The first article that I examined was "The Little Princess Syndrome." This scholarly article discusses the fact that it is almost natural that all young girls will go through a "princess stage" (like the young girl pictured below). Along with this idea comes the "worrying aspects of princess culture such as passivity and consumerism." The author Lyn Mikel Brown suggests that there are few other choices for little girls to choose. The princess culture dominates most younger girls' childhoods and then as they get older, it transforms into a more sexualized culture of having to be sexy and beautiful. This article suggests that it is ultimately important that parents are involved and educate their young children about the images and events that they see in movies. It suggests that helping children view media critically will prevent them from thinking that they will become what it is that they see being portrayed in the media.
The second article that I examined, "The animated woman: the powerless beauty of Disney heroines from Snow White to Jasmine," talks about two main Disney princesses, Snow White, from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and Jasmine, from Disney's "Aladdin." It explains that even though the two movies were created fifty-five years apart from each other, the two female characters are strikingly similar. The two characters accurately portray what was considered beautiful in each era, and in addition to that similarity, they both are innocent, dependent, and in constant need of being protected from others and themselves. The article further suggests that although in the real world, women's place in society had changed within these fifty-five years, in the context of Disney, they had not. Children, specifically young girls, identify with both of these heroines and see their behavior as the normal behavior that women are supposed to carry out emphasizing that Disney offers a view on gender roles that continuously shapes children's identities in society.
In the article "Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses", both gender roles of males and females are addressed. The main idea of the article is that throughout the years of Disney princess movies, all movies incorporated some stereotypical representation of gender, but at the same time both the male and female roles changed over time. The female roles ultimately maintained its femininity, but also adopted some culturally masculine qualities over time as well. At the end of this article, the authors suggest that because Disney has the ability to target its media at young children and provide positive influences, they may be able to start addressing the problems of stereotypical gender roles.
The last article "The production of meaning through peer interaction: children and Walt Disney’s Cinderella", described a study in which children's interpretation of a popular gendered fairy tale at the level of peer interaction was observed. It was found that gender and gendered expectations were essential to how the children interpreted and constructed meaning.
The above mentioned articles are just a few of the sources about the topic.
Below is a link to a short clip that shows how Disney is trying to change the image of what it means to be a Princess:
