Thesis Statement

The representation of women in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty. 

"Mulan"

Still from the film "Mulan" during the song 'Reflection' (1998)
http://pilotthursday.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mulan-disney-princess-20741155-1212-720.jpg (18/10/13)

This image represents the two 'versions' of the character Mulan. On the right is the version of her that her family expects her to be, which is a 'proper' maiden; dressed nicely with full make-up. This was done prior to Mulan going to the matchmaker in order for him to assess if she was bride material. On the left is the real version of her. In the image, she looks at her reflection with a sad expression because she knows that she cannot be what her family expects her to be. Not only does this image show society's expectations for women to look a certain way, but it also implies that women must look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by society. The implications of this representation is that women feel the need to change themselves to fit into the 'norm' when it comes to being beautiful. In many cultures and societies, 'beautiful' is having pale skin, full red lips, beautiful hair and possessing qualities such as grace, etiquette and confidence. Mulan did not possess these qualities and was consequently kicked out by the matchmaker, proclaiming "You are a disgrace! You may look like a bride, but you will never bring your family honor!" This shows that women must not only look the part, but also must act the part or will be considered as defective for not living up to society's expectation.

"Honor to Us All" from the film " Mulan (1998)- 18/10/13
In this song, Mulan is being prepared to meet the matchmaker. 


While she is being groomed, the women in the song sing about how a girl should look and act.

Men want girls with good taste
Calm
Obediant
Who work fast-paced
With good breeding
And a tiny waist
You'll bring honor to us all 
Lyrics from the song 'Honor to Us All' http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/mulan/honortousall.htm - 18/10/13

This song represents the expectations that are placed upon women. The lyrics of the song list down all the characteristics of not only the ideal woman, but a woman that a man would want to marry, implying that without these qualities, nobody would want to marry you. This representation of how women should look and act creates a message to its viewers that in order for others to find you attractive, you must have the qualities listed in the song. It also implies that men are only interested in women who present themselves in a certain way and that love isn't the most important factor in finding a spouse. Although people could argue that the song unintentionally creates the message that 'men are only interested in women that act a certain way and not love' because this movie was set in China during the Han Dynasty and things such as matchmakers were the norm during those times, I must also point out that although that might be true, this film was not shown to children during the Han Dynasty. This shows that despite our medical and technological advances, our society remains the same as it did back then. Physical appearance and qualities such as obedience and grace are still ranked much higher than intelligence or personality. The implications of this representation is that women who view this film will think that having a 'tiny waist' and being diligent and obedient is more important than love. Also, the lyrics of this song will give women the impression that marriage is all about bringing honor to your family and not about joining two people who love each other. This makes marriage look like a business transaction and will cause it's personal value to dwindle until nobody will marry for love anymore, and will only marry to make other people happy.

"Cinderella"

Still from the film 'Cinderella' (1950) http://singlegalz.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/cinderella324.jpg -20/10/13
Cinderella before the arrival of her fairy godmother.

This image shows the character Cinderella before the arrival of her fairy godmother. Cinderella is wearing a tattered dress and her jewellery is scattered on the floor. She is now unable to attend the royal ball because she does not look presentable. This image represents the idea that you must present yourself in a certain way in order to be accepted by society. Besides the fact that she is wearing a torn up ball gown, Cinderella is an attractive young woman. She is feminine, she is thin, she has bright blue eyes and she has pale white skin. However, physical attractiveness is apparently not enough unless you have the complete package and in this image, Cinderella is missing one thing; a beautiful dress. In this image, she looks very unhappy, looking down at her torn clothes.

Cinderella after the magic.
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww124/Pixerella/Cartoons%20comics%20etc/Walt%20Disney/Humanoid%20characters/Cinderella/Cindersdressfin.jpg
20/10/13

This image shows Cinderella after she encounters her fairy godmother and is given a new dress and a carriage to attend the royal ball. This image not only represents that idea that you must look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by others, but that you must also pretend to be something you're not to impress other people. In this image, Cinderella looks much happier than the first image, as she now has a beautiful dress to go to the ball in. The implications of this representation on society is that women will think that if you don't have new, 'trendy' clothes or a new car, you won't be liked by others. Also, it shows that who you are isn't good enough and that you shouldn't settle to be yourself. Cinderella shows that you need to change yourself and make yourself look a certain way, not only so others to find you appealing, but also to be happy. Young girls who watch this film will think that they need to change themselves to be liked, because Cinderella was only liked by the Prince because she looked beautiful and had a nice dress and a flash carriage. The problem with Cinderella is that she had a fairy godmother that gave her these nice things with the use of magic. This gives girls an unattainable standard to look up to, as nobody can just magically transform themselves in a matter of minutes.It gives them the sense that nice things come with a flick of a wand and not through hard work. Instead of portraying Cinderella as an independent woman who will work her way up in order to escape her evil step-mother and step-sisters and get a new life, they portray her as a woman whose life is changed by someone else, someone who doesn't even exist and then a Prince fell in love with her. This shows women that independence and doing things yourself isn't important, because Cinderella didn't even lift a finger and got new clothes, a new car and a Prince.

"Princess Diaries"

This representation of women does not just apply to animated fairy tales. In Disney's "Princess Diaries" (2001) we see a story of an ugly duckling who must turn into a swan when she learns that she is a Princess.

Mia Thermopolis before and after.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movie/princess_diaries/17.jpg - 20/10/13

This image shows the lead character, Mia Thermopolis' before and after. The pictures either side of her was her appearance before she underwent her makeover, and the girl in the center is Mia after. As we can see, they straightened out her curls, got rid of her glasses and plucked her eyebrows. 

This video shows Mia's makeover process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUjlBP5gUrQ&safe=active - 20/10/2013

The representation presented by the image and the video (taken from the same scene in the film) is that women must look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by society. Once Mia finds out that she is a princess, her grandmother (the Queen of Genovia) constantly tries to change her in order for Mia to be up to 'Princess standards'. This includes a makeover and etiquette lessons so that Mia will not only look like a Princess, but she will also act like one. Not only does this benefit Mia's journey to becoming a Princess, but she also becomes instantly popular when the school finds out she's a princess and she arrives to school looking different. This shows women that in order to be liked by others, you must conform to society's standards of 'pretty'. You must have straight, neat hair; you must have straight teeth; you can't wear glasses and you must carry yourself with grace and class...like a Princess. If you don't possess these qualities, nobody will like you and you will be like Mia before her makeover; a loser.

Prior to Mia's makeover, she was established as a social outcast who only had a handful of friends. Mia was considered unpopular because she was not stereotypically pretty, unlike the popular girl at school, Lana.

Lana from 'Princess Diaries'

http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2013/08/03/lets-review-why-the-princess-diaries-was-the-best/

20/10/13

This image of Lana represents society's idea of 'beautiful'. She has straight blonde hair, clear skin, nice teeth and she is a cheerleader. Before Mia had her makeover and was still considered a loser and unpopular, she was the complete opposite to Lana. But once Mia looked more like Lana (with her straight hair, new clothes, new bag, etc.) everyone paid more attention to her, even Lana's boyfriend. This shows that if you change your appearance in order to conform to society's ideals of beauty, then you will gain heaps of friends and the boy you like will notice you and automatically like you back. This sends the wrong message to its viewers, especially the young girls who watch this film. Once they have see this film, they too will want to get a makeover in order to look more like Lana or Mia (post-makeover). This promotes the idea that being yourself isn't good enough and that you have to change how you look and act in order to be liked by others.

Implications.

Young child wearing a Cinderella costume loads dishes into a dishwasher.
http://www.angelscribe.com/IMAGES/cinderella3.jpg
20/10/13

This image shows a young child aged around 4-5, loading dishes into a dishwasher wearing a Cinderella costume and a tiara. This image represents the implications of how the representation of women in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty. This child has obviously seen the film "Cinderella" and admires the character Cinderella to a certain degree. Along with this admiration comes the desire to embody Cinderella as best she can. Many times in the film, Cinderella is shown cleaning after her step-mother and ugly step-sisters and in the end marries a Prince. This shows young girls that if you act like Cinderella and do all the things that Cinderella did like cooking, cleaning, sewing, singing, etc. then you too will get married to a Prince and live happily ever after. This provides young girls with an unattainable goal. It is highly unlikely for a normal 'commoner' to marry a Prince, despite all the hype from the recent Royal wedding. No matter how many floors you scrub or dishes you load in the dishwasher, you probably won't end up with a prince, even if you can squeeze your foot into a glass slipper. Yet, Disney keeps making more and more money from their Princesses.

In this article from the New York Times written by Peggy Orenstein (2006) she states that "sales at Disney Consumer Products, which started the craze six years ago by packaging nine of its female characters under one royal rubric, have shot up to $3 billion, globally, this year, from $300 million in 2001. " Orenstein carries to to say that "it is on its way to becoming the largest girls’ franchise on the planet." 

Now, if it is the largest girls' franchise on the planet and is so popular with young girls, then this means that Princesses are the biggest role models of young girls. The problem with that is that the Princesses shown in these films are not as inspirational as real-life women such as Maya Angelou or Margaret Thatcher who worked hard to become successful women. Instead our youth, the future of the world, are stuck with damsels in distress who wait for Princes or fairy godmothers to save them. This discredits the importance of independence and sets these girls up to be weak and dependent. Instead of being inspired by the good deeds of the inspirational women I have mentioned earlier, our future leaders will look up to Princess Ariel, who traded her voice for a man; or Cinderella, who pretended to be something she wasn't to impress a Prince. Apparently, being true to yourself isn't an important value to have; neither is independence, determination and intelligence.

Not only does this present itself as a long-term problem, but we can also see some immediate, short-term effects of the representation of women in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty. In this article, a mother is quoted saying that "My 3-year-old daughter began refusing to do or wear things that princesses didn’t do or wear. She had stopped running and jumping because princesses didn’t do those things. That was about the time I stopped waiting for the phase to pass — when she stopped running." This article goes on to quote that “If a young girl doesn’t have a reminder that these fairytales are just that, fairytales, then she may grow up believing that her happily ever after is only attainable through a prince charming or a tiara on her head.” This illustrates the long and short-term consequences of the the representation of women in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty.

'Princess Syndrome'

In this article, they discuss  Child pyschologist, Dr. Jennifer L Hardstein's new book called "Princess Recovery". In her book, Dr. Hardstein talks about what she calls the 'Princess Syndrome', where she theorises that "traditional stories like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella promote the idea that if a girl is pretty enough and has fancy clothes and shoes, she find love and popularity." Dr. Hardstein states that 'Girls are getting this message everywhere that... what their worth is based on is how they look and the things that they have and it's very superficial.'

Dr. Hardstein's theory can be seen in films such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Princess Diaries and Mulan. In these films, the lead character changes herself in some way in order to attain love. This represents our superficial society where appearance is everything. These films are promoting and reinforcing the idea that you must conform to their standard of beauty (thin, pale skin, nice hair, etc.) in order to for other people to like you or find you attractive. These films capitalize on the basic human need for love. They show their audience that if you don't look this way or act this way, then you won't be happy and nobody will love you. In every Princess movie, the female lead is always looking for the approval of a boy. This shows that the only way you can feel loved is if you get the approval of a boy that you like, which you can attain by changing yourself so that he will like you--at least, that's what they do in the movies. This teaches girls that happiness and love is attained through the approval of others, or to put it simply, you can only get love and happiness from other people. It tells them that being single and independent won't equal to a happily ever after...that you need a man to be happy. 

The 'Princess Syndrome' is just one of the negative effects of fairy tales on women. These stories give women the false idea that changing yourself and acting a certain way in order to conform to society's standards or to impress someone will make you happy and feel loved. These fairy tales show how women are represented in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty.