Movie Gender Roles

For years, pink has always been for girls and blue has always been for boys. Parents and family members never really gave their kids a choice in what was given to them. Whether it be color wise or toy wise. Girls grew up receiving frilly, pink dolls and pretend cleaning sets. Boys, on the other hand, were given monster trucks and pretend police officer uniforms. Showing children that it is okay to play with whatever they want doesn’t usually go over well with some parents. Some dads might not want to see their little boy dress up as a princess and some moms might not want to see their little girl roll toy cars through the mud. Throughout the years, gender roles have been implemented at a young age by the way toy companies promote their toys,
Many little girls grow up watching Disney princess movies which all depict weak, defenseless women that always get rescued by a strong prince. Whenever the princess is in any sort of life-threatening situation, she runs away in her small high-heeled shoes and falls in a tear-stained cheek heap on her bed. The male characters in these princess movies are always showed saving their princess from harm’s way while she’s off cowering behind a tree. “Tarzan was adopted by a tribe of the strongest mammals on earth, and spent his formative years trying to imitate them. The entire film displayed his ripped musculature, and Tarzan killed a vicious saber-toothed leopard only with a pointy stick. On the other hand, female characters have been portrayed as weaker, more controlled by others, emotional, warmer, tentative, romantic, affectionate, sensitive, frailer, passive, complaining, domestic, stereotypical, and troublesome than male characters” (Yerby, Baron and Lee). Young boys are seeing that it is okay to be rough, action oriented and never showing a single emotion. Girls, on the other hand, are shown that it is okay to let a guy help her in any situation she may ever face in her life. These movies also show male characters as being almost “God-like.” In Snow White, the prince comes along and gives her one kiss that magically wakes her up from her deep sleep. No man in real life is
This could potentially be a bad influence for girls that have to work hard, study and figure out what they want their career to be in the future. Doctor Stacy Smith and Amy Granados, child psychologists that conducted a study on gender roles in children’s media, found that there are four effects that may occur with exposure to film and television shows. Those four effects are: negative beliefs about self-worth, beliefs about occupations, beliefs about bodies and beliefs about relationships (Smith and Granados). A young child seeing a television show that shows a lack of gender equality communicates that girls are not as vital to a story line like boys are. Young girls seeing this may start to believe that boys are valued greater than girls. Children’s media can also affect a child’s idea about certain occupations. Certain children’s media may portray to children that certain jobs may not be suitable for girls or boys. Some shows do, however, show that girls can be anything they put their mind too. Smith and Granados note “Seeing or reading about females in nontraditional roles in occupations in the media can heighten the suitability or women’s achievement, confidence and employment in nontraditional vocations.” There is also a belief about having a certain, ideal body type being portrayed to children in shows. The media gives people the idea that a woman’s ideal body type is thin and attractive. Showing bodies that look like this to young girls may lead them to