York St John University
Examinations for Collegiate Academic Awards
An Investigation into the development of, the character known as, the ‘Disney Princess’ over the past 80 years.
How has the character made an impact on its audience through its correlation and representation of society?
A dissertation presented as part of the requirements of the degree
Of B.A (Hons) Media Production: Film and TV
Rebecca Stead
Student Number: 169044345
(5,248 words)
An investigation into the development of, the character known as, the ‘Disney Princess’ over the past 80 years.
Contents:
- Introduction …………………………………………………………… 3
- Literature review …………………………………………………… 4
- Methodology …………………………………………………………… 6 3.1Questionnaire ………………………………………………………………… 6 3.2 Ethnic Considerations ……………………………………………………… 7 3.3 Results …………………………………………………………………………… 7
- Discussion ……………………………………………………………… 11
4.1 Snow White …………………………………………………………………… 11
4.2 Cinderella ……………………………………………………………………… 11
4.3 Beauty and the Beast ……………………………………………………… 12
4.4 Mulan …………………………………………………………………………… 13
4.5 Princess and the Frog ……………………………………………………… 14
4.6 Frozen …………………………………………………………………………… 15
4.7 Moana …………………………………………………………………………… 15
- Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 17
- Bibliography …………………………………………………………… 18
- Filmography …………………………………………………………… 20
- Appendix ………………………………………………………………… 21
- Introduction
The character known as the Disney Princess has been shown within the world of film since its creation in 1937, but how has this character changed during that time and how does the character impact on its audience through its representation?
The Princess started in the form of Snow White in 1937 and for this research project, I have chosen 6 princess films following after Snow White that I believe to show the development of characteristics and imagery and therefore how this affects the storylines of the films and its audience that watch these films for entertainment purposes. The purpose of this study is to identify how each princess, from the ones I have chosen, is represented and how these correlates to society in the times each film was produced. This will be developed from multiple in-depth viewings of each film chosen, linking features either of the films storyline or the characters themselves.
Disney has become a well-integrated part of modern society because of their success in making a range of fairy tales into child friendly adventures that young children look up to. Each princess, including the ones that I have chosen, have their own hidden story behind that provides the basis for each storyline of the films. Often these stories are ones that can only be understood by their adult audiences. These princesses are part of the ‘princess franchise’ also known as the ‘princess line’ where each princess has a transmedia project created around them. Each project contains, music albums, toys, clothing and even home décor and is done so to gain more influence over their younger audience.
- Literature review
Many investigations and articles have already been conducted and published into how the world of Disney is having an impact on the range of audiences that watched their films. The character of the princess has been included in a range of these investigations and have been established as having an impact on children, whether it is a good or a bad one.
“Pretty as a princess” was a study published in June of 2016 by Sarah Coyne which examined the level of engagement with Disney princess transmedia projects and young children in their early ages of development. John McBride (2016) referred to this study in his article “Disney princesses: not brave enough” where he explores the nature of princesses magnifying stereotypes in young girls. The Disney logo has become a “symbol more powerful than any rating or review” (McBride 2016) creating a big influence on the audience for the company. Now this could be considered as a positive for young children as it makes them aware of stereotyping, however “parents think the Disney culture is safe” and instead they should “consider the long-term impact of the princess culture” (McBride 2016). McBride referenced Coyne’s study results in stating that “96 percent of girls and 87 percent of boys had viewed Disney princess media” (Coyne 2016) showing that young girls are more susceptible to influencing out of the genders.
“We know that girls who strongly adhere to female gender stereotypes feel like they can’t do some things”. “They’re not as confident that they can do well in math and science. They don’t like getting dirty, so they’re less likely to try and experiment with things.” (Coyne 2016)
The sexualisation of the Princess is a feature that causes young children to be influenced by them. Merida from “Brave” (2012) was praised for her not being gender stereotypes due to her strength and independence throughout the film dedicated to her. However, once the development of a transmedia project hit, the image of Merida was changed. “Disney slims her down, sexualizes her, takes away her bow and arrow, gives her makeup—feminizes her” (Coyne 2016).
Disney princesses are well known for their “slim figure, housework skills, and the need to be rescued by a man” (Wilson 2017) however, through recent films, they are becoming acknowledged for their demonstration of ‘determination, compassion, ambition – and fearlessness” (Wilson 2017). An article written on the BBC by Cherry Wilson looks at a more recent audience of the Disney princess films and what the modern girl can learn from this character. Wilson tries to focus on a positive impact that the princess gives to young girls and how a famous face could help show this.
The England women’s football team are current partners with Disney on a campaign that focuses on the princess’s strong attributes as a way to get more young girls into football as they believe the princess traits are “exactly what you need to become a successful player” (Wilson 2017). Captain of the team Steph Houghton added: “Being brave, being strong and being kind are all important attributes when it comes to building a successful team.” As well as the England women’s football team, the former Miss England, Stephanie Hill, think that’s even the first few Disney Princesses can show inspiration from 80 years ago and can be positive role models like their modern sisters.
“I think the more vintage Disney princesses that are scrutinised, like Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, who people depict as waiting for success to come to them, can be inspirational. In the end they had similar drive. They wanted a better life and it just so happened male figures came into that.” (Hill, 2017). She believes that the character of the Princess shows struggles in life but prove that you can get through them with enough work and support and a positive can-do attitude.
“Over the years, Disney has moved away from depicting its princesses as delicate and demure. The late 1980s saw an ambitious mermaid Ariel defy her dad to achieve her dream of becoming a human – even if she did sacrifice her voice for a man. Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Jasmine in Aladdin had an independent streak, while Mulan showed women could fight just as well as men – if not better. In 2009, Tiana became Disney’s first black princess and 2012’s Merida from Brave showed off an adventurous spirit and a love of archery. Frozen’s Elsa and Anna have been praised for putting sisterhood at the heart of their happiness. And Disney’s newest female heroine Moana was depicted with an average body type and without a love interest.” (Wilson, 2017)
In the end of 2018 Kiera Knightley hit headlines by her shock admission of banning her 3-year-old daughter from watching Disney classics. In an article posted by the Daily mail, Jabeen Waheed referred to a premier that Kiera Knightley attended and announced to the press that “she banned her daughter from watching the Disney classics Cinderella and Little Mermaid” (Waheed, 2018). She believes that the classics “are rescued by men” (Waheed, 2018) and that instead her daughter needs to learn to rescue herself. Films such as “Cinderella” (1950) and “The Little Mermaid” (1989) rely on a man for their role within the films and Kiera believes this to be a bad representation for young girls, including her daughter. However, the influence of more modern Disney princesses such as Elsa from “Frozen” (2013) and Moana (2016) is a positive one. Therefore, her daughter is allowed to watch these films under her roof.
“I just wonder what Elsa (Frozen) would say to Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Cinderella because Elsa has some serious opinions about Anna (her sister in Frozen) going off with a guy that she’s only just met and saying she would marry him.” (Knightley, 2018)
The independence and lack of male influence throughout Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016) is a trait that Kiera Knightley wants to show to her children and in her eyes should continue in any future princesses that Disney produce.
- Methodology
The research methodology for this project consists of critical analysis as well as a questionnaire. There will be a critical analysis for each film chosen to discuss for the topic, concluding in 7 over all. The qualitative research of individual critical viewings were done so to gain an understanding of underlying reasons and allow the quantitative research of questionnaires to show the feelings of a wider audience towards Disney. Multimethodology is a relatively new term that Creswell (2013) confirms to be a valid research method that includes more than one method of data collection. Other research methods such as individual interviews and participant observation were considered for this study, however were deemed unnecessary. According to Denscombe (2010), participant observations have concluded in positive results. The ability to watch the participants as they watch a certain film and through this note their behaviour as they do so can be a useful way to collect data. This would have been a very interesting option, however according to Denscombe (2010) a lot of trust must be built with the participants and due to ethics, this would be deemed difficult with Disney’s major audience of young children. As well as this a large amount of data must be accommodated for this collection method to be justified and time was unfortunately limited.
- Questionnaire
For the questionnaire the rules of quantitative research were followed, and questions were kept open ended for the participants (see appendix 1). This would allow anyone who answered the questionnaire to be completely honest within their answers and not be limited to any options provided. McLeod (2018) stated that “Rich qualitative data is obtained as open questions allow the respondent to elaborate on their answer. This means the research can find out why a person holds a certain attitude.” He continued to state that “questionnaires can be an effective means of measuring the behaviour, attitudes, preferences, opinions and, intentions of relatively large numbers of subjects” (McLeod 2018). The questionnaire was created this way to provide answers with true feeling in order to gain a true representation of how society see and connect to the Disney princess. The questionnaire was conducted with 8 main questions and 3 sub questions correlating to particular questions within the main 8 responses (see appendix 2, 3 & 4). Keeping the questionnaire short was done so with the hopes of participants not losing interest during answering. The questionnaire was distributed online over social media (see appendix 5) in order to try gain as wide audience as possible with the advantage of sharing from one participant to another. This also meant participants could answer the questions without the researched present. However, according to McLeod (2018), this can cause “respondents may lie due to social desirability. Most people want to present a positive image of themselves and so may lie or bend the truth to look good.” To eliminate this, all responses were kept anonymous and there was no requirement to state to the researcher when a questionnaire had been completed.
- Ethical considerations
Participants taking the questionnaire were assured they were not forced to complete the research and could withdraw any time after starting. If any children were to participate, they would do so through a guardian to prevent ethical disapproval. As well as this, there was an assurance of anonymity during the process and confidentiality. Any findings collected from the research will be used for this research solely. This research study was approved by the York St John University ethics committee.
- Results
With the questionnaire, that was developed, being answer by almost 40 people, this gave me precise and concluded results within the 8 main questions asked.
- What is your gender?
- What age group do you fall into?
- What is your favourite Disney Princess film?
- What is your favourite feature of the Disney princess?
- What is your least favourite feature of the Disney princess?
- Have you noticed any changes to the Disney princess since you started watching them?
- Does the Disney princess affect the way you see yourself?
- Would you change any feature of the Disney princess?
With my questionnaire being 100% answered by females, it allowed a true gender resemblance between the Disney princess and my questionnaire participants. Recognising the favourite feature of the Disney princess for its audience establishes an understanding of how the representation of the character is reflected. As well as this, it was interesting to visualise the percentage of viewers that are affected by the princess within the way that they see themselves, and although it is less than 10%, that is still too many as well as the over 15% that are indecisive on the question. This, therefore, reflects within the final question of over 20% over the Disney princess audience asked wanting to change features of the character and that main feature being their resemblance of true women (see appendix 4). A link from this answer is connected back to question 5 of the survey that concludes that, from probability, the reliance that the princess character has upon men within their storylines, is the audiences least favourite feature.
- Discussion
- Snow white
Snow White doesn’t fit the stereotypical image of the Disney princess that we know now. She was created with short hair, and a more realistic body image (see appendix 6). However, during this time, the “perfect” female body image was seen as curvier. In ‘The real Walt Disney’ (Mosley 1985) it is stated that the character of Snow White was based upon the woman they hired to play Snow White’s voice (pp 154-157). This creates a link between the Princess and women within the society in the 1930’s.
America and women in the 1930’s had a different look to what we see in modern society.
Towards the end of the 1930’s, when Snow White was released, the ideal body image was described as a “soft, feminine figure”.
“The perfect 1938 figure, must have curves”.
“The ideal figure must have a round, high bosom, a slim but not wasp-like waist, and gently rounded hips”. (see appendix 7)
Snow White follows these characteristics in her body image as well as the distinctive comparison of her short-curled hairstyle, a common fashion of this time period. This shows that real women and society can have an impact during the creation of animation.
- Cinderella
Cinderella was the second of the Princesses to be created. She held a similar look to her prior Princess, Snow White, however has a slightly smaller frame and waist (see appendix 8). Cinderella is presented to us as a young peasant girl who is a slave to her horrible step mother and ugly step sisters. Majority of the time she is seen in ‘rags’ and is limited to what she allowed to do. The only time the girl is seen as more than a slave, is during the ball, where she meets the Prince. She is not introduced as a Princess, but simply a maiden who returns to her ‘duties’ once the evening is over.
The story of Cinderella doesn’t appear to follow the women’s roles of the 1950’s during the period where the Second World War was ending. Although the women of the house still looked after the children, this wasn’t their sole role and they were now, doing more outside of the home. Cinderella doesn’t form to this, as her only job is to stay at home and do as demanded of her. Cinderella follows ‘Fairy tales and the art of Subversion’ (Zipes 2006), where it comments that the Princesses are “helpless ornaments in need of protection. When it comes to the action of the film, they are omitted” (p 205).
The Cinderella formula was created and published in his book ‘Adventure, Mystery and Romance’ (Cawelti 1976) which is based upon the storyline of Cinderella where “the poor girl falls in love with some rich or aristocratic man” (p 42). Cinderella, forms to Vladimir Propp’s 7-character types that he created as well as 31 narrative types after analysing over 100 tales, that he wrote in ‘Propp’s morphology of the folk tale’ (1968). He stated that there were 7 particular characters that would appear in every storyline. Cinderella would be placed under the character of the Princess or prize.
“The villain — an evil character that creates struggles for the hero.
The dispatcher — any character who illustrates the need for the hero’s quest and sends the hero off. This often overlaps with the princess’s father.
The helper — a typically magical entity that comes to help the hero in their quest.
The princess or prize, and often her father — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her as a consequence of some evil or injustice, perhaps the work of the villain. The hero’s journey is often ended when he marries the princess, which constitutes the villain’s defeat.
The donor — a character that prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object, sometimes after testing them.
The hero — the character who reacts to the dispatcher and donor characters, thwarts the villain, resolves any lacking or wrong hoods and weds the princess.
The false hero — a Miles Glorious figure who takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.”
- Beauty and the Beast
The plot of the Disney Princess movie changes slightly during Beauty and the Beast as Belle is not interested in love, but simply wants more to life for herself alone.
The features of Belle’s life and surroundings show us that the representation of Disney Princess world is starting to distance more from women in real society. In the 1990’s women had made a statement within society and made huge strides within the working environment. However, within the 1991 animation, it is reminded to Belle that she is “odd” due to her being able to read books and she should instead be expected to marry a man in order to become a house wife and have children. This shows us that Disney’s concept of the Princess if starting to distance from societies representation of a normal girl and the idea of this character is not one of similarity but one of fantasy and idealised imagery only.
The Princess still becomes the prize at the end of the tale, however the Prince isn’t needed to save her, when he is in fact the one that imprisons her into his castle. According to Jack Zipes (2006) “the female denies herself for what she wants” (p 56) as it takes her until she leaves to understand she wants the Beast. Beauty and the Beast is where we started to see a small change in the image of the Disney Princess. The waist on Belle became even smaller and the change in the eyes became more apparent. They become an unrealistic feature of the Princess as they grow extremely large. The eyes become the centre feature on the Princesses face and makes her more attractive, as well as eye catching due to the unusually large feature (see appendix 9), as the other characters in the film have smaller eyes than her. This becomes another aspect of the Disney Princess world to become more distance from real society representation as the look of the Princess is becoming more unrealistic and less relatable.
According to John Cawelti (1976) “the female equivalent of the adventure story is the romance” (p 41) making the audience, for the tale, a majority of the female gender as “most romances have female central characters” (p 41).
Laura Mulvey also states that the female spectator of the films will enjoy the more attractive elements of the female character within a film. Within “Feminist Film Theorists” (Chaudhuri 2006) Laura Mulvey explains, with the help of Freud, “during many women’s lives, there are frequent regressions to a phallic phase, leading their behaviour to alternate between ‘passive’ femininity and regressive ‘masculinity'” (p 40).
This therefore means that Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze can be applied to Beauty and the Beast.
The male gaze was a concept created by Laura Mulvey in 1973 and published in 1975 as part of an essay called ‘Visual pleasures and narrative cinema’. During her piece, she claimed that spectators are encouraged to identify with the look of the male hero and make the heroine a passive object. Linking this to Disney Princess movies, Mulvey is claiming that we see the Princess through the eyes of her Prince. This can be confirmed in Beauty and the Beast as we see Belle in the Beast’s environment due to imprisoning her. The way Belle appears can be connected to Mulvey’s thoughts on scopophilia. Although Mulvey states it is done in a sexual manner, the concept still applies as Belle is made out to look slimmer and more beautiful in order to satisfy the Prince. Linking back to a female audience and Mulvey’s explanation of the female gender gaining just as much pleasure, means Belle’s appearance does follow Mulvey’s idea of satisfaction for the audience as well.
- Mulan
Mulan follows the story of a Princess who is of an Asian descendent and because of this has to follow a strict lifestyle that impacts on the storyline of the tale.
In order to save her father, Mulan changes stereotypes of the Disney Princess and pretends to be a male. Linking back to Mulan being of Asian descendent, if we look at the image of Mulan it can be questioned whether Disney has tried to beautify the Princess too much and distance further away from a true society resemblance. Mulan still follows the convention of large eyes, despite the Asian image being well known for smaller eyes as well Mulan having very pale skin which is also unusual (see appendix 10).
The storyline behind Mulan, shows the clear separation of the roles of men and women in the time and place the tale is set. It shows the male gender being the one who is expected to solely work and fight for his family and the female gender to sit back and be obedient to their husband or father. In terms of this in correlation to gender roles within society, the gap is getting wider. The female gender is no longer expected to be a housewife and shows that Mulan is representing a time that does not correlate to its release time. One song in the film also states females should be of good breeding and have a tiny waist. Mulan could be classed as being feminist due to Mulan showing she is just as capable of doing the job of a male. Mulan’s only worth is how suitable she is for marriage and domestic life. This shows there to be an inequality in gender roles throughout the tale.
The concept behind the film would seem to prove that Mulan is a feminist film due to the clear discrimination of the female gender. From the start of the film until the end, women are shown as the weaker sex.
Teresa de Lauretis states (2006) that females are always shown as mothers and the character who takes care of the children and the home in the film because it has been embedded into us from a young age that this is the role females should take (p 48). The songs within Mulan describe the way in which the female gender should be in the tale, supporting Lauretis’ view. “Honour to us all” includes the lyrics “A girl can bring her family great honour in one way, by striking a good match, and this could be the day. Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast-paced. With good breeding and a tiny waist…”.
Another song within the tale “Be a Man” would appear to state that men and only men should be “swift as a coursing river, [have] all the force of a great typhoon, …the strength of a raging fire, and [be] mysterious as the dark side of the moon”.
Referencing the female gender is done often throughout the tale where the word “girl” is used as an insult. When the Princess is found out to be in a male disguise character Chi Fu claims “I knew there was something wrong with you! A woman!” and later he says, “She’ll never be worth anything! She’s a woman!”
This shows the way in which women are treated and are clearly shown as inferior to males, showing a discrimination and confirming a feminist concept in the tale that is not of true representation to the state of society during 1998 and shows Disney tales and princesses to only be viewed as an image created with the perfect idealisation in mind.
- Princess and the Frog
Tiana is the first Princess who has a real job in her fairy tale society in order to survive and reach her dream. This feature of the film can cause society to see this Princess as a more acceptable representation to show independence. This is a character trait that correlates women within society during this time and starts the process for Disney princess characteristics to become ones of more appropriate representation. Although the characteristics are changing, the imagery of the Princess still has not adapted from the initial changes made back in Belle over 15 years earlier (see appendix 11). This is also the first Princess film where the Prince is not rich and joins his Princess in her dream of working. This film therefore disguards the Cinderella formula by John Cawelti. Tiana is also the first Disney Princess that holds a distinctive race difference in her appearance. Previous Princesses such as Jasmine, Mulan and Pocahontas are of a different ethnicity, however their image does not show this clearly. Tiana, and a large selection of characters, that appear in the tale, are the first to show a clear difference in racial colour.
It took Disney until 2009, to finally create a film that included characters of a different race and show it clearly. However, the colour shown within the film does not just show a race change, but also a distinguished difference in wealth.
The characters of a darker complexion are of poorer wealth, whereas the richer characters, are shown to be of a huge wealth and spending money. Even the Prince, who is of darker complexion, is also ‘broke’. Unfortunately, not as much of this race change was seen due to the two main black characters spending most of their time as frogs.
This link between race and wealth is clear in all films, not just in the world of Disney Princess animation. The link in main stream cinema has been made in films such as “12 years a slave” (2013) and Hairspray (2007) (see appendix 12). Hairspray shares the link of black, white and wealth with Princess and the Frog, as the white community are shown to be of a higher wealth with their outfits and their homes. Tiana’s family, when she was a younger girl, is shown to live in a lower-class area compared to her Mother’s boss, who lives in a large mansion on the wealthier side of town.
- Frozen
The anticipated release of Frozen (2013) came with stereotypes that are created as a part of the Princess tale are created in a particular way for the spectator to receive the most pleasure from the film.
Bruno Bettleheim stated in ‘The uses of Enchantment’ (1975) that fairy tales overwhelm children’s unconscious mind (p 55). The look and characteristics of characters within the Disney Princess tales affects the way the spectators look at themselves.
The child spectators of the Disney tales “see the stories at not untrue”. As mentioned previously, Propp created 7-character types (1968) that can now be seen as stereotypes for the Disney tale. The character of the Prince is challenged during Frozen as well as the Princess.
It is challenged due to their being two Princesses as well as one of them possibly being shown as villain. Both Princesses do not wait for a Prince to come and save them but instead go on individual journeys to realise their love for each other.
Christopher Booker stated that there are 7 basic plots within storylines of films which he wrote in “The Seven Basic Plots: why we tell stories” (2004). These 7 plots are:
“Overcoming the monster
Rags to riches
The quest
Voyage & return
Comedy
Tragedy
Rebirth” (pp 21- 194)
The usual plots for the Disney Princess would either include overcoming the monster or rags to riches. The tale of Frozen does not follow the usual Disney plot. Neither Princess goes from rags to riches but instead one goes through a rebirth and the other follows the quest plot after both having a tragedy. The change in narrative within this film, sparks the continuous change in character and looks that has been developing within the Princess character since Tiana (see appendix 13). The lack of need for Prince and that continuing characteristic of independence being shown in different ways gages with an audience for the world of Disney and society coming back together for a more realistic representation.
- Moana
Moana is one of the latest of the Disney Princesses to be created and has followed on with a mixture of influences from its prior tales.
She follows Princess and the Frog by being of a different racial colour, as well as her community being of it too.
Her appearance, in body type, would appear to take us back to the original Princess, Snow White, as they share a larger, curvier frame which shows a more accurate correlation towards society (see appendix 14).
She also follows Frozen, following the character of Elsa, by not having a love interest throughout and going on her own journey to find herself once again challenging Propp (1968) and Booker (2004) with their character types and basic plots.
Moana doesn’t just show a lack of love interest, it in fact doesn’t show a Prince at all, within the tale, classing her as an anti- princess and not being as feminine or dainty.
- Conclusion
As stated in my introduction, the purpose of this research project was to critically explore how the Disney princess has developed over the past 80 years and how the characters correlation towards society has made an impact on its audience. This exploration could therefore bring forward a debate on what the best representation of the Disney princess is and what changes should be made to achieve that, to fulfil the audience’s expectations.
According to the research gathered through questionnaires, it was established that audiences of Disney, enjoy a mixture of old classics and new releases. They also enjoy the features that include the choice of clothing, hair and the character of kindness that they hold. The further developments of the princess, in response to their audience, should reduce their reliance on men within their personal storylines as well as a variation within their appearance that should reflect a diverse a more realistic female. This could be backed up from previous studies into the topic, that were researched, that believe the Disney princess can be damaging to young children through their false representation of women and need to hold a realistic image instead of a fantasised one.
We have already seen an improvement within the princess through Moana, but it can be concluded that Disney are already trying to make more changes due to their live action re makes of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast using real women. As well as this, the stereotypical features of the princess were established within “Wreck it ralph 2” (2018). During one scene every Disney princess stated a feature that made them a ‘princess’, one which included a big strong man sorted out all their problems, in which one character of the film replied “yes, what is up with that?”. This feature is being established as one that needs to be changed in future films.
Some of the strengths that were created within this study were the amount of responses gathered from the questionnaire. This allowed a solid conclusion within the responses and it was interesting to see how similar and different people’s answers were. Carrying on with strengths of the study, came through the in-depth viewings of each films chosen. There were many different points of the films to analyse and the feature of society correlation allowed a smooth flow through one film to the next.
If this topic was to be researched into again, a follow up questionnaire would be conducted in order to explore deeper into the audience’s emotion towards the princess character. Furthermore, participant observations would also be conducted in order to create a link between questionnaires and the observations to create a more solid conclusion. The participant observation would have also allowed links to be made between the individual in-depth viewing of the films.
Bibliography
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Filmography
12 Years a Slave. (2013) [Film] Directed by Steve McQueen. United States, Summit Entertainment, Regency Enterprises, River Road Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment, New Regency Productions, Film4 Productions.
Beauty and the Beast. (1991) [Film] Directed by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Cinderella. (1950) [Film] Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Frozen. (2013) [Film] Directed by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Hairspray. (2007) [Film] Directed by Adam Shankman. United States, Ingenious Media, Zadan/Meron Productions.
Moana. (2016) [Film] Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Mulan. (1998) [Film] Directed by Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Princess and the Frog. (2009) [Film] Directed by John Musker, Ron Clements. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Snow White. (1937) [Film] Directed by David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Ben Sharpsteen, William Cottrell, Perce Pearce. United States, Walt Disney Productions.
Ralph Breaks the Internet. (2018) [Film] Directed by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston. United States, Walt Disney Studios.
Appendix
Appendix 1
Disney Princess films
I wish to see how audiences view the Disney princess character and how this has changed since its creation over 80 years ago.
* Required
What is your gender? *
Female
Male
Prefer not to say
Other:
What age group do you fall into? *
0- 10
11- 20
21- 30
31- 40
41- 50
51- 60
61- 70
71- 80
80+
What is your favourite Disney Princess film? *
Your answer
Why is it your favourite? *
Your answer
What is your favourite feature of the Disney Princess? *
Your answer
What is your least favourite feature of the Disney Princess? *
Your answer
Have you noticed any changes to the Disney Princess since you started watching them? *
Yes
No
If yes, what have you noticed?
Your answer
Does the Disney Princess affect the way you see yourself? *
Yes
No
Maybe
Would you change any features of the Disney Princess? *
Yes
No
If yes, what would you change?
Your answer
SUBMIT
Appendix 2
Why is it your favourite?
I love the story
Pocahontas – It’s historical accuracy and portrayal of a strong, independant woman. The Little Mermaid – the music, comedy and characters make it a true classic.
Just like all the characters
It was the first one I ever saw so it is nostalgic.
It involves the rescue of a princess in a dramatic way and its funny.
Because I like the songs
It shows young individuals not to judge a book by its cover
She’s a good friend of mine
Good storyline and the music is great
Because of the cute little mice, and because glass slippers… goals
I think that the character of Belle is a strong female character who influences learning
Music
I love the twist on the traditional fairytale of Rapunzel and it’s so funny, plus the songs are really good!
Because of the princess
The story line mainly
Love the ocean
Moral behind the story
She’s a mermaid
Because she follows her heart
classic. story of shared kindness.
Favourite since childhood
The story
The story of love between the beast and Belle
Always loved the fairytale of rapunzel as a child
She’s positive and she does what she likes
The moral of the story
Favourite fairy tale
The soundtrack and Sven
The music / characters
It’s different
Shows a different side of life for some people Shows that you don’t have to be someone you’re not to get noticed
It’s different
She starts from the bottom
Because it is historically accurate
songs
Made me cry
Pretty
Interesting story
A feeling of understanding and empathy with one of the main characters
Appendix 3
If yes, what have you noticed?
A lot more original. Variety of ethnicities and body shapes
They’re a lot more human and realistic now
The new animation
The culture and ethnicity has diversified. It’s also no longer about finding a prince, but the princess finding herself
She got a new film!
Change towards females being dependant on males.
The depth of their character and the way they look
Princesses have become stronger and more independent
They have become less realistic in terms of body image
No longer damsel in distress
Becoming more politically correct, to the point where re-releases are being edited
Less damsel in distress, more forward thinking and brave i.e snow white vs moana
They’re more independent
Attempt to strengthen female ideals. Equality for representation
Less reliance on males– eg frozen (sisters), less bothered about appearance and more diversity through ethnicity culture etc
Frozen and moana in particular don’t need a man to save the day
They’ve got red heads and coloured girls
More racially diverse
More independent, less reliance on male characters
The newer princesses aren’t reliant on getting saved by princes as much
Theirs slowly moving away from traditional Disney features
Difference race being used, they become less helpless and can do things for themselves
More culturally diverse. Men aren’t the saviour in some of the more recent ones such as Frozen.
Altered eyes
Boobs
Boobs
More
Although being well read and encouraged to explore her intellect by the parent figure, she is often left alone at age 16 and acts ditsy bespite being aware of the intentions of other characters.
Appendix 4
If yes, what would you change?
Longer hair and no white collar on the dress
More realistic
Change that horrid wedding dress and cmoonnn little mermaid 3 should’ve been Eric as a merman
have a princess who is a normal person.
All should be independent, shoudk have variations of weight, height, age, hair colour, ethnicity, religion, sexuality etc just to show that theres no ideal in society
They don’t always need a Prince
Make the body types more diverse so younger people aren’t influenced by the “perfect body”.
Make her a bit more true to the true description of the real pocahontas
Annoying voices