MEDIA ESSAY

I have chosen Disney as my cross platform case study. Disney is one of the largest brands internationally and is worth more than 130 Billion US dollars. Disney stories on their own have created over $50,119,000,05 for the brand. The brand consists of theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, books, films, characters, toys and replicars. Disney has expanded increasingly over the past ten years with the brand introducing their own TV channels (Disney Channel and Disney XD which are both international based), Disney products such as pencil cases, lunch boxes, clothes etc., and also expanding the number of theme parks which now are based in USA, Singapore, Russia, France, Tokyo. When first deciding which multi cross platform to use for my case study I chose Disney as I felt it was one of the largest, most popular platforms and I would have a lot of content to be able to cover. I decided I would begin my research by reading about multimedia platforms, so I decided to read the conference proceedings “Multi-platform media and the miracle of the loaves and fishes”. I found this as a good beginning point for understanding media platforms as it was very a very informative research project. In the first few paragraphs it explains how cross platforms have changed massively from single sector to multi-platform and why this has happened. Single sectors have changed massively over previous years for many reasons but one of the main reasons is economic growth. More money is going in to creating the films so the creators have thought about ways to make a larger profit. Turning the brands into multi platforms means there are more ways to create money. Disney has massively evolved into a multi-platform, with the brand only beginning as stories in books and VHS video tapes it has completely expanded and become massive. I then decided I would read something more focused, I decided to read the academic journal “Playing Princess: Preschool Girls’ Interpretations of Gender Stereotypes in DisneyPrincess Media.” this journal explains the study of examining preschool children and the stereotypes they interpreted through their pretend play behaviors and their discussions of the princesses. In this essay I will be analysing gender representation and feminism, I will be examining how Disney female characters are portrayed and the effect and the way feminism has occurred massively over the past ten years resulting in a massive change throughout the brand. I will also look at differences and similarities between the concepts. The definition of gender representation: “the way males and females are usually portrayed and represented”. When choosing my concepts I began by choosing gender representation as I felt the way female characters are portrayed is a massive issue. Disney is a good example for the way female characters are portrayed as weak and vulnerable. Disney is also a good example of having strong female leads, the first ever disney princess that was created was Snow White who was created in 1937. Snow White was created to be the perfect female with no flaws. An unreal example for girls growing up. I read a scholarly article named “Tale as old as time: A textual analysis of race and gender in disney princess films” which explains the sexist and racist characteristics that disney characters were originally created with. In the article it quotes “The representations of race and gender within the media affect the viewers. This is because the media is seen to play a significant role in offering a socializing influence on the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of its audience (Gunter 21). It affects the ideas that viewers have in regard to what may be considered acceptable gender roles and gender traits.” this explains how media can majorly affect how viewers can be easily influenced into believing how a perspective of characteristics can be portrayed as “perfect” and otherwise is usually considered “wrong”. In my research into Disney I also found multiple articles that explains how viewers see this sexist and racist view as majorly wrong and the issues it has caused on females growing up. Mental health has a large impact on children and teenagers growing up in our society. Eating disorders are responsible for more loss of life than any other mental health condition, and unfortunately, are becoming increasingly more common. Over the last 30-40 years, the prevalence of eating disorders has increased to become a widespread problem across the UK and worldwide according to the Priorygroup.com. The pressure on young females to look perfect has become major. Disney princesses have always been created to be the perfect female with a beautiful face, long hair and an extremely beautiful and perfectly proportioned body. Whilst researching, I discovered an article on http://www.HelloGiggles.com which explains the protest that occured by Disney princesses themselves. The protest happened due to Disney princesses being portrayed as being completely dependent on men and unable to be independent on their own, another completely sexist characteristic from the creators of the Disney characters. In the article it explains how  the “women’s march” was the perfect opportunity to fight back against everything that was still wrong in our society for females. It quotes about Niday who was the leader of the campaign: “Niday also explained that she used quotes from actual Disney movies because she “didn’t want to put words” into the princesses’ mouths. “I believed their narratives of overcoming struggles was powerful enough without me trying to force something else on them,I chose quotes from their movies, mostly spoken by the heroine herself, and tried to pick moments that would allude to their story as a whole, had deeper meaning within the movie, or referenced modern issues.” Niday’s purpose was completely to portray how the princess could be a heroine on their own without being reliant on a man to save her and I personally feel she did a brilliant job. Females have been brought up to be quiet and pretty and rely on looks and only now is it being brought to everyone’s attention that this is completely wrong. Feminism has been an important aspect of our society and without feminists portraying what is wrong, we would still be stuck in the early 1900’s without females now having equal rights. I found a brilliant scholarly article on feminism and the way many things have changed in the past 100 years named “Feminism: Changing the Way Our Society Views Women” it explains how women’s rights have become more fair and equal. There was an interesting quote in the article which was brought to my attention “In the United States, women can make their own choices however we are still fighting for our role in society. Fighting for equal pay and fighting against sexual harassment are just two common battles we are fighting every day in the United States.” I feel as if this portrays the struggles females have countred over the years for things such as equal pay, equal rights and how although circumstances are now better than they have ever been there still is a constant battle for females not just in the United States but also internationally as well. Over the past ten years disney have tried their utmost to alter the female leads to change from the normal stereotypical white and thin character. In 2009 the first African American Disney Princess was created for “Princess and the Frog”. The princess Tiana was the first mixed race character to be created in the 100 years of Disney and was applauded majorly by many. Although many were pleased with mixed race characters being brought into the scene, many were still concerned with only one mixed race there wasn’t as many ethnic differences as should be in our society. In 2018 an article was written on TheTelegraph.com which explains how “Disney redraws first black princess after anti-racism campaigners claim her skin is ‘too white’. The article focuses on how “animators have been forced to re-draw Disney’s first black princess after anti-racism campaigners claimed she had been ‘whitewashed’ with lighter skin and straighter hair for her latest role”. Anti racism campaigners have a massive impact on our society and i completely agree with their opinion of the Disney Princess. Race has always been a major issue for Disney and although they have tried to take the viewers personal opinions and make a larger selection of princesses and other characters, I personally feel they have majorly failed. For mixed race people, it has always been a constant battle for feeling beautiful with darker skin and curly hair so including a princess who has bleach washed skin and non naturally straight hair is actually offencive. The only few multi-ethnic characters portrays how disney has always considered a beautiful princess to be lighter skin and although it is slowly changing it has not changed quick enough. 

   I found an online http://www.the odyssesyonline.com article which explains the positive things disney has done to portray how they are not in fact actually anti-femisnst. I found this article an interesting read as it was completely controversial to my previous opinion about Disney being majorly anti-feminist. In the article it explains how although the Disney characters are sometimes portrayed and weak, their story always tells otherwise. The characters each usually save the day on their own and if the prince is there to save the day, he is almost always helped by other female characters.  Yesenia Caballero the author of the article has a very valid point where she states “If Disney were truly antifeminist, none of these princesses would’ve done half the things they did. They all would’ve just been maidens sitting around waiting to be married off; kind of like the women in Jane Austen novels, which no one takes issue with despite the fact that every one of her novels has to do with marriage.” this point is completely true as although the characters are portrayed are weak, they are all personally strong in their own way. For example, in the Cinderella film, Cinderella father died which then means she has to live with a wicked stepmother and stepsisters. Although this was a hard situation Cinderella never once gives into all the negativity that is thrown at her. Also her trip to the ball was not even a trip to find a man, it was simply to have fun and freedom for one night only. In the sequels to Cinderella, it portrays an important meaning about being true to yourself and “doing things your own way rather than how society tells you to.”. 

  Although Disney princesses are actually very independent, Disney creators have gone above and beyond to make films such as Frozen and Brave with no lead male character whatsoever. Brave was originally created in 2012 with frozen being created a year later in 2013. Frozen is known for being one of the most feminist Disney films ever. In the film the two main characters are two sisters instead of the stereotypical female and male, lovers relationship. Although each princess is strong and full of courage, the difference between the first ever princess Snow White and the princesses purposely created for Frozen is massive. I discovered an academic journal written by Johan Nyh, “From Snow White to Frozen : An evaluation of popular gender representation indicators applied to Disney’s princess films”. In this Journal it evidently backs up my point that over the past 100 years Disney has progressed massively for equal rights in the films and stories. In most Disney films the prince will save the princess by the act of true loves kiss, although the act of true love still occurs in Frozen, just in a different form. At the end of the film elza one of the main female leads accidentally freezes her sister Anna’s heart. Anna then  told that only an act of true love can cure her. Which At first, she believes that a kiss from a prince will be able to save her but unfortunately it doesn’t work out. In fact the act of true love that saves Anna’s life is related to the person she will always love the most, her sister. When Elsa is moments away from being killed, Anna jumps in to save her sister’s life. This is an unusual act of true love but i feel it has a powerful meaning that sometimes family love is just as and maybe even more important than romantic love. I feel this is a majorly important message for young females growing up. I also feel Disney has done a brilliant job in creating two brilliant role models for aspiring young princesses. In an article online that I discovered about why Frozen is so brilliant for young females it states “Elsa is a great role model for little girls who possess unique gifts. But Anna is equally important as a character because she’s ordinary and still saves the day. The sisters in Frozen show little girls that there’s more than one way to be strong.”. I also came across an informative article which was very similar to the academic journal but focuses more on “changes in the representation of women and gender roles in Disney Princesses within more than 80 years. Topics covered include the concept of branding Disney princesses in 2000, three aspects of representing women including the Classical Princesses such as Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Also mentioned are Renaissance Princesses such as Belle, Arielle and Mulan and the Revival Princesses such as Rapunzel, Merida and Tiana.” this article was more suited to my topic as it focuses more on the change that has happened throughout Disney in the last eighty years. After reading into this i decided i would focus on the change that disney still had to do, such as bringing LQBTQ+ into the Disney world. I realised this was a major issue for children and teenagers growing up due to them feeling left out for being different. LQBTQ+ is being more normalised unlike in recent years but there is still not enough for it to be brought to children’s/teenagers attention that it is completely normal. When researching into the google search bar “Disney characters and LGBTQ” i found about six articles which are about how some of the disney characters were definintely homosexual and why. I decided to view the first article which was online at http://www.cbr.com named “15 Disney Characters Confirmed (Or Speculated) To Be Queer”. This article explains why fifteen of the characters appear to be homosexual and why. I found this an interesting read as I was unsure on whether it was purposefully done by the Disney character creators or if it was unintentional. In the article it quotes “Disney has had characters in its films that audiences have perceived to be part of the queer community. Some of these depictions have been more forward than others.” which lead me to believe that it was completely purposeful and the creators had wanted to the characters to be portrayed as homosexual. Although this is fantastic for the LGBTQ+ community for characters of different beliefs to be brough into the scene, there are still not enough obvious homosexual characters for our mordern day society. When researching into what Disney has done to help support the LGBTQ+ community i discovered a news report from February 27th 2017 which is titled “DISNEY JUST AIRED ITS FIRST SAME-SEX CARTOON KISS”, this was clearly massive news for Disney and the LGBTQ+ community as it was one of the first features of a sex same relationship on childrens TV. I feel this is massively important that it becomes more normalised, children growing up that realise they are part of the LGBTQ community feel normalised and not different from other children, i feel like this was a great start for disney. 

  I also found an online article which reflects on the progress that Disney are making. “Disney to feature first-ever openly gay character in upcoming ‘family’ film” explains how in August 2018 Disney decided it was time to create the first openly homosexual character.  Jack Whitehall the famous comedian is reportedly going to play the openly homosexual character . the character is described as “a gay man – one who is hugely effete, very camp and very funny”. Www.lifesitenews.com quotes “The movie actually takes place in the 19th century, which suggests either an inaccurate portrayal of the era’s attitudes about homosexuality, or that those attitudes will be a plot point adding to the film’s ideological agenda.” I feel as if this is a good twist to the film as it portrays that no matter what used to be normalised about being homosexual, it is completely normalised now. Times have changed in the 100 years and although it was frowned upon previously, it is completely normal now. Although I am incredibly happy and proud with the way times are evolving and LGBTQ+ are becoming more welcomed in our society I feel as if the media has a lot more to do. The way LGBTQ+ characters are represented is majorly important as it will affect how other children view them and will treat them. The media is a huge influence on how others act and especially for children. Children growing up being LGBTQ+ will find it majorly difficult to fit in with other children and I feel as if one of the biggest things children’s media such as Disney should do is to make it out like it is not a big deal and that it happens and it’s normal. I feel Disney is making a very strong start but still has a very long way to go with making all characters better represented.

   Gender representation and Fandom are two very important concepts and i feel as if they have a strong link between the two. The way a character is represented will have a large impact on the fandom. For example, if a disney female character was represented as weak and vulnerable without a man. The young female audience/fandom will therefore believe this is true and in order to survive they will need a male. The way females and also males are represented needs to change. Although we have evolved massively and characters are becoming more of a variety, there still needs to be change. We need more ethnic diversity, ethnic beliefs, homosexual beliefs and even transgender characters involved. I am hoping by 2050 that this will be the case and the children then growing up will be able to feel comfortable with being different and other children will be able to view them as normal. Although this is the case for me, many others believe this is wrong and due to their religious beliefs will not allow this to be on television which does make it awkward for Disney to be able to evolve and to be able to feature different characters without losing viewers or complains from religious parents. In conclusion, i feel as if there still needs to be change and characters represented better no matter if people are going to complain. It is not fair for children to feel different or left out just because Disney is currently afraid of a bit of backlash.