Understanding Disney Gender Roles and Stereotypes through a Generational Lens

Proceedings of The 4th World Conference on Social Sciences Studies

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Understanding Disney Gender Roles and Stereotypes through a Generational Lens

Veronica Williams, Dr. Onesimo Martinez, Sebastian Aguilar, Cristina Barrientos,Maria Enriquez Chavez, Hector Espinoza, Arturo Faz, Amado Gonzalez, Lytia Gonzalez, Francisco Guerra, Roxana Lopez, Keren Maldonado, Emiliano Martinez,Araceli Moyeda, Melina Padilla12, Bianca Perez, Mariana Rodriguez, Gerardo Romero, Camila Trevino, Dalia Vazquez

ABSTRACT: 

Gender roles and stereotypes are more relevant in today’s robust changing society where the younger generations seem to value equality over gender biasness. This biasness revolves around stereotypes that women should cook, clean, and be ‘girly’, whereas men should love sports, take charge, and be the household bread-earner (main income earner in the household). Though largely regarded as a biasness towards females, a biasness of males is as prevalent though not as highly noticed. Though there are a plethora of places as to where the knowledge of these gender bias stems from, one of the main culprits is media.

Corporate giant The Walt Disney Company has a history of stereotyping both male and female roles in children’s media. Through the creation of the original Disney Prince and Princesses, Disney brought to the forefront gender roles that seem to be the basis of today’s fight for equity in gender roles and a reduced prevalence of stereotypes in both males and females. From the original Cinderella and Snow White, to the mid-era Disney representations of leads like Mulan and Aladdin, to the more current Disney films like Shang-Chi and Maleficent, Disney has set a tone for how males and females are represented in media. Though not always on par with the expectations of the masses, a noticeable shift in gender bias and stereotyping is occurring.

Most research on gender bias and stereotypes in Disney films revolves around the Disney princesses, but few research indicates how these representations affect the audience at different generations. Student researchers at Southwest Texas Junior College developed a questionnaire consisting of 17 overall questions separated into 2 groups. The first group of questions were directed towards a respondents favorite Disney film and character as a child, whereas the second group of questions were directed towards gender roles and stereotypes. Observations and an interview were also conducted in an effort to gather interpretative data to analyze the connection between Disney gender roles and stereotypes and how they affect both males and females from different generations.

keywords: The Walt Disney Company, Disney, Films, Media, Gender Roles, Stereotypes, Equality