Walt Disney Cartoons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Walt Disney Cartoons - Essay Example Asians, African Americans, Native Americans, and people from the Middle East are portrayed along racial lines. Some characters have hatred towards lesbians and gay men. The homosexuals are secluded and experience violence and hostility from other characters. This has a negative impact on homosexuals in the society watching these cartoons and other children develop negative attitudes towards homosexuals. Sexism is evident in several Disney cartoons, which portrays girls negatively. Girls and women are grossly underrepresented in films and cartoons, which represents a missed opportunity to present them in non-sexualized roles. The cartoons derive their values from the sexual appeal or behavior portrayed by their sexual attractiveness. Majority of the children’s programs contain animations and cartoons. These cartoons contain sexualizing images of girls and women. Disney portrays female characters with more cleavage, fewer clothes and are presented as sexier than those of former years. An example is The Little Mermaid where the female characters expose their cleavage and are scantily dressed. These characters are depicted as sexier than those in Cinderella or Snow White. These animations have great potential to influence girls and young teens paying every detail to the characters. Girls are primarily portrayed as domestic, concerned with their appearance and interested in boys. This overemphasizes their own self as romantic objects (Lacroix, 2004). In The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, Disney has constructed the heroines in extreme idealized forms of white femininity. The heroines are characterized as assertive and intelligent figures who take on adventures. The heroines are empowered in their actions, and idealized beauty is affirmed by their dressing. In this light, the texts form part of the popular discourse of femininity which encourages women to internalize gendered body norms. Women want to expose themselves in order to achieve the feminine character contained in the movies.