Textual investigation outline document

Please use this table as an outline for the main elements of your individual
research project. Each of you is doing something completely different so it
is vital that you keep this as up to date as possible to allow me to help you
at each step of the way.

Research Q:

How has the female lead role developed and changed in Disney
princess films from the 1930’s to 2020?

Hypothesis - what are you intending to do? What predictions can you make?
How will you ensure this is done in a fair way? What do you hope to find
out?

I want to find out how female roles in the film industry have
changed through time, and has this been a positive or negative
impact, and how do people feel about these changes. My
predictions are that the response will be mixed as many may
approve of the recent empowerment of women that films are now
showing, and how far the industry have come from the past,
however some may see it as a way of putting men down, and making
women's roles more important than any man's roles will be for
the future of film. I hope to find that people are happy with
the changes to female stereotypes and can see it as a big
improvement from how women used to be portrayed in films. In the
past women were often cast in roles emphassising their place as
being more fragile, “a damsel in distress” (Propp’s theory) and
the narrative usually stated that they should always be saved by
a man and can’t do it without them as they are the weaker sex in
the eyes of society. I want to feel that my research can prove
that men and women are treated equally and can both be leading
parts without being compared or put down to one another, but
instead can be seen as empowering, that men and women can be
treated like equals, as this is very important that the younger
generations can learn from movies they watch and can have both
male and female role models that they can look up to and aspire
to be like and feel confident no matter what their gender is.

Exploration/Analysis of texts - Detail below which texts you are

focusing on within your textual analysis.

For my textual analysis I am going to be focusing on the

evolution of disney princess films and female lead role films.

Historical context:

“These films serve as mirrors that reflect our culture’s

shifting values, specifically, they demonstrate women’s
perceived importance and purpose in society at specific periods
in time.”
In the earliest Disney “Princess films” such as Snow White,
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty filmed in the 30s/50’s and even the
ones that followed in the 90’s such as The little mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontis and Aladdin. The “Princesses”
were portrayed in a sugar coated version of the way society
viewed women’s roles. Looking back at these movies you can see
how differently women were represented and how far Disney has
really come with the equality of women today, There is such a
change from how they were presented in the first films compared
to their role in the most recent.

When Snow white was released in the mid 1930’s, the time just
before the second world war and after women had succeeded and
won the vote, which became a national movement in the victorian
era which would have been a big moment for woman in history and
how the where seen and treated., Women were often seen as ‘the
housewife’ they cooked and cleaned waiting for their husband to
come home from work while they had food ready on the table for
their return. The following two movies that came after Snow
White were in the 50’s, these were Cinderella, and Sleeping
Beauty, although there has been a big gap between the making of
Snow White and Cinderella\ sleeping beauty, not much had
progressed for woman, as you see in these movies they are still
shown to be looking after the house,cooking and cleaning or
following womans “stereotypes”as white and beautiful,expected
during this era. And both storylines show that they can’t be
complete until their “prince” comes and saves them. (Propp’s
theory)

Movies that then came in the 80s/90s were The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Mulan. You can see
slightly more development with these princesses and their
characters and the role of their character within the narrative.
For example, The little Mermaid shows slightly more independence
as she leaves behind her family to go out and gets what she
really wants, however she has to give over her voice to be able
to be with her prince, so he then only falls in love with her
looks and mannerisms and not with what she has to say, which
indicates that for a woman to be happy in a relationship she
needs to keep her mouth shut!

With movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas

and Mulan, you are able to see the growth that Disney have tried
to demonstrate in these characters, this could also be a
reflection of what society is demanding. As for women in the
90’s things were looking up for them as women weren’t only seen
for cooking and cleaning and having children but instead they
were attending higher education and joining the workforce. This
can be shown through the changes Disney has started to include,
for example, Belle in Beauty and the beast,shows her
intelligence and her love for reading, indicating that she isn’t
just a pretty face but can be intelligent too; even though some
of the men in the movie still view her as strange because they
aren’t used to seeing woman doing such things.At least Disney
are normalising this for women, Belle is also shown to be making
decisions for herself and not following the set stereotype of a
beautiful woman falling for a man just for his looks and only
because he is showing interest in her, but instead she falls for
a beast who isn’t initially what you would think a woman would
like. Although there are parts that still show vulnerability,
for example she is held captive by the beast against her will,
but then ends up marrying him which could suggest that they’re
romanticizing being kidnapped.

With Pocohontas and Mulan and Aladdin, you can also see the
ambitious characters that they portray, and how they are showing
that women are stronger than before and can take care of
themselves and make decisions on their own, With Mulan you see
how she takes the role of a man just to be successful and make
her family proud as woman would not be allowed to serve at war
simply because woman are seen as weaker but yet she was still
able to defeat the “villain” and save the day. With Jasmine’s
character in Aladdin you see her making her own choices by
choosing to be with Aladdin even though her role of a Princess
entails that she must marry a prince, however she makes the
choice and goes against this rule,which shows her ambitiousness,
to do what’s right and not what others expect from her. However
when danger is facing their way they still have the instant
company of men which shows that they are still dependent on men
for help as Disney will always want a Prince of “hero” to save
the day.

The story of Pocahontas is still questionable as she was not an

adult when the men came to her land, she was around the age of
12, therefore Disney have created this unrealistic image of
women in this film and a displayed an inappropriate love story
as the man she falls in love with is a lot older which could
indicate he is taking advantage of her. This film also portrays
stereotypes of women's role in society, for example the women
are retrieving corn to bring back to their village, it displays
that it is their job to provide for the working men of the
village.
Disney in the 2000s came out with movies such as, Princess and
the frog, Tangled, Brave, Moanna and Frozen, which all show a
huge improvement of how women have been represented in Disney
Princess films. Women’s roles have changed hugely and are seen
not just as a ‘housewife’ but as a person with equal
opportunities as men and having the choice of how they choose to
live their lives. You can see this development through these
recent movies, you can see that women no longer rely on men for
survival and don't depend on a relationship with a man to
complete them and make them.

With Moana for example the second princess after The Princess
and the Frog to have a woman of colour as the lead, This shows
the growth of how race has been presented through Disney and
shows that they are now inclusive of more culture than before.
Moana is shown as an independent, strong and confident girl,
that is able survive the whole movie, with only the support of
her friend Maui, who you would have expected to save the day but
then he doesn’t, but instead Moana does, and is able to save her
family and didn't need a love interest to do so, as did Anna and
Elsa in Frozen, the whole story correlates around the
relationship between the two sisters and how they saved each
other and neither needed men even though Anna had Kristoff ‘the
love interest’,but instead it was Elsa that saved her, just like
Merida and her mother in Brave and how they saved each other and
still didn’t depend on a man because throughout the movie you
see Merida's strength and how she can fight for herself even
though you see people against her doing this as it was not seen
as ‘lady like’ to fight or use weapons, however she was able to
prove them wrong and show how her skills and just how useful
they were. The movies were a massive success and were extremely
popular with all age groups, which could be to do with the
development of characters and how the storyline has changed and
how different it is now, to what most would expect from Disney.

Theoretical perspective - once the above has been completed I

will ask you to research and apply a set of theoretical
approaches relevant to your textual investigation.

Propp's theory- ”Damsel in distress”. Vladimir Propp’s theory

demonstrates that almost every film follows the same pattern of
characters and their roles such as “the hero”, “The villain”,
“The helper”, “the princess/prize” and “the doner”. For example
Disney films have this classic line up of stereotypes for each
character. In old films such as Cinderella and Snow White, the
princess is seen to be the lead part but yet each film consists
of them needing to be saved by the “hero” preferably a prince
who is coming to save the day, and rescue the “damsel in
distress, and his reward is to marry the princess, which
indicates that women are seen as a vulnerable and weaker.

Audience case study - who is the audience? How has this changed?
Why does this matter?

The target audience for Disney “Princess” movies is young girls.

They are specifically aimed at because Disney creates these
female characters to reflect a woman’s place in the world. This
appeals to this age group and therefore has a big impact on how
they see themselves growing up,an idealised and romanticised
version of reality that fits a stereotype of a woman’s place
through time.

Primary research - what research are you going to conduct

yourself? [For some of you this will not be appropriate]

Findings and evaluation - what are the main conclusions that you
can take from this project? What have you learnt?

My conclusion for this project is to show how women’s

representation in Disney films has changed through time,and
shows how women reflected their place in society during
different eras and how this has made such an impact on Disney
today.

Bibliography - please list below the main sources that you have been
using as your research develops.

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/no-prince-required-moana-and-evolution-d
isney-princess

https://ladiesofdisney.weebly.com/their-audience.html

https://www.slideshare.net/DanielBrown225/vladimir-propps-theory-of-ch
aracters

https://time.com/5310256/90s-gender-equality-progress/

https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4388-how-fourth-wave-feminism-changin
g-disney-s-princesses