In documentary was made in 2001, a
In this dayand age, media has been the biggest form of past time entertainment not only toadult but also children. Media can be access almost on every device in todaysociety which can also influence the minds of people watching. The Walt DisneyCorporation is a huge media conglomerate which owns a lot of media companiesincluding radio network, music studio, cable network and etc. Since Disney ownsa lot of media, they can choose how to display certain information out to thepublic for their corporate gain. Disney films are an example of how they caninfluence people, especially children as they are shown to be innocence andfun. Since Disney are shown as innocent, they can influence people who watchtheir film in many different ways which include representation of gender as Ithink they had improved a lot over the years.
In thedocumentary called Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood and CorporatePower, it outlines how Disney uses their power as they are one of the biggestmedia conglomerate in the world to influence young children to mind throughtheir film (Feng Su & Picker, 2001). Since this documentary was made in2001, a lot has changed over the years in term how Disney film is portrayed butthere are some ideas from back in the day that Disney still doesn’tacknowledge. Frozen which is a Disney film that was created in 2013 became ahuge success as one of Disney highest-grossing animated film. Dues to its hugesuccess, it also played a role in influence children minds for this generation.The film was about two sisters who were princesses in this kingdom but with oneborn with an icy power which was growing at a fast rate as she could notcontrol her power. She ended up hurting her sister at an early age which leadsto her parent trying to hide her away from people until she could control herpower. As time pass, it was the day of her coronation to become Queen of thekingdom when her power was exposed to the public and was considered a monster.Her emotions to the comment made to her ended up triggering her magic to causean eternal winter which she can’t stop.
So, her sister set off on a journey tosave her and bring an end to the winter (Vecho & Buck/Lee, 2013).Over thecourse of Disney existence, Disney has shown how they want to represent genderroles in term of their movies. In the early days of Disney, females in themovie would be very weak in a sense that they need to be saved by a man who isusually strong and manly. This idea around gender roles would become the “norm”in a society where children at a young age would adapt to these roles as theygrow up.
If you were to step out of these “norm”, you would suffer consequenceas you were an outsider that refuse to accept society way of thinking (Barber,2015). Media are one of the biggest influence in term of creating these social”norm”, as they encourage people watching/tuning in to follow the guidelinethat they set up. The films that were mention in the documentary support thisidea as females in these movies are often to be very seductive while the menhave to be strong and manly (Feng Su & Picker, 2001).
This image of how amale/female are supposed to look affect people who watch their movie as theywant to be like that in the future but not realizing that most people aren’tlike that in real life. Thismentally of Disney way of think would change throughout the year leading topresent days as it has been getting better. In 2013, Disney would release a newprincess type animated film called Frozen.
Frozen would break what you wouldcall social “norm” or gender roles as for the first time it would star twostrong females character instead of the usual male and female. Compare to theusual romance type story, this film focused more on the development between thesisters and show why a family relationship is so important. There are malecharacters in the story that help out one of sister but she is able to make thedecision on her own and does not depend on them to save her sister. In thefilm, she even left the prince (that she just met and fell in love dues to loveat first sight) behind to take care of the people while she set off on herjourney to save her sister. This was a huge change for Disney and also a changethat was needed as time has changed where women can have control of her lifeand do not require a man to rescue her/make happy (Barber, 2015).
Inconclusion, media play a huge part in influencing the mind of people asinnocent children would not be able to tell right from wrong. Disney is able topass a message through their innocent animated film like how a person shouldact in society but can be seen as fun and innocent without knowing that thereis a true message behind it. The younger viewers like children tend to mimicwhat they see through media (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012) and that canchange how they grow up thinking these are how society will view this and Imust follow. When Disney decided to moveforward with how society has changed in the films, it created a huge rippleeffect as they are one of most powerful media conglomerate in the world. Theyhave the power to influence people from right and wrong.
The change in Disneyway of thinking after Frozen is in the right step toward a better society whereeveryone is equal. Hopefully, they will continue down this path.
