Disney /Sexism

can't view the links right now, as on phone.

but wanted to mark my place.

dd2 - just turned 4 - is turning into a very girly girl - Disney princesses, the lot. (no idea where this has come from, as I couldn't be less interested if I tried, and dd1 has no concept of any of it (severe ASD))

anyway - we took them to see Tangled a couple of weeks a go, and afterwards I was trying to explain the (overly) complicated plot to dd2, and fell at the first hurdle of why the wicked old oman wanted ot keep Rapunzel locked up in the tower (so she could stay young and beautiful forever). I stumbled my way through it with a "because she isn't very nice", and my heart sank at the work ahead of me - to try to counteract all the ridiculous notions that dd2 is now busy filling her head with.

Will look at the youtube links later but there is an awful bit in Toy Story 2 where some of them are driven round the toy store by Barbies and Mr Potato Man is all flustered about the attractive women etc.

Really unecessary adult theme IMO.

I think that rather than "banning" these things my approach with DS (who is 3.5) is to try to ensure he has a wider range of DVDs and to comment (in an age appropriate way) on inequalities.

So I just thought of this - next time he watches Wind in the Willows - I will say "oh it's a shame that none of the animals are girls".

Dreamworks did this bloody awful film with Seinfeld "A Bee Movie".

All the worker bees were male [head-desk]. What ticked me off most was a scene with two female fan bees fawning over the pilot-bees after they came in to land. Whaaaaaaat? Not only were the female bees removed from the frame and their real-life role in a beehive erased, but they were imported back in as groupies!

I agree.

I love Jungle Book, but the fact that one of only three female characters sings a song which reinforces gender stereotypes, is portrayed as a naive seductress and described as being "nothing but trouble" makes me want to spit.

The other female characters are mother figures, who barely feature.
(Although one does undermine her pompous husband rather brilliantly at one point - but it's not enough to redeem the gender set-up!)

Pah.

I still love the songs though (apart from "My Own Home"....)

Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber is a pretty good antidote to the traditional fairy tale genre.

When I saw Toy Story 3 I was shocked by a scene in which several toys are sitting round playing a game and at the same time digging at a Ken Doll because he is a 'male' toy that is played with by a girl. The inference being that 'male' toys should not be played with by girls, that girls toys are inferior to boys toys, and that Ken was of an inferior status to the other toys by being a girls toy. IMO that is pretty blatant sexism and enough to make me not watch that film again.

No, I agree - and it's not just about gender roles. The reinforcement of class/race roles, the worship of physical beauty and wealth above all else, the denigration of intellectual (e.g. magical) pursuits - they are all present in classic Disney, and often the source material, and I find them pretty toxic.

My dissertation that I am currently writing is about gender in fairy tales. I just wanted to mark a spot on this thread so could find it again, will try to come back with a good response.