The Two Happiest Places on Earth Once Again Collide

Link: Disney Reunites with McDonalds

Disney, protecting its brand of innocence and all things pure, decided to disassociate themselves with the McDonald's brand as a world-wide limelight was shed on childhood obesity and a multitude of negative press clouded the iconic Happy Meal. For years, children could not expect their favorite Disney characters to be found inside their favorite red box with their favorite greasy meal -- until now! Disney has decided to once again decided to expand their brand and marketing through McDonald's. Word on the street is that we can look for Incredibles 2 themed toys! Good news kids, your two favorite things are are now, once again, merged together. All is good is your world. 

Disney Song of the Week!

Over played? Yes. Overhyped? For sure. Loved by all elementary aged girls? Absolutely! As the after school kiddos file into the gymnasium to watch Moana after a long day of learning, I sit back and watch all of the  young girls of Iron Horse Elementary go absolutely crazy for this song when it comes on. Seconds after the song begins I hear a soft groan come from all the older boys accompanied by the adorable chorus of the Moana fangirls singing along. This song embodies such great memories with the time I spent watching elementary kids before and after school. I miss them a lot here at Duke, so I thought this week I could dedicate a post to my favorite groupie of kids -- my Iron Horse Elementary friends.

Tap Into Your Inner Disney Villain

Quiz -- What Disney Villain Are You?

I fell down the buzzfeed hole of procrastination and thought I would start others on it as well. After watching The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty I was intrigued by both Ursula and Maleficent and wondered what made them such enticing female villains. After my web villain hunt, buzzfeed helped me come to the conclusion that my villain spirit animal is the Queen of Hearts, which I like because the name sort of implies that I am royal and a heart breaker. However, to be honest, the personalities of me and the Queen of Hearts are pretty different. It takes a lot to get me mad, unlike the Queen. None the less, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring my villainous side.

Curiosity to Infatuation

Ariel, unlike the first wave princesses, dares to dream beyond the realm of a prince. She dreams to walk on land, learn about thingamabobs, and be where the people are. She also, to my surprise, doesn't passively give up her dream when others attempt to persuade her out of it. I love her curiosity, her sense of adventure, and her acts of deviance against her father's well-intended but narrow-minded wishes. In the beginning of the movie, a sense of wonder twinkles in her eyes when she discusses all of her finding with Scuttle and bravely enters the sunken ship. Ariel teaches girls to be curious about the unknown and to have a hunger for discovery. She was brave enough to fight off sharks, snoop on the prince's birthday party, and to rescue Eric after the shipwreck. Ariel is a princess with zest and teaches young girls the importance of individuality and curiosity.

However, the glaring message of "love at first sight" is so obviously instilled through both Ariel's character and Eric's. Eric even explicitly states, "Oh believe me when I find her I'll know. It will just bam hit me like lightening" when talking about how he will meet his future wife. We also see the twinkle Ariel used to have for curiosity turn to awestruck for the prince. Her desire now for wanting to explore the human world turned from being driven by a want for exploration to an infatuation with a stranger. It would be one thing if she was willing to sacrifice her voice for a passion of exploration, but for a man she does not know seems like a pretty grim message to send young girls. A voice is so much more than pretty singing, which I feel Disney does not emphasis enough. A loss of your voice is a loss to an opinion,  a loss of communication, and a loss of personality.

The fact that Eric fell in love with a girl that he couldn't have a conversation with is beyond the realm of reality. Disney then sends the message to kids that love is based solely off of beauty. The entire romance between Ariel and Prince Eric is superficial and should not be endorsed by parents and consumed by children.

In Ariel's defense however, it is a bit unclear if the motivation for giving up her voice for legs is solely for a man or whether part of her chose to sacrifice her voice for the chance to explore the human world. Through my consumption of the film, I was led to believe that from the second she laid eyes on Eric, he became her one and only focus. I can see a potential argument being made that more went into her decision to sign Ursula's contract than wanting to be with Eric, but seeing things this way is something that would extend far beyond the mental capacity of kids. Therefore, I think it is safe to conclude that the message Disney portrays to young girls in this movie is that love is superficial and happens within an instant of physical attraction. While the film's messages started off strong, it ended up sending an overarching negative message about how people fall in love. 

Disney Song of the Week!

So maybe this isn't the exact message these lyrics are trying to portray but here is a Disney inspired message for your day...

The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake, so stop comparing yourself to others and be happy with your the world around you, there is such wonderful things around you!

I sang this song in high school choir complete with choreographed dance motions. It was a dream come true -- an entire concert full of Disney songs. From nostalgic memories to recent ones, Disney will continue to create new lasting memories throughout my lifetime.

"Just look at the world around you

Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things around you

What more is you looking for?"

Sleeping Beauty is as Passive as her Nickname Sounds

After watching the film, I was a little disappointed to see that the role of Aurora had very little substance. In fact, I would argue that the main characters of the story were the fairies over the princess. While, I disliked the way the princess was portrayed in the film, I actually quite enjoyed seeing the fairies take initiative in helping raise and save the princess.

While their are some obvious gender stereotypes portrayed even through the roles of the fairies, overall, I loved to see three females take on the main heroic role. They are the ones that gave Prince Phillip the power to slay Maleficent. They were the ones smart enough to give the curse placed on Aurora a loophole. They were the ones who selflessly took on the role of caregiver, and selflessly gave up their magic wands for 16 years. The plump, kind, and nurturing fairies are not a typical hero. They are not strong, noble, or impeccably good looking. They were not a man. I think we should applaud Disney for turning a motherly-like character into someone that saves the kingdom.

However, on the other hand, while the overarching casting was a job well done, there were some glaring gender stereotyping that played a key role in. The first gift they gave Aurora was the gift of beauty. Kind of ridiculous that of all the things you would want to give a child the first thing that comes to mind is beauty. This action places an emphasis on how important it is in society for a woman to be attractive. The fairy quite literally makes it seem like that is the most important thing a girl needs. It is completely outrageous. Are a girl's looks going to help her solve the worlds problems? Are they going to help her treat people kindly? Are they going to help her find her passions or talents? No, looks are absolutely worthless when it comes to the true substance of a person, and is the last thing I would want my future daughter putting at the top of her list for things she aspired for. Why couldn't the gift have been intelligence, creativity, compassion, ambition, or resilience? Why did it have to be so surface level? It places girls in this confining box that there need not be any more than a pretty face. As for the second wish, I will let it slide because I am a sucker for song, but would like to quickly point out the gross subtlety that implies a beautiful must also be paired with a beautiful voice. The third wish, however, is definitely one I have to harp on. I will give it to the fairies, it was clever to try and fight evil with good, but to specifically put her fate in the hands of "true love's kiss" is demeaning by making her destined to be a damsel in distress. They put her fate in that of a man's. Why not gift here with a gift that allows her to save herself?

Aurora is honestly a pretty lack-luster character. She is passive and has little to no spunk. She is so  startled by the prince, and does not even want to give him her name She naively falls in love at first sight, yet does not fight to see him after being told she must return to the castle. Instead, she cries and morns the fact that she has just been given the power and title of a princess instead getting to see a man she has spend five minutes with.

The fairy, in my opinion, stole the show in this movie and were much more dynamic, interesting characters than Aurora. Though Disney missed the mark on defying gender roles a good amount of times throughout the movies, I overall enjoyed the fact the the fairies saved the day and think that is a positive message we can pass on to young viewers.

Bibbity Bobbity Boutique

Though I am absolutely certain that I would have been completely beside myself if I had gotten the chance to do this when I was a kid, now that I am older I really don't know what to think of it. It is going to the extreme of extremes emphasizing that to feel special, powerful, confident, and princess-like you must be beautiful. On the surface is seems like all the sparkle is just fun and innocent, but I am really not so sure. The mom says at the end of the video, that going to a place like Bibbity Bobbity Boutique has allowed her daughter's dream of being a princess to come true, and she can now dream even bigger. I practically cringed at that comment because, it seems to me, that "bigger" -- when taught that beauty is something to dream of and aspire to -- sounds incredibly toxic and harmful to a young girl. "Bigger" will lead to insecurities and lower self esteem. Bigger leads to the opposite of empowerment in this sense. 

Disney Song of the Week!

The voice of Pocahontas is by far, in my opinion, the most beautiful of all the Disney princesses. But besides the surface level beauty of the song, the point Pocahontas has is so important and still remains relevant to this day. As Pocahontas says, "if the savage one is me, how can there be so much that you don't know?" To often people feel the need to exert superiority over others when, in reality, we are all just people. We fail to realize that there is something to be learned from everyone and everything around you. Take some time to ask a grinning bobcat why he grins, taste the sun sweet berries of the Earth, and paint with all the colors of the wind. You will learn so much from what you're surrounded by.

"You think the only people who are people

Are the people who look and think like you

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger

You'll learn things you never knew you, never knew"

Princess Designer

Link: Disney Princesses with Realistic Waistlines

If you could design a Disney princess...

If I could design a Disney princess the first word that comes to mind is balance. I want her to be poised yet strong, outspoken yet respectful, quick witted yet thoughtful. In the words of Peggy Ornstein I would want her to "have it all" and "be it all." However, upon rethinking all my contradicting descriptions that first came to mind, I have come to the conclusion that I wouldn't want my princess to take on the task of pleasing everyone and being actual perfection. More than anything, I would want my princess to be comfortable in her own skin, I would want my Disney princess to be intelligent, passionate, confident, and unforgivably herself. As for a fun plot line, I would make her a doctor that saves the life of a prince, and --yes-- she should have a realistic waistline and the coolest, quirky glasses young girls have ever seen. 

Wrestling with Disney

How can something like Disney, loved throughout all society, not be good? How can something that we have all grow up with, can all relate to, and can all find magic in be anything less innocent than its outer appearance? Is it possible that this "innocence" is all a facade that needs to be investigated? It comes down to the idea that the big brand of Disney is much more than a corporation for children entertainment. Disney is a corporation with political, educational, and ethic undertones that have much more power in influencing young kids than what we may naively think at first glance. Without a doubt, Disney has been a moral compass in countless young children's lives, and, on the surface, their movies instill some great messages. However, when these films are looked at with a much more critical eye than that of a six year old, it is clear there are some other messages being depicted that are not quite as universally accepted as the ones children grasp onto. Specifically when we start to evaluate the way Disney often displays gender roles.

When one starts to question the integrity of Disney, a majority of us do not take the topic seriously enough. Disney is passed down from generation to generation; we see it as part of the family in a way. It has worked its way into our hearts through our upbringing and we find it hard to inspect it with any sort of scrutiny when we have developed such fond personal relationships with the brand. Admittedly, I am wrestling to do so myself, however I do see the pressing need for such inquiry. We cannot simply argue that it is pointless to overanalyze such contexts because Disney is the best we've got or that we will never have the power to change its ways. In doing so we allow ourselves to use a scapegoat to not further challenge our  intellectual capabilities and  press forward and understand how media shapes culture. Dr. Crank describes this ability to not only consume media, but to understand the media we consume as a term called media literacy -- and those two words are the big "so what" of this blog.

Media literacy not only pertains to Disney, obviously, but to the world of consumerism. Disney, may be a person's first exposure into this world which makes it a prime example of study, especially because its target audience is the minds of children. Because they are the most susceptible to media influence it is our job to make sure what me set in front of them promotes an inclusive culture with positive messages. As the famous Henry Giroux explains, Disney is a "teaching machine" and while we are in the midst of this consumeristic culture, its main focus is business, which makes it our job to develop strong media literacy skills to make sure their business agenda aligns with the culture we want to promote in generations to come. Do not be oblivious to the shield of innocence Disney promotes, yes that is much of its identity as entertainment, but at the end of the day it is a powerful media conglomerate that needs to be read by society. 

Disney Song of the Week

Fun fact -- the first time I ever danced was to the soundtrack of Tarzan. When the music started to play I would crawl over to the leg of the living room table and pull myself up. I would stand hugging the leg of the table and bounce to the rhythm of the song.

This song in particular has a place in my heart (yes pun intended) because is it a song relating to a mother-child relationship. I remember my own mother singing me this song in our rocking chair upstairs, and will one day sing these same words to my children. 

"You'll be in my heart

Yes you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more"

Dream Big, Princess

After my last post, I decided to seek out some more positive characteristics of Disney princesses, and they truly were not hard to find. I figured who better to turn to than the princess actresses themselves, and sure enough they are very proud of the animated princesses they brought to life and saw much more in their role than narrow-minded feministic ideals. They see girls who have a "zest for life." Girls who are "steadfast" and "brave." They see a "contagious spirit" and girls with "tenacity." Their "selflessness" and daring to dream "outside of the box" lead them to come into their own and be "heroine[s]." These princesses are "strong" and "capable."

These princesses can be a lot more to a daughter than a pretty face.

The "Princess Effect"

The so called "princess effect"

The debate over this so called "princess effect" has been on the minds of young parents for generations, yet many never arrive to a clear conclusion as to whether or not they believe it actually exists. Is their validity in this pressing concern or has it just gained far to much hype from the increasing feministic climate? I mean after all, we are just talking about fairytales here. At the end of the day, princesses are all just in good fun right? Wrong.

Maybe for those of us older than elementary school aged children, it is easy for us to overlook some of the negative connotations that come with the wave of princess mania. However, to young, malleable children some of the negative connotations we can oftentimes be blind to are glaringly obvious and captured in the spongy minds of kids. How can the things we expose our children to not have an effect on them? Growing up, the world is a window of discovery. Little minds take in everything they can, why would we be naive enough to thing they don't take in all of what the Disney princess has to offer? The iconic Disney princess is much more than a beautiful gown and a handsome prince charming -- the undertones behind these ideals are often times a young girl's first exposure to the negative effects female directed media has on feministic stereotypes.

The Proof

There have been countless studies done on the effects Disney princesses have on young children and time and time again the results prove to be the same. For girls, studies find that the more girls get enthralled with the princess culture, the more likely they are to act in a traditional feminine fashion. They also find that girls who have lower self esteem, particularly regarding body image, get hooked on the Disney princess scene and stay more interested in their ideals than girls with a higher self image.   

However, in the spirit of silver linings, studies have found that there may be some benefit with Disney princess engagement in the young boy population. The princess environment has been seen to discourage the traditional aggressive propaganda behind media targeting male children. 

Why? It goes back to the simple idea of balance. Dr. Hains explains, “If girls are already tending in this direction, then increasingly exaggerating the feminine is becoming extreme. For boys, who are already immersed in a hyper-masculine culture, becoming more feminine is becoming more well-rounded.”

What can we do to be proactive about the phenomenon?

Hopefully this post doesn't come across as too negative, because -- disclaimer -- I am actually a huge fan of Disney and most definitely went through an intense princesses craze as a child. But, it is important that we do not ignore the discussion of the messages we direct at kids. There are, without a doubt, good arguments as to why princesses are not all bad. The princess culture is wrapped up in magic and wonder; it is a way for a girl to embrace her unique beauty and develop identity that mirrors that of a brave, smart, or innovative action her favorite Disney princess makes. Overall the storylines, though with a few misleading messages along the way, do promote good morals. It is our job to point these positives to children. When watching a film with a child, call out the princess for her courage decisions and her quick-wittedness. Show children that there is much more to a princess than what meets the eye. Challenge your young daughters to look past the physical beauty of a princess and seek out beauty within -- trust me it is there.