How does cinderella portray women

Scholar Marcia R. Lieberman openly criticizes continuing concepts in fairy tales that convey a certain image of women and represent pseudo-womanly characteristics which even may remain valid today. As a contrast, she argues that it is rather difficult to understand how children reading fairy tales should learn something else than the demand of society towards women to adjust to traditional social roles Lieberman Though we are not able to determine the extent, we know that children are culturally conditioned by the best-known stories, mainly by those picked up and converted by Disney.

Besides behavioral patterns, value systems and the prediction of consequences, Lieberman implies that fairy tales present roles, behavior and psychology according to gender ibid.

Further on, she assumes that sexual role concepts and their limitations can be reviewed through a close examination of the presentation of women and girls ibid. In connection to this aspect, Lieberman explains that one might ask himself how the stereotyped feminine traits emerged and suggests that they either they have a biological origin or they are social constructions.

A mere look at the channels of acculturation would demonstrate that women perceived many impressions that formed their self-identity from the fairy tales they loved as a child ibid.

First, she states that beauty and the appearance of a girl are defined as the most valuable characteristic. It has a strong influence of the perception one has of the actual personality, since good temper and gentleness are always connected in the stories with being beautiful. The author warns that the introduction of these competitive principles to girls may spread jealousy and envy among them and teach them to be of each other, because only the one with the pretty face will achieve something.

Moreover, Liebermann portrays the fear of girls and later, women, to be not special enough. Responsible for a misleading image is also the representation of beautiful heroines as passive characters who only have to wait for something good to happen but not acting themselves to reach their goals ibid. As an example, she names Sleeping Beauty who is found by the prince after he fought his way through thorny bushes and branches, simply because he heard about her beauty.

Additionally, marriage is a turning point in every story and as the central event it functions as a reward or as punishment for the heroine. Also, there seems to be no other kind of gratification for success but only the holy matrimony ibid.

This may also lead to the passive role women predominantly adopt. Taking a glance at the life of bride and groom after the wedding, there is very little to say.

Though The Blue Fairy Book contains many stories including marriage, the biggest proportion simply ends with marriage. Nevertheless, The Sleeping Beauty is chosen by the author to show us that staying under male headship will not bring you in trouble. Once again, women are stigmatized.

Consequently, Lieberman warns that girls may endlessly aim to be courted because they retrieve an outdated, traditional image of love and marriage from the stories they encounter in their childhood. Along with this, Lurie proposes that fairy tales also can be seen as reflections of matriarchal structures where women play a dominant role Lurie For instance, this holds true for Snow White who lays in a glass coffin where a prince finds her and falls in love with her and thus changes her destiny ibid.

She concludes that fairy tales not only depict that passive behavior of females is more adequate, but at the same time they denounce active women as ugly and wicked ibid. From another perspective, Lurie also claims that particularly older women are more active and powerful than men and not necessarily are the villain.

In The Blue Fairy Book all good and powerful women are fairies. To Lieberman, they still do not present alternative heroic figures that girls can look up to since they are rarely on the scene and only play unimportant secondary roles ibid. Hence, positive and energetic female figures are a rarity among the best-known stories. Conclusively, Lieberman remarks that it is rather controversial and paradoxical to assume that the reflected behavior of women in fairy tales is biological intrinsic.

Parsons aims to observe the messages embedded in the traditional fairy tales and gives an overview on indications that teach gender-related behavior. She examines feminist re-visions of the narratives to highlight the characteristics and stresses the importance of alternative scholarly work to overcome the patriarchal ideologies classical fairy tales convey.

She starts her argumentation by explaining that the importance of fairy tales for teachers and psychoanalysts has declined due to mass media dominance. Parsons does not question the truthfulness of the mentioned aspects; she considers them as proven. Whose to say that a girl HAS to go through a phase where she thinks of herself as a princess? If young girls believe they have to be princesses, the instant they see someone that does not fill that mold they begin asking questions, or worse, teasing.

Also, on a more amusing note. Wow I never thought of this movie in a critical way and now my eyes have been open. This could be a false example to young ladies that this is what your life should be like, however it would be a false interpretation. Its really fascinating to about just how much gender roles have changed within years just compare Cinderella, Snow White or Aurora to Belle, Mulan or Tiana for example.

Interesting take. I always said that women are not a product of their sexuality. They are who they want to be. I am somewhat of a feminist, that a women can do anything a man can do and a man can do the same. So, this is a really great take. Some look for excitement. Nice piece. This was a very insightful article, and made recall a class I took just last year in college all about the impact media has on young girls.

I agree with you every thing that involved gender. Disney needs to be more cautious on stereotypes. Great analysis! I agree with you. Pop culture has conditioned us to believe that love entails a life without independence and, for women especially, a sense of inferiority to their dominant spouse.

I definitely believe that Cinderella was one of the catalysts that mobilized the idea though. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Prove you are human, type c a t s in singular form below:. Model Behavior and Perpetuating Gender Stereotypes When peeling back the layers of the film, Cinderella highlights key issues with gender roles and stereotypes. Oh Cinderella, the shoes were never the issue!

Breaking the Chains of Gender Stereotypes Today While Cinderella may perpetuate numerous gender roles and stereotypes, it is also just a movie. Works Cited Orenstein, Peggy. What do you think? Leave a comment. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Cinderella Disney gender Stereotypes.

Posted on Apr 10, by. Elaina Chastain. Want to write about Film or other art forms? Create writer account. Receive our weekly newsletter: Subscribe. Subtitling for Cinema: A Brief History.

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Like 3,, likes. RSS Feed. Religion in The Wicker Man and Midsommar. Cinderella has lost status twice, catastrophically: on her mother's death, as a much-loved only child of two parents; and on her father's remarriage, as the valued daughterly helpmeet. Women , particularly in the era from which this story stems, but also in modern times, are given status first by their parents and then by their husbands. The man who could insist on her retaining at least part of her status - her father - has made himself powerless, and cannot defend her.

In the panto version, another man, Buttons, wants to give her status through love and marriage but is too lowly to do so, and knows it.