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Does Disney reinforce dominant ideologies?

The Walt Disney company is the biggest media conglomerate in the world according to revenue.

It was founded on 16th October 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy Disney.

Conventions of Disney films are that :

  • Throughtout the film good always defeats the evil.
  • At the end of the story there is usually a romantic marriage - happily ever after.
  • The heroine is rescued by her prince
  • In the films they always have the characters of a Princess, a prince and the evil villain. Usually they both have helpers throughout the story.

"Individual quest for self gratification, adventure and acquisition is good and just"

This shows that Disney follow the Classic hollywood narrative because in the end everything is alright, resulting in equilibrium. Which shows that Disney also follow Todorov's theorem:

Equilibrium

Disequilibrium

Equilibrium

Children are manipulated from an early age

to know the ideologies of society from watching

Disney films.

This suggests the Cultivation theory as the audience are influenced over time from watching the ideologies.

  • Such as Good always defeats evil in Disney films and that it always ends up being happily ever after. But this does not always happen in reality.

Disney Ideologies

The Disney film that I have chosen

to look at is The Princess and the Frog,

a 2009 animated family film.

A modern day retelling of the classic story The Frog Prince. The Princess and the Frog finds the lives of arrogant, carefree Prince Naveen and hardworking waitress Tiana crossing paths. Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog by a conniving voodoo magician and Tiana, following suit, upon kissing the amphibian royalty. With the help of a trumpet-playing alligator, a Cajun firefly, and an old blind lady who lives in a boat in a tree, Naveen and Tiana must race to break the spell and fulfill their dreams.

Gender

Femininity

Sterotypical of women

Hegemony

  • Idea that media influences ideologies overtime which Disney has done especially with how females are presented in their movies.
  • As usually they are all very pretty and are princesses from a wealthy family.
  • They always end up with their true love at the end of the film.
  • Also that they are shown to be the weaker gender and need rescuing by men.

Preferred Reading:

Women need to be beautiful and wealthy to be succesful is the usually ideology of Disney.

However in this film Tiana who is from a normal working class family ends up becoming a princess by marrying a Prince. This shows that you can just be a normal person.

Masculinity

In the first scene however Charlotte controls her Dad by making him get her whatever she wants, idea that women need men.

This really shows Disney presenting the Binary oppositions theory highlighting the differences between the men and women in their films. They stereotype what they believe men and women should be like in society. Again this shows the cultivation theory because children watching will learn, how they should be and become the stereotype of their gender.

Race and Ethnicity

In many Disney films the most powerful people are represented through the majority of white people and this film goes against this ideology because she becomes a princess at the end. She is Disney's first black princess.

However in the opening scene the white girl comes from a wealthy and successful family whereas Tiana is from a poorer working class family.

In animation race, gender and class particulary register as recurring indicators of hierarchy in Disney films.

Beauty

In Disney films the characters that are good, the hero or heroine are always attractive, the princess'es are made to look beautiful and flawless.

Whereas the evil person is made to be ugly, to fit in with their character that they are portraying

Binary Oppositions

The colour black in Disney films is there to show evil and death. Also the red band across his top hat show danger.

Patriarchal society

  • Women are told what to do by men

Idea of heterosexuality relationships only

Dreams do come true:

This is an ideology by Disney that happens in mostly all of their films, especially the Princess ones.

All of these are Hegemony because they are all influenced by the media

Gender- masculine and feminine

Dreams - everything

comes true

Beauty

heterosexuality

relationship

Patriarchal society

Race and ethnicity

  • In the opening of the scene goes to a little girls bedroom which is all pink, which shows femininity
  • Charlotte, her friend is wearing a pink ballgown associated with princesses.

Prince - Presented to be handsome and can easily manipulate people to get his own way, his servants and Tiana - when he pursuades her to kiss him

  • This reinforces that men are the more dominant gender in society.

Men telling Tiana what she can and cannot do, men rule over women, a sense of patriarchal society.

Pink

Idea of Patriarchal society

In the main scene the character Tiana, the black girl is shown to be manipulated at the ball by 'white male' telling her what she can't do - sense of a weaker gender.

  • Women are easily pursuaded, over-ruled by more dominant people.
  • Emotional characters, hugging her mum.

weaker

Emotional

A key aspect in Disney films:

Evil

Not attractive

Good

Blach clothing

Skull on Top Hat

Skinny

Everything is happy at the beginning, life is as normal usually starts up in the castle, where the princess lives

The princess is rescued by her prince and they live happily ever after

There is a disturbance usually by an evil villain and they are out to kidnap the princess or kill her

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