The 'Dark Prince' and Dream Women: Walt Disney and Mid-Twentieth Century American Feminism

The 'Dark Prince' and Dream Women: Walt Disney and Mid-Twentieth Century American Feminism, Amy M. Davis

In this balanced and well-written scholarly article, Davis seeks to weigh in a considered argument on Walt Disney's view on women, to provide well-reasoned arguments and even out the wild, unproven accusations for Walt's dark side or good-nature. Davis examines Walt's life and work in terms of his relationship with and attitudes towards women to determine how Walt's personal views may differ from that of his studio as a whole and from the films it produces, while also putting into context the views of American society as a whole during this time period. All of this is done with the hope of finding a clearer understanding of the sexism found in Disney's films. In my personal opinion, this article achieves it's goal in clarifying that Walt Disney was neither the innocent 'Uncle Walt' nor the notorious 'Hollywood Dark Prince' he had been labelled as, yet he was a complex and intelligent man, who's greatest care was for his work. 

Dick Huemer, a long-time Disney studio employee, claimed that Walt's "first consideration was what a person could contribute to the studio or the product...I think he would have used the Devil himself if he was a great animator". Walt had to defend his advanced employment of women to the other workers, explaining that "girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men, and I honestly believe that they may eventually contribute something to this business that men never would or could." Walt wanted what was best for Disney, and recognised that women played an important role in this. Many people attest that it was simply "talent that was important" to Walt, not gender, race or religion.  

The big question is, where do Walt's personal views differ from the views presented in the Disney films produced? Walt is often personally accused of sexist views, but there is little evidence against him as a person. While employees have nothing to say against Walt, they claim many of his executives held sexist views, and we can't ignore the more sexist views held generally acceptable at the time. So this is easily where the views in the films can come from. Walt acknowledged the differences in men and women, but did not use these to argue women were inferior. Quite the contrary, he believed that women were needed to balance out men. That their greater imaginations could do things for animation no male work force could. That their deep-emotional maturity allowed women to connect with their inner-child without acting child-like and therefore made them the target audience of Disney in Walt's eyes. Walt worked with women as artistic and intellectual equals, valuing only what they could contribute to his company and therefore being more than prepared to listen to women as he believed they had something worthwhile to contribute to a discussion. 

Despite Walt's progressive views of women in the work-force, he was guilty of generalising and stereotyping women in conjunction with gender norms of the time. For instance, that women were emotional, domestic, maternal, beauty and romance oriented, softer, quieter and more delicate. All of which was evident in his films. Take dear Snow White, for instance, is the perfect model of a domestic goddess. She ticks every one of these stereotypes. She is emotional, crying in the forest and immediately apologising to the animals for being so emotional. She cooks and cleans the cottage, mothering the Dwarves. She is beautiful and romantic, pining for her Prince. She is soft, quiet and delicate, with a sweet voice and gentle nature. Disney's first Princess is the epitome of the female gender. 

Davis puts forward the interesting view that by the time Cinderella was released, really only the second female protagonist Disney film, the 'typical' Disney heroin had already been branded. This shows the early judgement of the Disney franchise and perhaps only shows that these characters did quite accurately reflect the 'typical American girl' at the time, contextualising these old films. 

In this article, Davis is mainly conversing with Disney's critics, such as Marc Eliot and Lynda Haas, (though occasionally his fanatics too). She seeks to provide evidential proof that their claims against him are unjustified and false, based on little or no evidence that lacks scholarly credibility. Some claims that Disney was sexist may simply come from his awkwardness around women. Though, in truth, Disney had little experience with women, other than family members, and that which he did have left him fearful and broken hearted. From the terrors of venereal disease in France, to his high-school sweetheart marrying another man while he was away with the Red Cross. This lead to the generalisation of his attitude towards women as respectful, "but mixed with a touch of suspicion". Yet Walt also associated his female family members with security. Walt's contradictory views of women as love and goodness as well as danger and duplicity can be seen in Disney's films, but does also reflect the wider views of women at the time. 

Davis is far more supporting of Walt than the other voices in this conversation, and I view this piece as a defense of his character, seeking to out the truths and dispel the rumours. There is no doubt that Davis regards Walt highly as at the end of her introduction she describes him as not only as "intelligent, talented, complex" but also as the founder of "one of the most important studios in the history of the Hollywood film industry".