Gender Roles in Disney Movies
Gender Roles in Life-Size
In the made for television Disney movie, Life-Size (2000), Lindsey Lohan stars as a 7th grade tomboy named Casey Stuart whose mom died recently. Casey attempts to bring her back to life with magic, however her plans go awry. Instead of her mom, Casey brings a doll named Eve to life. Eve is a fashion doll similar to Barbie, and played by Tyra Banks. Eve comes into the world thinking she is still as perfect as she was when she was a doll. Eve begins to win over Casey’s dad, people around the office she works in, and eventually Casey. Eve soon begins to learn how to be human with help from Casey. However, doll sales are suffering because young girls don’t want to buy fashion dolls anymore. So Eve must return to her life as a doll with the knowledge she has learned from Casey and her dad to save the doll sales.
After learning about the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, watching this movie (which was once one of my favorite Disney movies) was almost comical. The movie immediately opens with Casey on the football field, bickering with some boy about how he plays, and he immediately says, “You throw like a girl… go play with your dolls”. So right off the bat, you can see the conflict between Casey and the idea of femininity. The motif of dolls being used as an ideal for women is also shown. The commercial for Eve portrays her as a beautiful, fashionable, social woman who can do any career. However, all the things Eve is shown doing are shopping, driving around in her convertible, going to the beach, being in the kitchen, and some lower level careers.
Once Eve is brought to life, the female stereotypes start, and Casey and Eve butt heads from the beginning. Eve comes off as very beautiful (Tyra Banks is a model after all), ditzy, instinctually flirty with all men she encounters, has a valley girl accent, always happy and bubbly, confident, and extremely “girly”. Whenever asked what she wants to do, the first thing she says as her eyes light up is, “let’s
In the made for television Disney movie, Life-Size (2000), Lindsey Lohan stars as a 7th grade tomboy named Casey Stuart whose mom died recently. Casey attempts to bring her back to life with magic, however her plans go awry. Instead of her mom, Casey brings a doll named Eve to life. Eve is a fashion doll similar to Barbie, and played by Tyra Banks. Eve comes into the world thinking she is still as perfect as she was when she was a doll. Eve begins to win over Casey’s dad, people around the office she works in, and eventually Casey. Eve soon begins to learn how to be human with help from Casey. However, doll sales are suffering because young girls don’t want to buy fashion dolls anymore. So Eve must return to her life as a doll with the knowledge she has learned from Casey and her dad to save the doll sales.
After learning about the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, watching this movie (which was once one of my favorite Disney movies) was almost comical. The movie immediately opens with Casey on the football field, bickering with some boy about how he plays, and he immediately says, “You throw like a girl… go play with your dolls”. So right off the bat, you can see the conflict between Casey and the idea of femininity. The motif of dolls being used as an ideal for women is also shown. The commercial for Eve portrays her as a beautiful, fashionable, social woman who can do any career. However, all the things Eve is shown doing are shopping, driving around in her convertible, going to the beach, being in the kitchen, and some lower level careers.
Once Eve is brought to life, the female stereotypes start, and Casey and Eve butt heads from the beginning. Eve comes off as very beautiful (Tyra Banks is a model after all), ditzy, instinctually flirty with all men she encounters, has a valley girl accent, always happy and bubbly, confident, and extremely “girly”. Whenever asked what she wants to do, the first thing she says as her eyes light up is, “let’s