Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princess

"Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princess" is an academic article by Dawn Elizabeth England.

This is an unusual Disney related article in that it takes a scientific stand-point as opposed to the usual humanities focus. This article focuses on data from a coded analysis of the Disney films to analyze the male and female characteristics. There are biases in this piece, as the data was carried out by the same people using it to prove their point. And many conclusions can be drawn from the same data. As also, the researchers assigned their own definitions to the characteristic traits used in their study, and categorized these traits into masculine and feminine in their own arbitrary way. For instance, "wants to explore" or "engaging in intellectual activity" were arbitrarily assigned as masculine traits. And naturally, many Princesses show these traits throughout the films, far more than any male, just as Ariel and Belle spring immediately to mind.

Interestingly, many Disney critiques condone the animation studio for not giving the Princesses any independence; many authors I've already blogged about (included Trites) argue that the Princesses are merely transferred from father to husband and never given autonomy. This study described a character as being independent if they performed "an independent action against many, being alone when it was not the norm, or not participating in the expected culture". Isn't this the plot line for like every Princess story!? And the statistics show that independence is the fourth highest trait observed in the Princesses.

This scholarly article was written before the release of more recent films like Tangled, Brave or Frozen. So, although it's analysis tries to compare trends between the first, second, and third waves (e.g. Hypothesis 3 proposing that the gender role portrayals become more egalitarian over time), this analysis would be more credible had the authors waited until the end - or at least further into - the third wave. Using data from only one source cannot be deemed that reliable, and as the later films have shown, the progressive trends and spunky personalities to extend!