The Tale of Misogyny

Una Ahn Y10 Mulchat

Misogyny: ingrained prejudice against women

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had personal problems, like family issues, or happening to be the target of a murder. Then there was a hero who appeared out of nowhere and kissed her. Unbelievably enough, his kiss solved all of the girl’s problems. The girl is saved and they live happily ever after. Oh, a familiar story? Yes, you just heard the summary of the “Tale of misogyny” by Disney. Or you might have heard it by its other name, “Disney princesses”.

Our childhoods were built upon Disney movies and characters. Their movies are overwhelmingly great. Of course, there are movies from Disney that warm our hearts. But even Disney has produced movies that may not be suitable for children; they carry quite shocking statements which could lead to discrimination and prejudice towards women. Let’s take a look at these characters. They come from different regions and have different skin colors. But there

is one thing that connects them all.

The similarity between these princesses is that they all carry horrifying misogynistic messages. Let’s look at them one by one. Ariel the little mermaid gives up her tail, her voice and her life with her family for a prince she’s just met for the first time. The same prince ends up saving her life and they live happily ever after. Belle falls in love with a monster who kidnapped her father and held her hostage. Cinderella gets chosen by Prince Charming solely based on her looks, which is what gets her out of her toxic family. Jasmine is a victim in a male dominated society where she is forced to marry a prince. Snow White is saved from a poisonous apple choking her by a prince who kisses her because... she was beautiful. Sleeping beauty is saved from her curse by a prince who kisses her. (Sidenote - Sleeping beauty(1991) was the first film in which Disney hired a female animator.) These characters tell us that we all need a charming prince who will save us from ‘danger’ and that we will be saved if we are pretty and succeed in making them fall in love with us.

So they all fall in love with a man. Can you name a character from above who doesn’t kiss her prince? They all kiss and date men, which helps them get away with danger or their problems. All of their stories are about waiting for a prince who will rescue them which makes them a codependent person. There is not a single movie about a prince who sleeps, waiting for a princess to rescue him, or a prince who is in risk of getting murdered. These movies are all about putting women in danger so that so-called “princes” can save them from it.

What makes these problems worse is that Disney’s main audience is children. The children will grow up watching to be taught by the movies from a young age that certain genders have to act certain ways, not for themselves but 19

for others.

So after making all these misogynistic movies, some people started to realize that maybe these movies shouldn’t be shown to children. In 2012, Disney made Princess Merida, a headstrong and independent character who is not afraid to solve her own problems. Princess Merida was the first Disney princess not to end up with a love interest. In 2013, for the first time ever in the 90 years of their existence, they finally released the movie Frozen, the first Disney film about two independent female characters who have solid identities of their own. Also, Aladdin, the biggest Disney movie of 2019, was also about an independent female character who solves the problem she is facing by herself. It is also interesting to note that Jasmine, not Aladdin, ends up as Sultan. Disney’s tale of misogyny is not yet finished, but it is coming to an end. After all, we don’t need Prince Charming.

Princess Jasmine in Disney’s new Aladdin movie is no longer a damsel in distress. Directly standing up against her malevolent (and sexist) uncle, she eventually becomes the sultan of Agrabah herself. Her song Speechless, which harshly criticises the society’s tendency to silence women, is recognised by many as one of the best Disney songs.

- Editors -