Disney movies forms a huge part of the America’s entertainment industry they are loved by people throughout the world and across all ages. Having been around for close to a century, they have influenced people and mostly children in many ways, among them clothing, gender perception, games and violence. Throughout the time they have been in existence, Disney movies have played a huge role on how the society displays different roles played by different gender. Despite the popularity of Disney movies, they are surrounded by a controversy on the way they portly the gender roles of their characters. Violence has also been a major controversy in these movies. As the time changes, Disney have also shown to change how they display their character as far as gender roles and violence is concerned. In this essay, our main focus will be on how Disney movies gender and violence are portrayed on Disney movies.
To begin with, Disney displays a great difference in the gender roles between the males and the females. Males are presented as the superior and strong gender while females are portrayed as the dependent gender, they are shown to be inferior and weak. These differences in how different genders are portrayed I these movies inaccurately teach the children and the youth that there are societal expectations and behaviors for different genders. This have overtime read to gender stereotype in the society.
The princesses in the Disney movies are shown to get happy after marring their prince who are shown as their savior from dismal and distress. This portray women as weak and can’t be able to save themselves from distress and it can only take a man’s intervention to save them. Among the characters portrayed by women is that they are fragile, emotional, tentative, ever complaining and cause more trouble than their male counterparts. Their live have been portrayed as one that had been horrible until they found men who came to save them from their troubles. A good example of these female characters is Cinderella and sleeping beauty princesses. Portraying women as weak and helpless can be detrimental to the society, the girl child may be disillusioned that they cannot be able to overcome the obstacle they face I their live s and it can only take a man’s intervention to bail them out of their problems.
Further, in the movies where the animal characters are involved, for instance the “The Lion King” the lionesses are displayed as weak and can only wait for the lion to save them. The massage this conveys is that the lionesses who in this scenario represents the women is that they can’t be able to do anything for themselves and are fully dependent on the lions who in this case are the men. Women are also portrayed as troublesome as their male counterparts. Powerful women are portrayed as evil. Even if they gain power they are not shown to be powerful in a positive way that can show them to be independent and assertive.
Men have also been viewed stereotypically in the Disney movies. They are portrayed as self-reliant, full of courage, strong, protectors and heroic. For instance, in the movie “Aladdin” Aladdin is portrayed as fearless and one who is able to use his wits. In the movie he is shown as a fighter who fights the “bad guys”. He also wear a vest that is revealing to show his masculinity. Gender roles in the Disney movies portly the assumptions about the behaviors and expectation of different genders. This can lead to societal problems such as sexual biases.
Violence in movies is another great challenge facing the society, Disney movies are not an exemption. Some of the scenes in these movies are scary, dreadful and of disturbing nature especially when the audience is the children. In the movies there is always a stereotypical characters who in their lives represent evil and tend to die a terrible death. A good example of how Disney movie portray violence in in the movie “Beauty and the Beast “the movie says that a woman can change an abusive man to a gentle and kind man if she is sweet natured and pretty. This shows that it is a woman’s fault in her man is abusive to her which tends to promote violence against women who are not sweet and pretty.
Further, most of the Disney moves feature blood and injury, this is evident in movies like “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid”. The scenes of violent acts impact negatively in the society especially in children who grow up viewing killing of the evil ones in the society as normal. In these movies there are also scenes where some characters attack others, for, instance, in the movie “Tangled” there is a scene where Flynn goes up the tower to save Rapunzel but upon reaching the top she is stabbed by Mother Gothel. Such a scene depicts violence and may negatively impact promoting moral vices such as violence in our communities.
In conclusion, it is of great importance for the Disney movie producers to improve on the way they portly gender roles in their movies. They should avoid the stereotypical that portly different gender in a certain assumption of behavior and expectation. They should try to portly gender balance in their movies; this will help in solving some social problems facing our society today such as sexual biases. They should stop portraying women as the inferior gender ho are helpless, this will instill confidence in the girl child. Also, violence should not be displayed in these movies, this is because it has a negative impact on the society. Children who watch the violent acts in these movies tend to become more violent which is a detrimental character in the society. To ensure a morally upright society, Disney movies and other players in the entertainment industry should be on the fore front in promoting gender balance and violence free society through the way they portray their characters.
