As part of this multicultural society in Toronto, have any of you ever noticed, and I'm sure you have, the fact that many of the cultures in the world all have pretty much the same expectations in regards to both men and women? Well, to say the least, I have. Men are expected to be the strong, muscular, cold (emotionless) and good looking. While women are the caring, kind, emotional and able to do everything in the household.
I came across this topic while we were talking about our zine project, with gender roles, there are many expectations of what men and women are "supposed" to do or act as. There are a lot of countries in the world and along with the number of countries there are a lot of cultures in the world and each of these cultures has its own expectations as to what the people are like.
The American culture is just one example of the many cultures with its own expectations that men and women must uphold. But, now even the children are being pushed into these expectations of society. Little kids are told what is expected of men and women through Disney movies such as Cinderella, Snow White, as well as many of the other famous Disney family movies.
This video shows what the children are told as an implicit message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsy3BblcjCA
The video talks about the main gender differences between men and women and how they are exploited with Disney movies and the children are taught how they should behave in order to be the "perfect person" when they grow older.
My questions after watching this video are:
1. What are your thoughts on what kids are being taught about gender roles?
2. How do you think this would effect the child mentally?
3. Do you see any good messages for the children?
4. Is this leading to children becoming sexist?
I agree with you, In Disney movies women are portrayed as submissive and in need of a dominating man. Men are shown as physically strong and heroic. This is what the media in general shows.
ReplyDeleteAn innocent child will watch one of these movies and think it the displays the appropriate way to behave as a women or man.
Although Disney has been guilty of exploiting women with gender roles in their films, there are a few films I remember where the women are shown as strong and independent.
This definitely has a role in producing a sexist mindset in children. Young children are easily manipulated.
Minahal, would you show your future children films and shows that exploit gender roles?
I totally agree with you that there are women sometimes shown as strong in some of the many Disney movies, Pocahontas being one of the many. The sad thing is that there are more movies that shown women as weak than strong. To answer your question I would try to avoid it as much as possible until they got to an age where they could judge for themselves what was wrong and what was right. But I would also want to show them the fairy tales because they are classics and I grew up loving them, think all kids should get their chance read fairy tales. What about you? Would you show movies/shows that exploited gender roles?
DeleteYeah, I wouldn't mind showing them those types of shows. As a parent I would take the responsibility on educating them on the topic and wouldn't worry about a movie doing it.
DeleteI agree with what you have stated and as Hassan has said it is what the media generally shows, and even though in the video majority of those films were from our childhood and the from the previous generations, they would still portray gender roles because in our childhood and previous generation, we were still fighting for our rights. However, now that we are developing equality between genders, in some shows today they do show that both types of genders do go to school and be educated and have a career. Also i don't think it will lead to a child being sexist, whether you do show them these movies or not, it depends on how your raise them, and what values you teach your kids. Moreover, an infant, wouldn't understand much, because their brains are still developing, but even though we might be finding equality between genders today, I think gender roles might always exist :/ do you think so?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what your saying as to how we are responsible for raising the children but i think there is still the environmental factor that would change how the kids see the world around us. I think gender roles will still exist because we are born biologically different there will always be that factor to separate men from women. And your point about the infants is true as well. But my question to you is what do you think about the way men are being portrayed in these same movies?
DeleteI believe that parents need to watch what they are letting their kids watch because it can influence them in a very negative way. Many times parents don't realize what they are putting their kids into and that is because they are not educated about media themselves. If they were to be educated and control what their kids have access to, kids will think and behave differently.
ReplyDeleteThis will have a very negative impact on the children, and if it is not monitored it can get out of control.
Yes, i do believe that there a positives to these movies. These movies teach children to be polite and respectful to their elders. I think a lot of kids need that in their life, at least its telling them to behave nicely and become a better person.
It does make individuals sexist because they seem to be think that this is exactly how a man and a woman should behave.
I agree with you, we should what along with the kids. This way you can monitor what their watching and have some family time. Though I do think that there is an age where you can trust your kid to watch by themselves. What age do you think that would be?
DeleteDisney portrays the princess and weak and departed that need a man in order to survive in life. In all movies, minus Mulan, I'm pretty sure that the prince charming saves the damsel in distress. I think that kids are being taught gender roles because children are being told how to be a man and how to be a women.
ReplyDeleteI think that it will affect's a child's mentality because they are being thought how a person has to act to be accepted into society.
I think that although the're not many positive messages for the children in the movies but there are some that show women how to be dependent, like in the new film Brave.
I think that it is leading children to be sexist because if they see that women acting a certain way than they have to act like that and if they don't they are looked down upon in society.
I understand what you are saying, but even if these messages are not positive would you show your child these movies? They are considered to be the classics that give you hope that one day there will be someone who will come to save you from danger.
DeleteThe original Disney Princesses shown in your picture above were created a very, very long time ago. Snow White was written in 1812, that’s two hundred years ago! You have to keep in mind that when these fairy tales were written, women didn’t have a voice as loud as they do today. I understand what you’re trying to say, in that why would we keep retelling stories that belittle women for young girls to grow up admiring. But these princesses along with their negative influences concerning gender equality, also share a positive influence about women.
ReplyDeleteDisney has come out with so many new shows and movies that teach children things they never have before, such as the roles of women and men. The newest Disney Princess movie is called The Princess and the Frog, which is about an eighteen year old named Tiana who works at two different diners to support herself and save enough money to open her own restaurant and become a culinary chef like she’s always wanted. This movie shows an independent young woman who is supporting herself, and not relying on the help of a man. This shows how gender roles in Disney shows and movies has changed from what it use to be.
Based on older Disney movies, I would say that the message wasn’t that great to children, but this is slowly changing. No matter what, boys will typically always want to play with toys such as cars and guns, and girls will typically like to play with dolls and dress like princesses. Are movies and shows that children watch the ones to blame? Or are their parents the ones to blame since they are allowing their children to be exposed to this stigma?
You have a good point, these movies are old but when you look at the commercials children are being shown today, its the same princesses being shown. The old ones, the ones that are more famous, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel. Children still know about these princesses and therefore, there is a high chance that they have seen these Disney movies at least once. I also understand that the newer movies are portraying women in a better manner, but that doesn't change the fact that they made movies where women were shown as shy, timid, and the typical damsel in distress. To answer you question yes, it is the parents fault, but you can also blame the shows because they are still portraying women in a certain way.
DeleteThese movies are classics, and were created a while ago and they are popular. When these movies were first created, the gender roles portrayed in them were the norm and no one really cared about what they meant, they just did them. In today’s society however, this mentality has changed. More people, especially women are getting out and fighting for their rights. The once typical gender roles are being altered now. Now, if we were to watch these classics, since we have more awareness, we would say that women aren’t portrayed accurately and we would find it weird that women are being portrayed the way that they are in the movies. If children watch this, they are learning that a women’s place is in the home with her family, when in reality she can go out and achieve greatness.
ReplyDeleteGoing off from what I said earlier, if a child was exposed to stereotypical gender roles 24/7 then obviously, the child would feel that whatever it is observing and learning is how society should function. However, if the parents expose the child to more modern ideologies (i.e. women working or men helping out at home), then the child will develop a different outlook.
One message that I see is that women should be interested at being at home with their family. Going out and becoming independent doesn’t mean that a women begins to neglect her child/spouse. In other words, they can keep their life balanced between their family and work.
Again, if the children are exposed to these stereotypical gender roles for a long period of time, then they might become sexist. I can see a boy thinking that he is better than a girl if all he absorbs are these stereotypical messages. But in reality, it would take more than cartoon movies to make a child sexist. The child would also have to be influenced by people like parents, peers of teachers all the time for it to become sexist.