Sexism, Strength, and Dominance in Disney

I think this is pretty interesting:



The vid makes some interesting points, particularly since most analysis of Disney films I've seen has focused on the racial issues and the "Princess Culture", not the images of the male heroes.

However, it has some serious flaws, particularly in the choice of clips. The clips of Mulan were excellent, since that's the film most often held up for its feminist message, but the ones of Beauty and the Beast are fairly pointless -- yes, Gaston is a big macho d-bag, but he's the bad guy, and his hypermasculinity is often held up as absurd or an outward sign of his personality flaws. The hero of the movie, the Beast, is actually fairly gentle and conflict-avoiding (witness his scene with the birds in the snow). I think you could write a fairly interesting essay about the Beast himself, and how his hyper-aggressive appearance may be used to offset his gentleness to preserve the requisite amount of masculinity.

But I love this for pointing out how many Disney movies end with a battle between two men, often over a woman.

And it's a very real issue -- the image of the square-jawed, barrel-chested, savior-prince may be just as damaging as the image of the slim, white-skinned, delicate princess-in-distress, to both boys and girls.