reliable. I would just collect my information and cite it. Now I know what to look for and decide whether or not the source is useful for what I am writing about, or if it is giving me the correct information.

The blog was the most useful part of class for my final research paper. If we didn’t have the blog posts, it would have been extremely difficult for me to start the process of writing my paper. Each section of my blog I somehow incorporated into my paper. The most helpful post was when he had to write about the opposing side of our argument. This let me go into deeper depths of the other side of the issue instead of just focusing on the side I was arguing. I also feel like I became a better blogger throughout the course. I have never blogged before so this was a great experience of a new style of writing.

Starting to research this topic made me feel very uneasy. Growing up watching the Disney films, you believe in all of the magic and a good Disney movie can cure any problem. Once I found critics that bashed Disney for being inappropriate for children and didn’t teach any positive lessons, I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe it.

I was always under the assumption that Disney could do no wrong and they were the creators of everything magical. There were so many sources that bashed Disney films where it was hard at times to continue reading. No one wants to believe that something that seemed so harmless can have such a negative impact on people.

Once I started reading more sources that talked negatively about the films, I started to see where these critics were coming from. I was still on the fence with most of the ideas being presented, but I now had insight of a perspective I didn’t even know existed. What really helped me come to this realization was the sources that were from personal statement, not just scientific facts. Putting myself in these people’s shoes made me realize that Disney at some points throughout their movies portrayed women as being weak and not as important and successful as men.

From this I have learned that there are other points of view on situations besides my own. Even though I may believe that what I think is right, there may be other ways that are just as right or wrong as mine. It is very helpful to have multiple opinions on situations to make research easier. For now I’ll just keep swimming in my sources of Disney criticisms.

Tonight is perfect for live blogging about the criticisms of Disney Princesses. The source I am using for this post and also my research paper are parts from the book by Peggy Orenstein called “Cinderella Ate My Daughter”, which was published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2011.

10:23 PM: Orenstein doesn’t understand, “since when did every little girl become a princess” (page 4)? She then goes on to compare her childhood to her daughter now who switched to being a “girly” girl after a boy told her that girls don’t like trains. After that Daisy, the author’s daughter, put her trains at the bottom of her toy chest and started obsessing over the Disney Princesses and wearing princess dresses and heels. It even got the point where people they met in restaurants and even at the dentist office referred to her as a princess and offered her to sit in the ‘princess chair’ and eat the ‘princess meal.’ What I don’t understand is why is this such a big deal according to author? Yes Daisy shouldn’t have given up her trains because of what the boy said, but it is normal for her to try new things and step out of her comfort zone.

10:35 PM: Orenstein goes on to talk about what happened when she found Daisy lying on the ground at the playground during recess. She was confused as to what was going on so a boy explained to her that Daisy was pretending to be Snow White and was waiting for the perfect prince to wake her up. The author was very displeased with this because she intentionally never told Daisy this story because of the obvious sexism. If Peggy didn’t want this to happen, she should have told the story of Snow White, but explain her views on why she believes this story is inappropriate for little girls.

10:43 PM: It seems for a second Peggy is supporting the Disney Princesses by saying “They were, until late 2009, the brownest-skinned princesses, as well as the ones with the least bling potential” (page 14), referring to Mulan and Pocahontas. This was short lived though, saying how she rarely finds items of those princesses in stores. This honestly isn’t a bad thing. Disney decides which princesses they want to make clothes and other items of, it depends on what the consumers demand from them. If customers aren’t buying things that involve Mulan and Pocahontas, Disney isn’t going to waste the money to produce those items.

10:53 PM: Orenstein puts a twist on this situation and looks at how boys are affected. In this part of the chapter Daisy is playing dress up and says, “Mom, did you know that girls can choose all kinds of things to wear, but boys can only wear pants (page 21)? When she said this, the author was waiting for Daisy to say this, that dress up was something she could do, not something she had to do. She goes on to say how there was a boy that had a pink bike, but wouldn’t ride it because people made fun of him. This, according to Orenstein, proves that boys would wear pink and sequins if they could. Boys say that their dads would say it was “bad” if they would play with girls toys. This shows how dads let girls play with whatever they want, but force masculinity onto their sons.

Orenstein definitely opened my eyes to see how parents might view the  effects Disney Princesses have on their children. This is a valuable source for my paper because she gives by official sources as well as her own experiences and opinions on the situation at hand. After reading this I am going to incorporate parental views into my paper to see if they believe that Disney movies teach their children life lessons, or are bad for them to watch. The only downside of this book is that it is about all of the negative aspects of Disney Princesses. When something positive is mentioned it is quickly shot down. This will be a valuable resource for the counterargument section of my paper. Hopefully there are more books like this to help further my research, but include more positivity.

It is supposedly a known fact that Disney has hidden sexism nature throughout their movies. Each princess represents biased views on different lifestyles. Since these films are mainly targeting a younger audience, do these subliminal messages effect these children? The author of this article gives examples from a few of the Disney movies. (more can be found here)

One of the examples of Disney’s sexism is Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. Jasmine is the sultan’s daughter who has to be married when she  turns 16, and of course it is an arranged marriage. The arranged marriage shows how in some cultures, women are considered second-class citizens. This film also shows how women are always believing and giving into men. Aladdin lies to Jasmine throughout the entire movie claiming he loves her, but all he really wants to do is marry her so he can become the future sultan.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast is also another sexism example. The movie portrays Belle as being stuck in an abusive relationship. Instead of leaving the beast, Belle gives up being with her family to live in isolation being yelled, only hoping for the beast to change into a nicer and better person. Even when Belle leaves the castle to help her father, she ends up returning not that much later, like most victims of abuse. The beast eventually changes into the person Belle wants, Disney makes it seem like if you stick with a bad situation, you will eventually be happy in the end.

One of the other examples given in the article is Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Ariel is willing to change her physical appearance for a man to love her. This shows girls that it is okay to change who you are for other people to like you.

I also found a video on youtube that explains the “morals” that the Disney Princesses are teaching younger girls in the movies

The author made some very good points in their article that I have never thought of before. I have grown up watching these movies, but now that I am older and after reading these articles, I am starting to see where these different views are coming from. I agree with the author that the older Disney movies portrayed women as being frail, fragile, and very dependent on males. Even though the movies are based on different story lines, each princess still had extremely similar characteristics.

There are points though, where I have to disagree with the author. Not all Disney movies portray women in this kind of way. The movies started evolving where now the princess are the characters of the movies saving the day and don’t need a man to help them. After reading this article I am going steer my research in the direction of the evolution of Disney movies. With this, I am hoping to find which movies started the evolution of the standard “Disney Princess” and how movies today portray women.

Are you one of the children that has grown up with all of the Disney movies?

Is it hard to just pick one of your favorites?

Do you randomly find yourself singing a Disney song in your head?

Walt Disney has made a huge impact on the lives of children in multiple generations and is still making an impact on adults as well. Countless movies have been produced to serve different life lessons and morals for the audience to take away with them. Since Disney movies have such a huge impact on children of all ages, why is there a crowd that is so against them and think that they convey the wrong message to children?

This topic really interested me because I was and still am a Disney fan. The movies definitely have made a huge impact on my life, but not in a bad way. Yes I always wanted to become a Disney Princess and pretend that a prince was going to come my rescue, but I knew that there is a difference between the movies and real life.

Multiple people believe that Walt Disney is racist and sexist. They believe that only white people are represented by Disney and that the women in the movies are seen as the typical “damsel in distress.”

The typical princess is usually described as being tall, thin, pale skin, and long hair. Yes, this is the case for many of the early Disney princesses, such as Aurora, Snow White, and Belle. Few think that this messes with girls’ minds saying if they don’t look like the stereotypical princess, they aren’t beautiful. Often these pessimists forget about the Disney movies that don’t involve a princess that is white. Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine from Aladdin, Tianna of Notre Dame are just a few of the movies that involve people of different ethnic backgrounds. Everyone is represented, so there isn’t a need to feel that Disney gravitates to only one ethnic background.

There are some racism examples that people have found in several Disney movies that just aren’t princess-related. Here are a few: (more can be found here)

In Aladdin, in the intro son “Arabian Nights,” which first contained the lyrics “Where they cut off your ear / If they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.” When it was released on DVD though, the lyrics were changed to “Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense.”

Another example is Sebastian in The Little Mermaid being portrayed as a Jamaican saying it’s better under the sea because you don’t have to get a job.

There are also the monkeys in The Jungle Book that are supposedly “African American sounding” while the other characters sound British. The monkeys are also singing about wanting to be human, which is symbolic for African Americans wanting to be humans and not slaves or under everyone else.

I have seen all of these disney movies and I never picked up on any of these assumptions and there are even adults that don’t even notice. I feel that people like to analyze everything just to find something wrong. The pessimists are making nothing into such a big deal.

Some consider Disney movies sexist because the princess is usually in some type of trouble, is considered weak, and needs a man to save her in the end. The most referenced example is the movie Sleeping Beauty. She pricks her finger on the spinning and is put to sleep. The only way that she can be saved is to be kissed by a prince. People think that this shows little girls that they are incapable of accomplishing anything on their own. Another example is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. The negative thinking audience believes that Belle is in an abusive relationship with the Beast and there is nothing she can do about it. Once Belle is set free to take care of her father, she returns very quickly, which is what most victims of abuse do. People also think that there is sexism in the Little Mermaid with Ariel. Ariel changes her physical appearance just to be with the man she loves. By sacrificing her voice and signing Ursula’s contract, she is representing women’s sacrifice of their voice and opinions for the happiness of the man in their lives. Yes these are very sexist (along with others) but there are more movies where the woman is the hero in the end.

In Mulan, she ends up pretending to be a man to take her father’s spot in the Chinese army. She goes through the training, but once people find out she is female, she is sent home. A problem then occurs and Mulan ends up saving her country fighting, being more successful and determined than the men in the army. Disney’s newest movie, Frozen, most definitely breaks all of the stereotypes that people make about Disney movies. Queen Elsa has a magical power that is hard for her to control. Her powers get out of hand and she ends up leaving the castle. Her sister, Princess Anna is then in charge. Instead of having the men go after Elsa, Anna goes after her herself. While talking to Queen Elsa, Princess Anna gets struck by Elsa’s powers and is told that the only way to be saved is by an act of true love. Princess Anna falls for Prince Hans and she falls under his spell that she is in love with him and is going to marry him after only knowing him for a day. Towards the end of the movie we find out that Prince Hans was fake and never really loved Anna, he jut wanted to rule the kingdom. Since Prince Hans never loved Anna, she isn’t sure if she will be saved. Princess Anna then proceeds to freeze and it looks as if she cannot be saved. Queen Elsa returns and sees what has happened and hugs Princess Anna’s frozen statue. Since Queen Elsa loves her sister, Princess Anna thaws and is saved by an act of true love by her sister. This proves that an act of true love can come from anyone, not just a male figure.

I personally feel that Disney movies are good for children to watch because it is a break from reality for them to get lost in a different world where anything is possible. Children can be whatever they want and don’t let anyone or anything get in their way.