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Cinderella

The topic that I want to look at is Walt Disney's Cinderella's influence on children's perceptions about love and romance.

Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films

Haddock, Shelley A., Lori K. Lund, Litsa Renee Tanner & Toni Schindler Zimmerman. “Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films.” American Periodical of Family Therapy 31.5 (2003): 355-374. EBSCO MegaFILE. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 7 April 2008. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=10833476&site=ehost-live>

This article is based on a study that identifies themes about families and couples in a number of Disney feature-length animated films. It states that a main way in which children are socially educated is through the media, and especially through animated Disney films, since these films are often passed from one generation to another. The study claims that its findings will be useful in helping parents and family therapists understand what children are learning through these films. Included in the results is the finding that a majority of the 26 films analyzed evoked the notion that being married and/or having children was the normal route for couples to follow. This idea is emphasized by the fact that characters are depicted as being married just after meeting. Remarriage may be seen as bad, because in the films in which remarriage is illustrated, stepmothers are depicted as evil, such as in Cinderella. All of the couples in the films analyzed were heterosexual couples, and the majority of them experienced “love at first sight,” which thus emphasizes the importance of physical appearance. And, in the majority of these movies, one does not find out how relationships are maintained; rather, most couples just “lived happily ever after.”

One of the films analyzed in this study is Cinderella. The study helps convey the notion that Cinderella is a film that presents us with romantic ideals – it contains the idea of “love at first sight,” that marriage is normal yet also an immense dream to have in life, and that happily ever after is attainable. It can teach children about social aspects of life, especially concerning couple relationships. This article can help to provide further evidence that Cinderella creates within children ideas about what love is like. According to the study, love is depicted as happening immediately and without effort, and marriage is seen as the ultimate goal. Thus, Disney films such as Cinderella create an unrealistic ideal about romance and love.

The Production of Meaning through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney's Cinderella

Baker-Sperry, Lori. “The Production of Meaning through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney’s Cinderella.” Sex Roles 56 (2007): 717-727. SpringerLink. University Of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 8 April 2008. <http://www.springerlink.com/home/main.mpx>

This article is about a study in which researchers looked at children’s interpretations of the fairytale Cinderella. The study was done using the book version of Walt Disney’s Cinderella, and was conducted in groups of elementary school peers. The researchers wanted to see how the children reacted to gender-related messages, especially in a group of peers. The study found that gender roles were reinforced in the various peer groups as a result of reading the fairytale.

This article is useful in looking at the film Cinderella and its influence on children’s perceptions and ideals on romance, love, and marriage. Though the study does look at the text-version of Disney’s Cinderella, the story and characters are the same, and the book provides pictures similar to what one would see on screen in the film version. In the study, researchers found that children combined the fantasies they heard about in Cinderella with their real life experiences, and the two often mixed together to form views about the film, and the girls often cited how they fancied getting married as Cinderella did, hoping to meet and marry a prince at a ball. Researchers also claim that many of the girls seemed to be envious of Cinderella, and after reading the film, talked about their futures and related the film in terms of what they would like their lives to be like. They believed that what happened in the story could happen to them. All of these notions coincide with the fundamental idea that I am looking at – that children are influenced by Disney’s film Cinderella in that they learn about romantic ideals.

For $38,000, Get the Cake, and Mickey, Too

Holson, Laura M. “For $38,000, Get the Cake, and Mickey, Too.” New York Times on the Web 24 May 2003. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia 7 April 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/ business/24WEDD.htmlei=5007&en=8bd92e1431ff9b1a&ex=1369108800&adxnnl=1&partner=USERLAND&adxnnlx=1145527777t6xyln6tLdWqb1ZTWNb1aw>

This is a newspaper article that talks about how couples can get married in Walt Disney World. The article references several examples of couples that have chosen to get married in this manner, explaining that a woman has the chance to feel like Cinderella. It depicts a few weddings in detail; in one example, the bride, donning a tiara, arrived in horse-drawn carriage to the wedding pavilion, where guests listened to Disney songs such as “Someday My Prince Will Come,” and wedding rings were presented inside a glass slipper. In another detailed account, one couple married in front of Cinderella’s castle inside Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park; the bride arrived in Cinderella’s coach, while the groom arrived on white horse.

The fact that couples want to get married in Disney World and have a Cinderella wedding experience helps elucidate the notion that people value Cinderella as epitomizing the romantic ideal. Brides can get married in Disney to feel like Cinderella, and the fact that couples choose to literally copy certain aspects of the film, such as the bride riding a horse-drawn carriage, goes along with the idea that the film sets an ideal within our minds on what marriage and love should be like – an ideal that was probably first learned about as a child. By copying various aspects of the film in their weddings, these couples may be trying to recreate the themes depicted in Walt Disney’s film, in the hopes that they will live “happily ever after.”

Where Magic Lives: Disney's Cultivation, Co-Creation, and Control of America's Cultural Objects

Brockus, Susan. “Where Magic Lives: Disney's Cultivation, Co-Creation, and Control of America's Cultural Objects.” Popular Communication 2.4 (2004): 191-211. Informaworld. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 9 April 2008. <http://www.informaworld.com>

This article talks about how the Walt Disney Company is very powerful as a cultural machine. It creates both old and new products, often re-releasing its old products so that they will be available to newer generations. Disney’s success comes from its ability to create not just films or products, but cultural objects. Disney becomes a part of culture in a way that the American public comes to value its characters. The products of Disney are memory makers, in that they stay within the minds of each generation as something memorable and unique to creating family moments, and are then passed on to each generation. Disney films and products are shared memories that Americans come to value and revisit throughout their lifetimes.

The discussion on Disney as a memory making cultural machine is relevant to Cinderella’s influence on children’s beliefs about love and romance. One reason why Cinderella may influence a child is because these films are passed down from generation to generation. A mother may have fond memories of watching the film as a child, and then as Disney releases the classic film from the vault for a limited time, she may clamor to purchase the film for her child. In addition, according to the article, Disney serves as a memory maker. In this respect, Disney’s marketing strategies attempt to ingrain in the hearts and minds of the American public its characters and films, and thus this will reinforce a child’s notion that she should value and store within her mind what she learns in the film. These ideas may be enforced by the fact that so many other Americans come to value the same characters and films.

What's Wrong With Cinderella?

Orenstein, Peggy. “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” New York Times Magazine 24 Dec. 2006. 8 April 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.htmlpagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=8e5a1ac1332a802c&ex=1324616400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

This article talks about how the Disney “Princess” brand is becoming ubiquitous to the point that girls do not have any option but to embrace the brand. The column is interspersed with personal anecdotes of the author’s experience with her little girl, who innocently wonders why her mother does not like the Disney Princesses. The author talks about how products related to the Disney Princesses are everywhere, and discusses how the idea to create a brand that connected the Disney Princesses was formulated in 2000. It was the first time that Disney characters were marketed separately from a film’s release. Since then, the Princess brand has earned billions of dollars; it is the fastest-growing brand ever created by Disney, and may become the largest girls’ franchise in the world.

This piece’s discussion on the Disney “Princess” brand is relevant to the topic of Cinderella’s influence on children. If Cinderella has the capacity to be so influential in a child’s formulation of ideas on romance, then a discussion on the Disney “Princess” brand, which includes the character of Cinderella, is applicable to discussing how a film can have such a profound impact on a child’s social education. Since the brand is so ubiquitous, and young girls receive constant reinforcement that this brand is essential to their upbringing, then surely it may be that they pay close attention to the ideals put forth in the film. They may be reminded of these ideals each and every time they see a Disney Princess product in the store, and their beliefs may be continually reinforced, as young girls all claim that they want to be princesses.

Wood, Naomi. "Domesticating Dreams in Walt Disney's Cinderella." The Lion and the Unicorn 20.1 (1996): 25-49.

Wood examines how Disney uses his film Cinderella to “civilize” his viewers by presenting models of proper behavior while entertaining them. Snow White, like Cinderella, sings while she does her household chores. In analyzing Disney’s conservative ideology, she touches upon how his views affect his other works, such as Snow White.

To keep his films entertaining, Disney reworked European marchen. He included well-loved romantic plots and added comic relief through subplots involving animals and secondary characters, such as the dwarves in Snow White. Marriage is based on love, rather than family constraints. “Love’s first kiss” wakes both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty from their slumbers. Disney used realism in his animated films to present a sense of immediacy to his audience. He included a solid plot and clear personalities to the characters so that viewers would feel a deeper connection with the story. The seven dwarves in Snow White each have their own unique name, temperament, and appearance. The recurring gags, often in the form of handicaps, also keep children viewers interested. For example, Dopey is mute and clumsy while Doc has a stutter and is absent-minded.

Disney supports wish-fulfillment, as is evident in his films. Dreams in Cinderella are similarly important in Snow White. While Cinderella sings of “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” Snow White opens her story with “I’m wishing / For the one I love / To find me.” Disney reassures viewers that with good effort and self-control, one will get the desired result. According to him, the ultimate wish for girls is to marry the rich and handsome Mr. Right.