I have been an avid watcher of Disney movies for nearly 19 years and I consider Disney a part of my lifeblood. I own an inordinate amount of Disney memorabilia (yes, these are Tangled earrings) and am extremely proud of this. However, it has recently become clear to me that Disney does not reciprocate these feelings, and I have been left in the dust like a scorned lover.
Once again, Disney has taken my hopes and dreams and squashed them. The reasoning behind these dramatics? Frozen, my good people. Frozen.
Allow me to present to you two Disney male characters whom are related:
These are also lions who, while related, look believably distinct from each other.
Now, allow me to present to you six different female characters, only two of whom are related:
CLEARLY Disney has been dabbling in reproducing through asexual mitosis because there is NO way an animation team could be that lazy right? Oh wait, yes they can.
So, no cool sci-fi cloning explanation for the uncanny explanation. It seems that Disney has decided to become less subtle about recycling animation palettes for their female characters. This consequently results in unrealistic and overly sexualized “beautiful” female characters that look like misshapen bobble heads. Really, it’s not like it’s a new concept for them:
But it’s definitely a bigger problem than we think. Disney is a massive franchise. Their characters serve as role models for children, teenagers, and even young adults. Yet, instead of trying to animate characters with distinct physical features and making them look like ACTUAL human beings with whom their diverse audience can identify, Disney animators are more concerned with emphasizing Euro-caucasian standards of beauty.
Well, perhaps emphasizing is the wrong word. I think “caricaturing” is a better word, since no woman I know in real life has eyes the size of tennis balls and torsos thinner than a sheet of paper.
No real human looks like Elsa, Anna, or even Ariel. Kids will watch these movies, jaws slack, in awe over the ethereal heroines painted before me. This awe will turn to shame and self-consciousness when they realize they can’t ever look like that; it’s hard to identify with bug-eyed goddesses with hips that swing like a pendulum.
(Seriously wasn’t she supposed to be a hermit or something?)
People are quick to point fingers at Cosmopolitan magazines and Victoria’s Secret models for setting unrealistic beauty standards for girls. I personally think these standards are instilled in girls much earlier. It is the princesses’ bravery, intelligence, and sense of adventure that inspires young girls, true. But it is their collective, nearly identical depiction of beauty that makes young girls doubt their own distinct beauty.
Tune in next week as I lament to anyone who will listen about still not having a Latina Disney heroine in the year 2015.
