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Content Analysis of Negative Stereotypes in Disney Princess Movies

Haley Hesse

Professor Todd Mensink

Introduction to Sociology Section 6

March 5, 2017

Bibliography
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Ewert, Jolene. "A Tale as Old as Time - An analysis of negative stereotypes in Disney Princess

Movies." Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. N.p., 2014. Web. 19

Feb. 2017.

Disney is a well-known entertainment corporation whose profit comes largely from its

princess movies. Many children around the world have viewed these movies. The author ran a

content analysis to examine how Disney shapes childrens ideas of negative stereotypes. By

analysing the top ten most popular Disney movies, the researcher examined how race, gender,

and social class were portrayed by the princesses and other main characters in the films.

Unrealistic role expectations may cause children to have unattainable goals for themselves and

others.

Introduction
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If one were to ask any child in America what their favorite movie is, chances are, its a

Disney movie. This can be viewed as a positive or negative issue. The study I analyzed viewed

Disneys popularity negatively. The goal of this study is to examine how Disney affects the

formation of negative stereotypes in children.

I chose this topic because I find it interesting how the minds of innocent children can be

misled so easily, even without intentionally doing so. I grew up watching Disney movies similar

to many other kids. I found that I do categorize gender, race, and social class similar to how the

article suggests movies influence people, too.

Method

The study I reviewed choose to research the ten most popular Disney movies of all time.

Researcher Jolene Ewert and her team, watched the ten chosen Disney movies a minimum of

three times each. While viewing of the films, the researcher made a code sheet to examine and

study how gender, race, and social class were portrayed. Ewerts code sheet included: character

attire, character attributes, living conditions, how the princesses spent their leisure time, and the

final outcome of the movie.

When observing character attire, the researcher looked for distinct appearances of men

and women along with the dominant traits they portrayed. It was noted what each character

looked like and how they dressed. Ewert recorded these characteristics so the team could

examine race and social class in the movies later on in the study.

The researcher divided character attributes into traits that were typically shown by the

lead male and female roles to look for signs of gender stereotypes. Ewert said, Female traits

were presentations of the following: weak, seeks advice, submissive, affectionate, shows

emotion/crying, scared, victim, nurturing, gets rescued, soft voice, and goals of getting married.
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Male traits were shown as strong, explore, assertive, unemotional, athletic, brave, gives advice,

hero, rescues, deep voice, and goals of work. All of the character traits observed typically run

true with how people generalize genders in the real world. Social class was studied by observing

the vocabulary and the current life positions held, whether the individual was born into the

position or they achieved it. Ewert also studied the living conditions in each movie to determine

the individuals social class.

When studying how leisure time was spent, Ewert said Gender norms became quite

obvious. The typical female traits the princesses showed include: cooking, cleaning, singing or

dancing, and talking to animals. The male traits observed included: hunting, fishing, playing

sports, working, and being sociable with friends. Once the research team gathered the data, they

studied their results looking for any noticeable trends.

Analysis

Ewert concluded from the dialogue of the Disney movies that women were meant to

look good and possess desired skills such as the ability to cook and clean. She also concluded

that a females number one goal is to find a suitable man who can take care of her so they can

live happily ever after.

The study noticed that all princesses tended to look similar to one another. The majority

of the princesses had long hair (Snow White being the only exception), wore dresses, makeup,

jewelry, and almost all appeared neat and well-groomed.

The researcher found an interesting trend in all of the female princesses. The study

observed the princesses spent most of their leisure time interacting with animals, which was

more time then they spent doing anything else. Following the princesses interaction with their

animal friends, singing or dancing, cooking, cleaning, and grooming were also observed in the
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films. Interestingly enough, the princesses were rarely seen fighting or working. This is most

likely due to the negative impact it could have on its viewers with children in particular.

Female and male traits were observed and compared to the most recent Disney films. In

the earlier movies such as Snow White, the princesses only showed female traits. The only

Disney movie observed where a princess displayed male traits was Mulan. For obvious reasons,

this is because Mulan pretended to be a male warrior. When assessing a more recent movie such

as Tangled, the portrayal of male traits was still shown less than a typical woman would today.

From the research and data collected, Ewert concluded that social class can be divided

into two categories: the haves and the have nots. The individuals labeled the have nots are

generally poor princesses such as Tiana in The Princess and The Frog. The poor are struggling to

gain wealth because they believe it will make them happy. This is an extremely negative

stereotype to let children see because it teaches them that one needs money to be happy to live a

successful life.

Cinderella, Belle, and Tiana were the princesses who began their life with little or an

average amount of wealth. Some princesses like Jasmine, Ariel, and Snow White, were already

princesses. Other princesses like Aurora and Rapunzel were born princesses, but did not realize it

until later on. The princesses have individual, unique backgrounds that set them apart from one

another. However, they all share a similar trait which is each princess finds the man of their

dreams, moving up on the social ladder to live happily ever after. Again, Ewert concluded that

Disney teaches its viewers that in order for a women to be happy, she needs money and a man.

It was found through the course of this study that sexuality is a tactic widely used by

women characters in Disney films. Ewert stated that if a princess is pretty, the prince will

immediately fall in love with her and will do anything it takes to protect her and make her happy.
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Princesses have taught young girls that good looks will get them places, not hard work or

knowledge. Dominate female roles teach children how they should behave, which ultimately

leads girls to believe they should look and act a certain way. These films teach boys that they

must show manly traits and should expect girls to be pretty and behave like princesses.

Conclusion

Ewert responded to her findings by saying parents and teachers should watch out for

negative impacts on children. The lives portrayed in Disney films are not realistic. Parents and

teachers must also understand gender, race, and social class are not accurately represented by

Disney. Ewert concluded that Disney should focus on producing films that exclude gender, race,

and social class. Movies like Toy Story and Cars have gotten close to Ewerts idea involving a

minimal amount of stereotypes.

In response to Ewerts research study, I do agree Disney should change how they portray

female and male role models. I do believe however, that this is a difficult task for Disney to

achieve. From a business standpoint, Disneys main goal is money (similar to the princesses..). It

is unlikely they will drastically change their movies in the future, but it is likely we see gender

equality being more prevalent within the new movies Disney productions.

The limitations of this study were that it only studied the ten most popular Disney films.

This may not give an accurate representation of all of Disneys movies. For further investigation

on this topic, I suggest interviewing children to see how Disney movies have shaped their male

and female stereotypes and how gender roles ought to be portrayed by the main characters.
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Works Cited

Ewert, Jolene. "A Tale as Old as Time - An analysis of negative stereotypes in Disney Princess

Movies." Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences. N.p., 2014. Web. 19

Feb. 2017.