Monika Bartyzel wrote “Girls on Film: The Real Problem with the Disney Princess Brand” as part of her collection of writings, “Girls on Film”, for The Week: All You Need to Know About Everything that Matters. Bartyzel wrote this article in 2013 shortly after the Disney coronation of Merida from the film Brave. Bartyzel writes to an audience of women, likely with a feminist perspective. This particular article is also geared towards mothers of daughters who would have an interest in Disney’s princess brand.
Bartyzel’s writings examine the portrayal of women in media as evidenced by the overarching title of “Girls on Film”. Bartyzel believes that there is often an issue with the way women are portrayed and that it has a detrimental effect on young women. There has been a lot of discussion around Disney in particular and the culture created by it’s princesses. Many, like Bartyzel, argue that Disney princesses are only showing girls one very narrow view of femininity and it’s an archaic one. As previously stated, Bartyzel wrote this article in response to Merida’s Disney coronation, which sparked a lot of controversy.
The article discusses the negativity of …show more content…
While later movies began to show women of color and branched out as far as showing Mulan as both princess and warrior, the Disney Princess line of the 1990’s turned a diverse cast of princesses into female stereotypes that Disney had seemingly moved out of (Bartyzel).
The author of “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” Peggy Orenstein points out that princesses were becoming less about magic and fairy tales and more about putting constraints on what it means to be feminine. Merida was meant to be the girl who didn’t want to be a princess and the intent of its creator was to provide a princess that was strong and more relatable. However, Disney chose to go against the original intentions of Merida’s creator
Bartyzel’s writings examine the portrayal of women in media as evidenced by the overarching title of “Girls on Film”. Bartyzel believes that there is often an issue with the way women are portrayed and that it has a detrimental effect on young women. There has been a lot of discussion around Disney in particular and the culture created by it’s princesses. Many, like Bartyzel, argue that Disney princesses are only showing girls one very narrow view of femininity and it’s an archaic one. As previously stated, Bartyzel wrote this article in response to Merida’s Disney coronation, which sparked a lot of controversy.
The article discusses the negativity of …show more content…
While later movies began to show women of color and branched out as far as showing Mulan as both princess and warrior, the Disney Princess line of the 1990’s turned a diverse cast of princesses into female stereotypes that Disney had seemingly moved out of (Bartyzel).
The author of “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” Peggy Orenstein points out that princesses were becoming less about magic and fairy tales and more about putting constraints on what it means to be feminine. Merida was meant to be the girl who didn’t want to be a princess and the intent of its creator was to provide a princess that was strong and more relatable. However, Disney chose to go against the original intentions of Merida’s creator