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funny article my mom sent me from 'The Nation'Submitted by lana on Thu, 12/20/2007 - 8:58pm.
Bonfire of the Disney Princesses Contrary to the rumors I have been trying to spread for some time, We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept, Disney likes to think of the Princesses as role models, but what a And what could they aspire to, beyond landing a Prince? In Feminist parents gnash their teeth. For this their little girls gave Seen from the witchy end of the female life cycle, the Princesses exert It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex--and especially some There's a reason, after all, why we're generally more disgusted by Let's face it, no parent can stand up against this alone. Try to ban i would take exception to her claim that all girls want to be princesses, mine never did. but then, i also allowed no disney in the home. it really is that bad.
it really is that bad as what? enlighten me please. I love all those Disney Princess movies. Especially Snow White. And Sleeping Beauty is awesome. The animation is unbelievable. Whats so bad about that. We shouldn't want our daughters to be princess'? I wanted to be a princess when I was a little girl. and i'm unprepared to give a complete answer, so many factors in how throughly disney sucks. so....well, um, i would start with everything barbara erinreich says in this article, as far as the message it gives kids about gender roles. she said it better than i could, or have time to. as to the rest of it, i will have to come back to it. mostly it has to do with how horrible their product is. it's boilerplate, conformist, top gun. it's brainless, thoughtless and stupid, and by extension encourages kids to be the same. to consume without thinking, but mostly to consume. that was the basis for my banning it from my home when i had a child, but like most people, new information i come across tends to serve to support existing opinions, so i have learned since then about some really shitty business practices. stealing storylines from writers and not paying them, stealing characters... remember winnie the pooh? stolen. they took a good story book for kids, and unabashedly stole it and made it crap.
I should have edited. I have not seen Peter Pan since I was a kid and we put it on the other night and I was SHOCKED at the blatant racism in the movie. I ended up turning it off but it has really stuck with me. you seemed to be responding to something, and i couldn't see what. and no, i don't really mean the corporation. it's really mostly that what they put out really sucks. with some exceptions, hayao miyazaki being one. but mostly disney really epitomises what i hate about mainstream entertainment.
was that our little girls don't see any of the perversity that we see in it.They don't know that bikini's are sexy they just think that mermaids have them for swimming. i was just wondering if you thought i said something about sexualizing, because you put it in a reply to yourself, which was in reply to me... so i was confused.
How do you think Disney merchandise has enriched children's lives? I'm not being bitchy, I really wonder what you mean. the Movies-not the Merchandise. When I was a kid there was no all day channel available with kids programing-No Vcr's(well there was Beta, but we were poor) I used to live for those Sunday Disney storybook things or when they would rerelease movies to the theatre.Or better yet new ones-the fox and the hound came out when I was little and I loved it. The first time my sons watched "toy story" the expressions on their faces were just priceless. I might not be as educated as some mamas on here-so maybe I don't grasp their concepts on consumerism or femnism as much-but I know this- My kids love it- I love it. I am not going off to buy them every lead poison toy out there- but these movies definetly spark their imagination. I know - I love so many of the movies too. It's not so much the sexualization, but the fact that the "princesses" (I also think it's hilarious that so many little girls are obsessed with princesses but have no idea what a princess is, besides some pretty girl who wears pretty dresses) have no personalities, are totally docile, and become teen brides after knowing the stupid prince for about 2 seconds. I wonder why little girls so often play games like that. My sons, who NEVER watched any kind of violence were "firing" toilet paper tubes at each other one day. I was completley baffled. And a bit disturbed. at about that age - a quick wikipedia shows Degrassi High first aired when I was 10 - and I had watched its predecessor Degrassi Junior High before then. I've only seen a few of the new ones here and there, but the premise seems the same, realistic portrayals of teenage life. With all the heavy shit included. I think that that series was way less damaging to me as a tween than any of the TGIF-type and "more age-appropriate" sit-coms. As for nothing you can do - I don't know what your relationship is like with her, but could you watch it with her and talk to her about the heavy stuff? That was the one thing I think that I always wished for - someone I trusted to talk about what I'd seen, someone who could give me insight and answer questions. I rem Spike getting knocked up and stuff- lol ***the United States is one of only four out of 168 countries studied to not have some form of paid family leave for new moms. We join Swaziland, Papua New Guinea, and Lesotho in not having that policy in place. *** |
I thought you were talking about the merchandise crap being enriching.
i spend a great deal of time balancing the disney/barbie scales with my five year old daughter. I have explained that the older women, ie witches/jealous stepmothers etc. are good for drama but just because some one looks a certain way, wrinkles, frown, dark hair/clothing, doesn't make them evil. And that being skinny, busty, "pretty" doesn't make you better than the short, fat, nonsymetrical people (ie me!) and that these movies are stories from before women and girls could be and do anything they want in life not just wait for a prince to save them.
there is so much more to it but the sexualized images of women aimed at children does support the dominant paradigm/ mainstream ideas of beauty, love, body/sensual issues and create patterns and ideals that stick with us our whole lives unless critical thinking skills are taught, and it is never too late, i learned to question during the riot grrrl days of my youth and right here on the old hipmama boards of the old days...