Disney offers completely unreal views of women even if you watched the movies on mute. Every single Princess is skinny and coincidentally has a supermodel lookalike somewhere on this Earth. Now, I have seen a lot of women when they're not three inches deep in makeup, wearing La Senza's finest push-up bras or sucking their stomachs in with so much effort that they've gained a six-pack by the end of the day. If you have also seen a lot of women minus these things yet know one of them who still looks like a Disney Princess nevertheless, then you need to un-tie Scarlett Johansson and let her go home. So don't worry girls, you shouldn't feel bad about not looking like one of the sketched wonders of the Disney world, as 99.9% of other women are in the same, annoying boat. Besides, even if you were that pretty, your step mother would probably get a little bit jealous and send you off to a dwarf infested forest to be beheaded.
It's really not hard to notice bewildering parts of Disney once you're looking for them. Snow White is incredibly sexist and teaches your female spawn that they should enter below-averagely heighted strangers' homes and start to tidy and wash up without any hesitation. Seriously! If you want to watch that sort of absurdity then flick over to ITV and have a little gander at 60 Minute Makeover.
Ariel teaches that it's fine to be inconsiderate of her family and commitments, and that it's completely acceptable to hoard (as long as you've got a talking seagull to discuss it with, that is). Not only this, but she completely and utterly conforms to the whole "changing yourself to impress men" situation. It's not even a little change, oh no, she doesn't dye her hair or go for a more risqué shell bra. She goes to a sea witch and changes her bloody species. And not just any old species - she changes herself into a human. Whilst in the depths of the ocean. My case rests.
Belle is not much better than Ariel as a role model for children (I'm not even going to go into the bestiality issues that would arise), although she may seem it at the start of the movie. Sensible and intelligent, Belle would much rather bury her nose in a book than get down and dirty with Gaston, who is, let's be honest, a bit of a nob. Nothing too dramatic ever occurs in Belle's happy little bubble, which is, of course, prior to her father getting locked up by a big fat evil hairy thing (which obviously indicates how perfect he is as future-husband material). After rescuing her father, Belle spends a long time being confined into one place and yelled at by the Beast before he finally turns out to be a reasonable guy. This is the part where we all learn that if we have an abusive and controlling boyfriend, we should just stick around because if you be super nice and sing catchy songs enough, he will eventually turn into a fairy tale prince.
Then again, at least Belle doesn't spend the whole of the film time crying about how dreadfully awful her life is, unlike Cinderella. She sulks and whines and sobs until the end of the movie where she finally gets to be happy because she gets married. A true inspiration for feminism, I'd say. What really worries me is that she appears to have married a man who wouldn't be able to recognise her face even after dancing with her all night and telling her she's the love of his life. Instead, he has to make every girl in the kingdom try on a lost shoe and live in the hope that only one in a thousand will possess that shoe size (size does matter, apparently), be the same girl and have her want to marry him. But of course she wants to marry him, he's the prince. Who doesn't want to marry the prince? He's rich and desperate.
One thing I sincerely hope small girls don't learn from Disney is how to date. Can you imagine? There'd be teenagers getting married within three days left right and centre. And they'd probably make the stranger trying to snog them whilst they're in a coma their new boyfriend.
So this is where we stand. In a world full of Disney merchandise and films teaching women to be anti-feminist and to sing soppy songs spontaneously.
Belle is not much better than Ariel as a role model for children (I'm not even going to go into the bestiality issues that would arise), although she may seem it at the start of the movie. Sensible and intelligent, Belle would much rather bury her nose in a book than get down and dirty with Gaston, who is, let's be honest, a bit of a nob. Nothing too dramatic ever occurs in Belle's happy little bubble, which is, of course, prior to her father getting locked up by a big fat evil hairy thing (which obviously indicates how perfect he is as future-husband material). After rescuing her father, Belle spends a long time being confined into one place and yelled at by the Beast before he finally turns out to be a reasonable guy. This is the part where we all learn that if we have an abusive and controlling boyfriend, we should just stick around because if you be super nice and sing catchy songs enough, he will eventually turn into a fairy tale prince.
Then again, at least Belle doesn't spend the whole of the film time crying about how dreadfully awful her life is, unlike Cinderella. She sulks and whines and sobs until the end of the movie where she finally gets to be happy because she gets married. A true inspiration for feminism, I'd say. What really worries me is that she appears to have married a man who wouldn't be able to recognise her face even after dancing with her all night and telling her she's the love of his life. Instead, he has to make every girl in the kingdom try on a lost shoe and live in the hope that only one in a thousand will possess that shoe size (size does matter, apparently), be the same girl and have her want to marry him. But of course she wants to marry him, he's the prince. Who doesn't want to marry the prince? He's rich and desperate.
One thing I sincerely hope small girls don't learn from Disney is how to date. Can you imagine? There'd be teenagers getting married within three days left right and centre. And they'd probably make the stranger trying to snog them whilst they're in a coma their new boyfriend.
So this is where we stand. In a world full of Disney merchandise and films teaching women to be anti-feminist and to sing soppy songs spontaneously.
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