| dc.description.abstract | The Disney princess movies are well-known and adored by most Westerners. They have provided entertainment and dreams for many generations of youngsters, and they will do so for many generations to come. Yet, the Disney princess films do not offer just that. They mainly provide the first moral teachings, such as defining and distinguishing right from wrong. But also, more complicated ones, for instance, gender roles. How a woman should act, what her place in society is, and who the ideal woman is, are all questions that can be answered by investigating the Disney princesses. However, the answer to these questions alters with time. For example, Snow White was the embodiment of the ideal woman in the 1930s, but the same cannot be claimed for nowadays. This is because the ideal woman is influenced by society’s dominant notions and ideals regarding the female gender. Thus, the ideal woman not static, but an endlessly changing concept. The thesis examines how the waves of feminism have influenced the ideal woman portrayed by the Disney princesses. Evidently, the thesis outlines the shifting narrative of how American society perceives women and how they are represented in animation media. The thesis argues that the portrayal of the Disney princesses is generally consistent with the societal changes regarding women in American society. Yet, the princesses depict female ideals that are already widely accepted. This leads to the conclusion that the Disney princesses adhere to the ideals of their era, but are not proponents of them. | |
