Week 7: Gender and Childhood

This week is the beginning of our gender presentations regarding children and adolescents. Week 7's lectures and presentations were about gender during childhood. Our first presentation was called "Gender and Childhood According to Disney."

This class presentation illustrated many interesting points when it comes to gender stereotypes in Disney films. The group asked the class whether or not we thought Disney influenced children's views on relationships. Many of us agreed. The reason behind this answer is because of the stereotypical female image that is portrayed in many Disney movies. To explain further, many of the women in Disney movies are passive individuals who rely on their beauty to find a man. Also, these "princesses" are almost always thin, attractive, and sexualized, yet appear to be vulnerable too. Having these values depict the ideal female, can create issues that negatively influence children. In addition, this subconsciously teaches young girls that they need to be beautiful in order to find their prince charming or someone that will love them unconditionally.

With that being said, many Disney movies teach children (girls and boys) messages that are beneficial as well. Examples of positive messages include sharing, working together, being a good friend, etc.

While looking at YouTube clips that related to Disney movies and gender for this week's blog, I came across an interesting series of videos. They are called "Advice for Young Girls" and they are created by Belle, The Little Mermaid, and Snow White. These videos take the subliminal messages in Disney films and sarcastically express various pieces of advice that girls should definitely not follow. These videos may appear offensive, but they are meant as a form of humour to display how silly some of the role models for little girls are in a variety of Disney films.

The link below is the advice video from Belle from Beauty and the Beast. In this video, she explains (or mocks) that little girls should do the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuk-h2ZYNJU

- Stick it out if you find a man whose big, hairy, and beastly but has a lot of money and a big house
- Eat dinner with your man, but sometimes don't because he wants you to be skinny
- Never settle for something that doesn't feel like it's a challenge
- The key to love is to tolerate everything
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... As long as the woman is good looking

These words of wisdom are just some of the ridiculous messages that Disney movies often display to young children. It's difficult from my perspective because I grew up watching Disney films on a daily basis. My generation thrived on movies made by Disney, and although some people argue they teach children mixed messages, I understand the point of view that they are also classic films.

I think the important message in terms of children's movies is confirming the understanding. Children need to know that movies are made merely for entertainment purposes and not everything that happens in movies is real, appropriate, or the right thing to do. It is the parents' responsibility to speak to their children about this, otherwise we have little girls wanting to be princesses that need rescuing and little boys feeling the need to be a strong, emotionless hero.