The Impact of Feminist Discourse on Disney Animation
(From Stereotypical Portrayal into Empowered Females)
الكلمات المفتاحية:
Disney Animated Films, Empowerment, Eurocentrism Feminist Discourse, Stereotype
الملخص
Walt Disney has produced numerous masterpieces and animated films since 1923, being one of the leading entertainment industries. With the unforgettable choices of topics, themes and diverse portrayal of characters, this paper overviews the evolution of Disney portrayal of human female protagonists across selected films. A qualitative descriptive analysis interprets female protagonists in eight animated films depicted in the Classics, Renaissance, and the New Age eras. These include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), Pocahontas (1995), Mulan (1998), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013-2019), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), and Moana (2016-2024). This chronological overview focuses on the gendered behavior and stereotypical portrayal of female protagonists within the context of Eurocentric beauty standards. It traces the evolution of these portrayals through a theoretical framework of stereotypes as influenced by various waves of feminism, thereby enabling a nuanced investigation of the development of these characters from traditional princesses to empowered female protagonists.
المراجع
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10. Hine, B., England, D., Lopreore, K., Skora Horgan, E., & Hartwell, L. (2018). The rise of the androgynous princess: examining representations of gender in prince and princess characters of Disney movies released 2009–2016. Social Sciences, 7(12), 245. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120245
11. Itmeizeh, M. J., & Ma’ayeh, S. (2017). The evolution of gender roles and women's linguistic features in the language of Disney. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 36, 1–11. https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JLLL/article/view/38023
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13. Karma, A., & Bhadra, A. (2023). Disney setting and changing gender stereotypes. https://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/disney-setting-and-changing-gender-stereotypes.php?aid=94040
14. Liu, Y., & Yang, M. (2021). The transformation of female images in Disney animated films from the 20th to the 21st century in the context of the American feminist movement. In Proceedings of the 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021) (pp. 1034–1039). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211220.177
15. Maity, N. (2014). Damsels in distress: a textual analysis of gender roles in Disney princess films. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(10), 28–31. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-191032831
16. Priya R, K. (2022). Gender stereotypes and sexism in Disney movies: analysing Disney movies during pandemic in the backdrop of gender studies. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology, 8(12), 1355-1358. https://ijirt.org/publishedpaper/IJIRT155117_PAPER.pdf
17. Seybold, S. L. (2020). “It’s called a hustle, sweetheart”: Zootopia, Moana, and Disney’s (dis)empowered postfeminist heroines. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 34, 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-019-09347-2
18. Shehatta, S. (2020). Breaking stereotypes: a multimodal analysis of the representation of the female lead in the animation movie Brave. Textual Turnings: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal in English Studies, 2(1), 170–194. https://doi.org/10.21608/ttaip.2020.133423
19. Sun, J. (2023). Evolution of Disney princesses and its impacts on gender roles and the portrayal of love among young girls. SHS Web of Conferences, 180, Article 03006. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202318003006
20. Susanto, B. A., & Imanjaya, E. (2022). The revolution of female characters in Disney films. In Proceedings of the 3rd Asia Pacific International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (pp. 1–6). IEOM Society International. https://ieomsociety.org/proceedings/2022malaysia/661.pdf
21. Tlonaen, Z. A. (2023). Exploring Moana’s achieved identity: a movie analysis of the main character. LITERA: Jurnal Penelitian Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajarannya, 22(2), Article 60971. https://doi.org/10.21831/ltr.v22i2.60971
22. Tong, R., & Botts, T. F. (2018). Feminist thought: a more comprehensive introduction (5th ed.). Routledge.
23. Wardah, S. K., & Kusuma, R. S. (2022). Semiotic Analysis of Women’s Representation in the Animated Disney Film Raya and The Last Dragon. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Community Empowerment and Engagement (ICCEE 2021) (pp. 176–186). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220501.020
24. Wellman, N. S. (2020). An analysis of female villains and princesses. Concordia Journal of Communication, 7(1), Article 1029. https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=comjournal
25. Zhai, Y. (2023). Evolution of Disney princesses and its impact on young girls. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 6(1), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/6/20220794
26. Zhang, Y. (2016). A brief analysis on the changes of princess image in Disney movies. In Proceedings of the 2016 3rd International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-Cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2016) (pp. 329–334). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/icelaic-16.2017.79
27. Zsubori, A. (2023). The Good, the Bad and the Disney: Employing princesses to examine Hungarian tweens’ understanding of gender. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(2), 195-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231159332 (Original work published 2024)
2. Barber, M. K. (2015). Disney’s female gender roles: the change of modern culture (Thesis). Indiana State University. https://scholars.indianastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uhp-fac
3. Bhatta, D. C. (2023). Woman in Beauvoir’s concept: a feminist reading. DMC Research Journal, 5(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3126/dmcrj.v5i01.52014
4. Clarke, L.L., Hine. B., England, D., Flew, P.P.M.S., Alzahri, R., Juriansz, S.N., et al. (2024). The gendered behaviors displayed by Disney protagonists. Front. Sociol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1338900
5. Crafton, M. (2024, December). Disney’s postfeminist follies: Disney’s postfeminist portrayal of women in the age of fourth wave of feminism (Honors thesis, Bachelor of Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN. Retrieved from https://scholar.utc.edu/honors-theses/468
6. Davis, M. M. (2014). From snow to ice: a study of the progression of Disney princesses from 1937 to 2014. Film Matters, 5(2), 48–52. https://doi.org/10.1386/fm.5.2.48_1
7. Elboraie, M. H. (2025). Stereotypes of female characters in Disney. The Undergraduate Research Journal, 10(1), Article 8. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/urje/vol10/iss1/8
8. Hamsi, R., & Mouro, W. H. R. (2023). Between exalt and power: depictions of female protagonists in the Walt Disney princess franchise. University Research Journal of English, 10(1), Article 8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371504470_Between_Exalt_and_Power_Depictions_of_Female_Protagonists_in_the_Walt_Disney_Princess_Franchise
9. Hicks, S. (2023). Representation in Raya and the Last Dragon: examining the progression of gender, sexuality, and race in the Disney princess franchise. Scientia et Humanitas, 13. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/scientia/article/view/2410
10. Hine, B., England, D., Lopreore, K., Skora Horgan, E., & Hartwell, L. (2018). The rise of the androgynous princess: examining representations of gender in prince and princess characters of Disney movies released 2009–2016. Social Sciences, 7(12), 245. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120245
11. Itmeizeh, M. J., & Ma’ayeh, S. (2017). The evolution of gender roles and women's linguistic features in the language of Disney. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 36, 1–11. https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JLLL/article/view/38023
12. Jin, Z. (2023). Evolution of Disney princesses and its impact on young girls. In Proceedings of the 2023 7th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2023) (pp. 546–555). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-126-5_63
13. Karma, A., & Bhadra, A. (2023). Disney setting and changing gender stereotypes. https://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/disney-setting-and-changing-gender-stereotypes.php?aid=94040
14. Liu, Y., & Yang, M. (2021). The transformation of female images in Disney animated films from the 20th to the 21st century in the context of the American feminist movement. In Proceedings of the 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021) (pp. 1034–1039). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211220.177
15. Maity, N. (2014). Damsels in distress: a textual analysis of gender roles in Disney princess films. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(10), 28–31. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-191032831
16. Priya R, K. (2022). Gender stereotypes and sexism in Disney movies: analysing Disney movies during pandemic in the backdrop of gender studies. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology, 8(12), 1355-1358. https://ijirt.org/publishedpaper/IJIRT155117_PAPER.pdf
17. Seybold, S. L. (2020). “It’s called a hustle, sweetheart”: Zootopia, Moana, and Disney’s (dis)empowered postfeminist heroines. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 34, 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-019-09347-2
18. Shehatta, S. (2020). Breaking stereotypes: a multimodal analysis of the representation of the female lead in the animation movie Brave. Textual Turnings: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal in English Studies, 2(1), 170–194. https://doi.org/10.21608/ttaip.2020.133423
19. Sun, J. (2023). Evolution of Disney princesses and its impacts on gender roles and the portrayal of love among young girls. SHS Web of Conferences, 180, Article 03006. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202318003006
20. Susanto, B. A., & Imanjaya, E. (2022). The revolution of female characters in Disney films. In Proceedings of the 3rd Asia Pacific International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (pp. 1–6). IEOM Society International. https://ieomsociety.org/proceedings/2022malaysia/661.pdf
21. Tlonaen, Z. A. (2023). Exploring Moana’s achieved identity: a movie analysis of the main character. LITERA: Jurnal Penelitian Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajarannya, 22(2), Article 60971. https://doi.org/10.21831/ltr.v22i2.60971
22. Tong, R., & Botts, T. F. (2018). Feminist thought: a more comprehensive introduction (5th ed.). Routledge.
23. Wardah, S. K., & Kusuma, R. S. (2022). Semiotic Analysis of Women’s Representation in the Animated Disney Film Raya and The Last Dragon. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Community Empowerment and Engagement (ICCEE 2021) (pp. 176–186). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220501.020
24. Wellman, N. S. (2020). An analysis of female villains and princesses. Concordia Journal of Communication, 7(1), Article 1029. https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=comjournal
25. Zhai, Y. (2023). Evolution of Disney princesses and its impact on young girls. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 6(1), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/6/20220794
26. Zhang, Y. (2016). A brief analysis on the changes of princess image in Disney movies. In Proceedings of the 2016 3rd International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-Cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2016) (pp. 329–334). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/icelaic-16.2017.79
27. Zsubori, A. (2023). The Good, the Bad and the Disney: Employing princesses to examine Hungarian tweens’ understanding of gender. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(2), 195-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494231159332 (Original work published 2024)
منشور
2025-12-26
كيفية الاقتباس
Reham AlBassam, & Dr. Anoud Alhamad. (2025). The Impact of Feminist Discourse on Disney Animation: (From Stereotypical Portrayal into Empowered Females). Journal of Arts, Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences, (127), 546-560. https://doi.org/10.33193/JALHSS.127.2025.1612
إصدار
القسم
المقالات
الحقوق الفكرية (c) 2025 Reham AlBassam , Dr. Anoud Alhamad
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