From Snow White to Pitch Black: Gender and Racial Stereotyping of the Disney Princess
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2015-08-15
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en
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Women are often portrayed with stereotypical female traits in media, such as in the animated Disney films that include the Disney Princess Line. The purpose of this study is to identify gender and racial stereotypes in the portrayal of the princesses in Disney princess films and to analyze how these stereotypes have developed and changed over time. The princesses that are analyzed by means of a content analysis are Snow White, Aurora, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Merida. To recognize ethnical and racial stereotypes, traits identified by Katz and Braly (1933), Karlins, Coffman, and Walters (1969), and Tan, Fujioka, and Lucht (1997) are used, while traits identified by Williams and Best (1990) are used to recognize gender stereotypes. Both gender and racial stereotypes are found in the analyzed films and the results show that they changed over time. The early princesses Snow White and Aurora possess only feminine traits, while the other princesses show a mix of masculine and feminine traits. The latest princess, Merida, even has far more masculine traits than feminine traits. Disney uses racial and ethnical stereotypes with moderation and care but one can argue that Tiana, as the first black princess, lacked black traits and screen time, while Merida has too many Irish traits.
Keywords: Stereotypes, Gender, Gender roles, Race, Ethnicity, Love, Disney, Princess, Femininity, Film, Animated film, Representations
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