The article “Disney’s Dolls” by Kathi Maio is, perhaps, the brightest example of evaluation of the art created for children if the reader were to hold a suffragist point of view. The author evaluates cartoons, animated by Disney studio, from her own, subjective point of view. Touching upon the question of chauvinism to females on the screen, Kathi chose to express her views on the matter through criticism of movies sacred for a young watcher.
Keeping in mind that contemporary civilized society considers it rather fashionable to sympathize with feminists, I would like to take a neutral position when evaluating Kathi Maio’s creativity. The following text is not meant to offend somebody’s feelings or to encourage gender discrimination.
In 1937, Walt himself and his magnificent coworkers at the Disney studios in Burbank, California, brought into being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated movie. The film was of a rare success that left a charming public longing for more. And more is what they got. After a thrilling story of Snow White, the stories of Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941) followed. They were the films that kids and adults could enjoy, but whose innocent and always wholesome messages were directed towards children. From Pinocchio came Jiminy Cricket’s immortal: “When you wish upon a star as dreamers do, your dreams come true.” In the same movie, children heard Pinocchio being told that the greatest virtues were to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish.” (Giroux, 1999). All this teaches children to follow characters’ best deeds and never repeat their mistakes. But let us get back to female characters.
The popularity of the image of a heroine in Disney cartoons, ice shows, and Walt Disney World theme parks makes them the most recognizable fairy tale characters. This study of the Disney heroine looks at her in terms of her position in the kingdom she lives in (or a village, as for example Beauty), her relations to witches, parents, and negative characters (villains), and her acting in a genre largely shaped by film music and the tale itself (Do Rozario, 2004).
The princess (or any other female image) is a fairytale staple of a kind girl, who never does any harm to people and animals surrounding her. In spite of wars, revolutions, processes of cultural globalization, this image has remained unique and exceptional. Some folk researchers have intended to reveal her beautiful appearance as a stereotype, her good-natured sole as submissiveness, but still, she stays the same princess (Snowhite, Cinderella, Beauty, and Mermaid) whom we got used to admiring since our childhood. Walt Disney collected different heroine images in the animations by his studio, and, as a matter of fact, it should be said, that this image could be rated as “The Princess of Princesses”.
The fact is that kids have their own ties based on emotional memories to the animated cartoons by the Disney Company. As Henry Giroux theorizes that the fascination with Disney for children comes from the great and colorful world of imagination, which allows kids to combine fantasy, fun, and the opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the fairy tale magic world (Giroux, 1999). Children believe that anything they see in these cartoons can be considered as the truth, and do not doubt whether the shown scenes are true or mismatch the real-life (Bell, E. Haas, L & Sells, L. 1995). Exactly because of this reason children should be directed to positive moments of the animation and the severe truth of life no way must touch upon the colorful dreams of children, often incarnated in cartoons. The impermissibility to evaluate the art for kids from the feministic point of view is obvious. While watching cartoons, children are brought up to be kind, diligent, and sympathetic if a friend gets into trouble. Kids expect animated movies to be kind, colorful, and impressive. Snowhite, Beauty, Little Mermaid, Cinderella can be considered romantic heroines who are searching for happiness, romance, and true love and will never stop at any barrier, facing them on their way. Instead of pointing out chauvinistic moments in the mentioned above tales, such critics as Mrs. Maio need to emphasize and admire the stories of true love, which these girls felt to their beloved (sometimes mostly unknown for them) Princes.
Walt Disney is definitely more than any other fairy storyteller with the self-feeling of Mother Goose, imagined as a fairytale figure himself. Moreover, he is pictured in mass media, not as a storyteller–as for example Hans Christian Andersen has been immortalized in the film – but as a real master of his own kingdom of fairy tale magic. His statue stands in the Walt Disney World parks bearing his name and his birthday is celebrated with royal fanfare there. Some would argue that if you look for the king or prince in the early Disney features, you look not within the animation, but without Disney himself (Do Rozario, 2004).
References
- Giroux, H. A.1999 ‘The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence.’ Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
- Bell, E. Haas, L and Sells, L. 1995 ‘From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film’, Gender, and Culture. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
- Do Rozario, R. C. (2004). The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess. Women’s Studies in Communication, 27(1), 34.