Walt Disney: An American Icon
 

"At the founder's death in 1966, Disney creations and Disney consumer merchandise had flooded much of the globe. From Chile to China, tens of millions of people who had never heard of Franklin D. Roosevelt or William Faulkner or Martin Luther King Jr., could identify Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in an instant" (Watts 84).

In the same manner actors seen on television become celebrities and seep into the public's mind, influencing how we dress, style our hair, and in many ways, live our lives, Disney has created popular and well-established characters that influence behavior too. A few noteworthy differences between the two, though, is that celebrities are real people and rarely do we see their faces imprinted on bed sheets, lamp shades, clothing, and all sorts of merchandise. Disney's empire has not only become a part of American culture, but has become practically inescapable. Because many of Disney's creations take form as adaptations of the Grimms brothers' fairy tales it is easy to understand why they are so popular with children. Many of them give animals human like qualities, have good triumph over evil, and most importantly for some girls, tell the story of a princess and her prince. The impact Disney princesses have on our culture is evident even in our adult life. Although we may not realize it, we are familiar with and take part in the world of Disney. For example, the following excerpt was taken from a newspaper whose headline read Police Use Cinderella Approach:

"In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, a burglar lost his shoe as he fled from the home of Mrs. M., age 43. Patrolmen arrested R. T., age 20, who was sitting shoeless in a nearby bar. Authorities said a shoe matching the one found in the M. home was discovered behind the bar" (Winnipeg Free Press).
In our everyday life we run into these references to Disney's princess fairy tales and because of their dominance and timelessness, what they represent to their biggest fans, young girls, is an important matter. Unfortunately, the youth and innocence of young girls does not coincide with some of the lessons Disney princesses impart. Unlike male heroes, Disney's heroines succeed by being saved, never being proactive or superior without the intercession of a male. While some may argue that young girls are not aware of the negative values distinguished in Disney princess movies, others have found that Disney princess attributes remain in the unconscious and, though they may not discover this influence until later in life, it affects their role as females. As interviewed for Kay Stone's article, Things Walt Disney Never Told Us, one twenty-nine-year old interviewee said she recognized Disney princesses "in various forms of popular entertainment, notably in romantic tales on television and in comic books, magazines, and novels read almost exclusively by women" (Stone 49). While it is a controversial matter to blame Disney as the initiator of an introductory image of the passive female to such young girls, it is apparent that Disney princesses do perpetuate the passive female figure who desperately needs a prince in order to live happily ever after.

To learn more about fairy tales and to see a close up analysis of Cinderella and Ariel, click on the link below. Fairy Tales Through the Eyes of Disney
. Sources.   Please send your comments to D. Carolina Ramos.

 

 

This Webpage was produced in COM 783: Visual Communication,

a class taught by Bob Bednar in the Communication Studies Department at Southwestern University