Disney Ideal Beauty

Disney and Ideal Beauty What is “ideal beauty” to you? To me, it is how our society perceives the perfect man or woman to look like, and how all humans should strive to make their appearance similar to. In today’s world, the media tries to push their opinions of “ideal beauty” on to the younger generation; through mass media and marketing. Disney, one of the largest and most prominent companies that appeal to children around the world, uses products such as animated features and merchandise to broadcast these influential messages to children. While some of Disney’s representations of men and women are positive, there are many portrayals of gender that are negative and stereotypical of modern society. In today’s world, Disney characterizes the “ideal woman” to be that of a princess. Being thin, youthful, beautiful, and white all characterize what it is to fit in Disney’s model of a princess. Usually the heroines of Disney’s tales embody this appearance; examples such as Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Princess Aurora, etc. (Bell et al. 109-10). Unlike the princesses that Disney illustrates in their animated films, the young women in today’s world cannot achieve such “unrealistic body ideals” (Clancy). What Disney is teaching to the youth is that “those characters that have beauty are often rewarded, while those that do not are punished” (Clancy). So what Disney’s underlying message is telling us is that in order for a young woman to live the fantasy of being a “princess,” you have to accompany all of these features; and if you do not, you cannot be considered to be this “princess” figure. Even though Disney tales may teach great life lessons, they make the female character in their stories un-relatable to the young audience, due to the perfect appearance of the character that is unattainable in real life (Trulock). On the other hand, Disney’s movies show us that being fat, ugly, and old is considered to be looked down upon in society for females. Usually the