Disney+between+1990+and+1998

(1991) "Who could ever learn to love a beast?" - Narrator, //Beauty and the Beast//

Gender depictions in Disney's Beauty and the Beast are made clear even from the very beginning opening sequence. Visually, women in the film have large breasts, very small waists before a symmetrical curvature of wider hips, and are Caucasian with long hair. While in this film we don't see too many scantily dressed women, every female in the movie is wearing makeup--even the inanimate but animate objects. The women take up notably less space than the men do. As characters, the general theme for women is that they are weak. Not only are they physically weak, but emotionally and mentally as well. Women in the film are often interrupted by their male counterparts, faint when they see the ever-so-handsome Gaston, a man who is solely interested in protagonist Belle because her physical appearance is considered superior to any other woman is his town, and are assumed to be easily persuaded into doing what men want them to do. Men are depicted with extreme stereotypes as well. While there is a humorous air about the guffawing Gaston and his arrogance, the audience is reinforced to almost agree with him as being both a good and bad guy. While we see that he is pompous, he is celebrated by the entire town in the film more than one time. Gaston puts an exponential amount of emphasis on his own and others' physical appearance. The idea of a woman who speaks her mind, is intelligent, and enjoys doing things other than looking attractive and being interested in him is repulsive. If you skip to 3:07 in the first video, you can meet the beginning of the Gaston stereotype. (Also, see if you can spot the woman in the red dress' breasts pushing down the lever to get water at 4:01!)

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(1992) "You're speechless I see…a fine quality in a wife."- Jafar, //Aladdin//.

The ever-popular //Aladdin// is certainly not without its specified gender depictions, either. We see men unable to control themselves and their actions when they are near a beautiful woman. Theme in this movie, much like those in //Beauty and the Beast,// make demands rather than requests toward men and women alike. The main street cop in this film is large and well-built. He is the leader and often resorts to violence against his much thinner or chubbier counterparts. The sidekick to Jafar, the super villain, is chubby and short while the powerful one is tall and well-built. The disproportionate cross-dressing magic Genie, while much more powerful than Aladdin, is his slave. If you fast forward to 8:52 of the second clip, you can see the scene in which Jafar enslaves Princess Jasmine. While Jafar ponders who could be a "diamond in the rough" in order to enter the cave of wonders, he assumes that it is going to be a man. The Genie himself offers Aladdin hardly-dressed women dancers in his pitch to help him become a prince worthwhile to Princess Jasmine.

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(1997) "Well, you know how men are. They think 'No' means 'Yes' and 'Get lost' means 'Take me, I'm yours'.- Meg, //Hercules//

//Hercules,// a tale about the son of Zeus who ends up on Earth among mortals, at first has no outward signs of overly stereotypical gender depictions. While the main woman in the film is slightly sexualized, as well as the female narrator-singers, //Hercules// had much deeper assumptions about men and women focused more on their capability and interests as people. Men in the film are depicted as uncontrollable when they are in the presense of an attractive woman. Some characters spied on women while others were lead into danger because of their allure. The villain, Hades, assumes that Hercules' only weakness is a woman and her body. He mentions that he needs someone who can "handle him as a man". Hercules is indeed mindless and distracted after his loving encounters with Meg, the main female character. Hades admits, at one point, that it should be expected that men treat women poorly. When Meg is talking about how sweet and honest Hercules is to her, he responds with "Oh, please, he's a GUY." Meg generalizes, later, that being in love with a man is too difficult because men only cause heartbreak. We also see the recurring theme of women unable to control their feelings when they see an attractive man of status. Women in this movie fawn over, cry for, and quite literally stalk Hercules to his home.

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(1998) "Like a lotus blossom, soft and palm. How could any fellow say 'No Sale'? You'll bring honor to us all." - Mulan's aunt and grandmother, //Mulan//

Considering the main plot of Disney's //Mulan//, one might assume that many stereotypical gender roles were actually broken in the film. While //Mulan// does, in part, question what it means to be a good person rather than a good man or good woman, its depictions of women as inferior to men are not few and far between. Throughout this film about a young woman who goes to war in place of her incapacitated father, we see more extremities with regard to what it means to be and man or a woman. From the song quoted above, we learn that men want women "with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast paced, with good breeding, and a tiny waist." Most of the women in the film seem to fit all of these characteristics, plus or minus one or two. A big part of being a man in this movie means not showing any emotion. Male characters who show emotion are strongly looked down upon and outcasted as weak. Shang, protagonist Mulan's general in the army and love interest, shows almost no emotion when his father is killed in action during the course of the film. Mulan is forced to stop herself from showing too much emotion while feigning being a male soldier. A conclusive pattern along each of these movies, including Mulan, has been demanding men. Rarely do they ask others, including women, to do something rather than tell. Even more rarely do they not receive what they have demanded. When we see Mulan demand that others listen to her speak in the town square near the finale of the film, men ignore her. Her small dragon guardian Mushu reminds her that she is no longer dressed or acting like a man, so it is acceptable that she is ignored.

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