The Princess and the Frog Debate

The firstDisney princess was Snow White who appeared on the scene in 1937 as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since her appearance there has been many Disney princesses that we have come to know and love. Although Disney is often times criticized for being racist because of some of their more questionable cartoons and characters( the black crows who spoke with ebonics), they have had ethnic princesses. Jasmine who was the princess from the Middle East was the frist ethnic Disney princess and then came Pochohantas and Mulan. In 2009 after years of creating Disney princesses they finally created a Black princess. When I first heard that there was going to be a Black Disney princess I honestly did not believe it and I was worried that Disney would not paint such a bright picture of Black people. The princess that Disney created is Princess Tiana who received her position as a princess by marrying a Hispanic Prince.

Although I was happy that Disney finally made a Disney princess that was Black, I couldn't help but to see the disparities between Princess Tiana's story and the other Princesses. The other Disnesy Princesses had glamour and glitz and magic and princes that swept them off their feet. Tiana was a workaholic who did not believe in magic. She worked all the time to attain her dream of owning her own restaurant and not even halfway through the movie she got turned into a frog. Tiana's love interest was an arrogant Prince who spent most of the movie fighting with her. In the end Tiana's story did have a happy ending, she was turned back into a person, she fell love with the prince, became a princess by marrying the prince and then finally got her own restaurant. This story was different from the rest of the Disney Princess' stories because I though it was missing that magical and enchanting feel that the other stories have. Many of the Princess like Mulan and Cinderella did not start off as princesses but the journey to royalty was a lot more magical or dramatic then Tiana's. I guess I was expecting the story to be more grand as with Pochohantas or Ariel. The other princess stories created a world that little girls could dream about where as Tiana had more of a common story on a smaller scale. I do not think that The Princess and the Frog will be as famous as the other princess stories and I was somewhat disappointed that there is finally a Black Disney princess and it turned out to be an everyday story with a little twist.

What does this mean for females in Cartoons? First just the fact that it took over 70 years for their to be a Black Disney princess can be related to the portrayal of female cartoons. There are far less Black females in cartoons than other races and when they are in cartoons they often times have that patented "Black girl attitude". If young girls cannot see themselves in the characters that they look up to then how will they start feel about themselves? Almost every little girl has watched Disney princess movies and fell in love with one of the characters. I wonder when Black girls see The Princess and the Frog and compare it to other Disney Princess stories will they see the differences that I saw and how will they feel about the portrayal of their race through this character.

Sandy (Spongebob Squarepants)

Josie and The Pussycats

Independent Women

In cartoons females are usually depicted as princesses, sidekicks, male alter egos, and wives or girlfriends. All of these identities somehow relates back to a man. Princesses, particularly Disney princesses, are always looking for prince charming to swoop in and change their live. Sidekicks such as Batgirl, are dependent on a man for there job, and without such man would not exist. Carbon copies of male cartoons such as Daisy Duck to Donald Duck are created just to compliment the male character. The list of female cartoons wives and girlfriends is endless. So I went on a search for a list of independent, non-male centered female cartoon characters;

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
Josie and The Pussycats
Creulla DeVille (101 Dalmatians)
Velma (Scooby Doo)
Powerpuff Girls
Betty Boop
Sandy (Spongebob Squarepants)

Admidtly this is a short list and I am sure there are more, but these characters represent the aura/attitude of most independent female cartoon characters. To me it is most interesting that many independent characters are villians, to me that is sending the message the women who grow up single turn bitter and evil. On the other hand there are characters such as Sandy and Velma, who are smart, witty and hang right in with the guys, but they have no type of sex appeal and are never looked at for their beauty. Lastly there are characters like Betty Boop where their sex appeal and identitiy as single is their most dominant characteristic. What kind of message are these characters sending to young girls? The images suggest that if you are single you are either evil, nerdy, one of the boys, not sexy or just waiting to be taken. There is a saving grace, characters such as Josie and the Pussycats and The Powerpuff girls give youg girls a vision of females who independent of males, attractive, strong and stable.

This is just a fun quiz telling which Disney Princess you are

Super Heroines

While I was surfing the web, searching for an article about the objectification of women, I stumbled upon an article about super heroines. This article got my attention because it addressed the body image of female super heroes. It demonstrated that Marvel heroines are underweight. A graph explained that the BMI range of female super heroes is not varied and tends to be on the lower end of the "normal" range. The average BMI of an average female super hero is 18.5 which is considered underweight. I found this interesting because when I think of a super hero, I picture an in-shape and healthy person. This is not the case for these characters whose body types would technically make them weak.

These characters give an illogical expectation of body image. "This may corroborate sociological and literary observations that in the Marvel Universe, women must fulfill criteria for being attractive by Western standards before fulfilling the criteria of biological realism (Healey)." This shows how our culture is more focused on being skinny than being healthy. For example, how people use crash dieting instead of changing to a healthier lifestyle. The depiction of super heroines correlates with the way we use media. Instead of displaying people how they really appear, models are photoshopped and airbrushed to look thinner and more "perfect."

Disney

While searching for various female characters from Disney’s repertoire, I often came across websites for the "hottest" or most attractive Disney characters. These shows are generally meant for children to watch and enjoy, not to analyze the “hot” factor of each character. One website listed the hottest characters, which had the curviest bodies and were scantily dressed. Of course at the top of that list, by several percent, was Jessica Rabbit. These characters are supposed to be role models for young children not sex symbols. I just thought it was a little shocking for that to appear when searching for Disney characters; I have never analyzed them in that way.

The Disney Princesses in particular are very prevalent in a young girls life. Most girls idealize them and want to be princesses themselves. They are often powerful women and don’t let anything stand in their way or fulfilling their dreams. I think this is a very good example for children in teaching them to follow their dreams. But one argument that is circulating is: Does the way Disney princesses dress and act have a negative affect on young girls?

Media and movies plays a huge role in the development of a child. When they see someone famous and powerful, a child will model themselves after that person. This is no exception for Disney Princesses. Jasmine, for instance, wears a low cut shirt that completely exposes her midriff. This could send the message to a young girl that the way to success and happiness is through sex appeal.

Betty Boop in Boop-Oop-A-Doop 1932

In this cartoon entitled " Boop-O0p-A-Doop" Betty struggles against the Ringmaster's attempts to take her " Boop-Oop-A-Doop" away. Basically the Ringmater saw Betty's performance and decided he wanted to try to rape her. I found this cartoon a little disturbing because it was essentially about rape and sexual harrasement. This cartoon was made in 1932 so it reflects the attitudes at that time. Even though Betty escaped from the Ringmaster this cartoon represents the power struggle between men and women and could possibly be hinting at society's ideas about rape in this time. Of all the scenarios Betty Boop could have been placed I wonder why the cartoonist decided to put her in that awful situation.