Isabelle Gill’s thesis states that women’s prejudiced or gendered demonstrations are common in numerous forms of media. Moreover, these misrepresentations have significant social consequences (such as supporting out-of-date gender roles and lessening the awareness of women’s influence on society and humanity). In this essay, the thesis is indicated towards the end of the first paragraph and at the beginning of the second paragraph.
Gill provides practical support for her conclusion (that these Disney movie reviews contribute to the misunderstanding of women in the media/society). Two instances of this are that movie assessors still tend to label Disney princesses with feminine terminology, compared to more typically masculine phrases (Gill 99). Another example is that reviewers focus on female characters’ physical appearance, but as for male characters, they never mention physical appearance (Gill 99). It shows that women are criticized more often for their physical appearance because society links women’s value to how they look.
I think Gill chose to analyze Disney films’ reviews to examine how the movie assessments could impact the societal opinion on how effective the Disney princesses were as role models. I am persuaded by Gill’s argument that Disney movies have become less sexist over time, but Disney movie reviews have not. It is because modern Disney films tend to have tougher female leads than older or “traditional” ones. Again, even if Disney has become less sexist over time, there is no reason for movie reviews to change. Movie critics can still be biased and sexist – because reviews are all opinions.
I think the tables Gill uses throughout her essay to help present information are useful in passing her point across because they give a nice visual of how extreme the differences are in movie reviews. Another visual/design feature she could have used would be pie charts. I like pie charts because they present the information she was trying to convey in a more visually easy way to highlight the reviews’ significant biases.
Isabelle Gill presents substantive arguments in the essay. Her findings are both insightful and intriguing. Disney princesses are unquestionably significant figures regarding gender roles. The influence they have on the perceptions of children cannot be undermined. The princesses have, nevertheless, been critically misrepresented in the past. Gill has managed to present a valuable, and insightful argument into this. Therefore, Disney movie reviews are to blame for such a misrepresentation of these princesses, not the films.
Work Cited
Gill, Isabelle. “Feminist Figures or Damsels in Distress? The Media’s Gendered Misrepresentation of Disney Princesses.” Young Scholars in Writing, vol. 13, 2016, pp. 96-111.