Has Disney become fiminist? A new model of empowered princess

Abstract

The female model of the Disney factory is changing. Its princesses have experienced an empowerment pro­cess in accordance with the social changes of women in the last years. The submissive and assigned to private real threesome –Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora– evolves into independent and resoluted female charac­ters which have incorporated into public space –Rapunzel, Mérida, Anna and Elsa–. Changes of female role according to these last girls justify this article. But, what has evolution been like? What have the physical and psychological variations been there? How has empowerment development been? We look for the answers through the qualitative content analysis of twelve films about princesses in relation to some categories – appearance, personality, roles and relationship with their environment–. Besides, we use critical feminism, which works to eliminate sexist behaviour and cultural male-centredness, among other things. In this sense, Disney is one of the sources of children behaviour and values; therefore they internalize its messages. A cul­tural industry which has influence over gendered construction of spaces, roles and stereotypes of men and women Thus, the objective of this research is analysing the characteristics of female main characters and their evolution through the years. Because we want to check if Disney has left its conservative messages and its films head for equality models. Another expression of the consent patriarchy or a real change towards an equitative education regarding gender?