Disney Princess Stereotypes

My name is Claire Roark and I go to Poudre High School in Fort Collins, Colorado. Like you, I love to inspire the younger generation to succeed in their goals and to follow their dreams no matter what. I appreciate your passion for creating entertainment for people of all ages and have been watching Disney movies since I was very young. However, as I’ve grown up watching these movies I’ve noticed the pressure it puts on young girls to look and act the way the princesses act in these movies.

Imagine young girls looking up to heroines in movies who have a perfect body, perfect face, fantastic singing voice and are always trying to find her true love. These ideal stereotypes have girls all around the world mesmerized and trying to be that “”perfect”” girl they see in Disney Princess movies. These movies also portray stereotypes concerning the role of a female including cleaning, cooking, and always having the male be the dominant one. Because of these stereotypes, younger girls are putting on lots of makeup, dying there hair, and trying to have the “”perfect”” body by working out or even cutting back on the food they eat. These social norms create a false sense of self-esteem that can give younger girls the wrong message, and create a situation where if a young girl is criticized, her self-esteem may drop even more. My concern with Disney Princess movies following stereotypes is mainly based off of young children believing they need to succeed these expectations. Although many young girls idolize Disney princesses, they promote stereotypical behavior and therefore female characters should be changed in upcoming movies.

Media has been influencing all generations for many years. The history of stereotypes in Disney dates back to The impact of movies on young children’s perception of there body images has been a continued concern. As I was reading an article on DoSomething.org, I learned that, “”Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achievetheir ideal body shape. Unfortunately, only 5% of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by Americans in the media”” (“”11 Facts about Body Image””). The majority of girls have a problem with their body types which is a major problem because girls should not be ashamed of their bodies. The Washington post did a study about how princess culture affects 198 preschoolers and Elementary girls. The one main point they got out of this research is that the more the princess culture affects girls, the more they behaved in stereotypical feminine ways.

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