Gender and language stereotypes of male characters in Disney movies

An analysis based on social role theory

Research question: How have stereotypical male characters and their use of language evolved in Disney animated movies over the past two decades?

Subtitles for final essay:

A brief history of social roles: (Gender theory)

The societal male role in the 20th and 21st century:

Aim and Rationale:

Disney animated movies have been present in our lives for almost a full century and have no doubt played a role in shaping our image of gender ideology since a young age.

In fact, as children we might believe that these characters are a true representation of societal norms however, as adults we come to realise that the Disney corporation appears to base their movies on the social role of theory rather than reality. This said, gender roles today are no longer what they used to be in the last century which can also be seen in the radical change that the Disney female stereotype has undergone in recent years, revealing a more powerful animated female character (Streiff, 2017).

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The Disney male stereotype conversely appears to be somewhat understudied in the 21st century, and as such this analysis will mainly focus on the male stereotype in animated Disney movies, to determine just how it has evolved over time, with regard to both their social role and language.

Literature Review:

Based on the literature reviewed for this project, there seems to be a common trend in Disney animated movies, predominantly from the mid-20th century, where the majority of male characters were being portrayed as masculine heroes, all ready to save the day and protect some damsel in distress (Yerby, 2006).

Furthermore, as Yerby (2006) points out, not only do male characters in animated films from the 20th century embody stereotypical male figures, but they are also more independent and stronger than female characters, which does not provide their audience with an accurate snapshot of the current level of equality and gender inclusion found in western society today.

On the other hand, England (2011) argues that more recently, gender roles in Disney movies are slowly changing in such a way that male animated characters are starting to portray more feminine characteristics, including their use of language. In fact, England (2011) discusses several important studies done in the field which suggest that Disney movies post 1980 display a lot less stereotypical male behaviour than in previous years. However, while gender roles might be slowly changing in society, there still seems to be a major gap in image portrayal of characters, as they do not realistically match ‘’societal developments in gender equity’’ (England, 2011 p.556). Therefore, if this is the case, then perhaps it means that the Disney corporation has swapped one unrealistic stereotype for another.

Interestingly, on the topic of the male image in Disney animated movies, Pelton (2015) mentions that previous research by means of content analysis suggests that the attractiveness of characters’ is linked to how morally good the characters are in movies, so if the character is aesthetically good looking, then they will most likely be a ‘’Goodie’’ but if the character is unattractive then they will most likely be portrayed as a ‘’Badie’’. While these are no more than common stereotypes, sadly this is where their main audience, who are mainly children, ultimately draw their perceptions from and start to interpret the world outside of their homes.

Another article that is central to my research question is, ‘’Frozen in Time: How Disney Gender-Stereotypes its Most Powerful Princess,’’ because it demonstrates how Disney in the 21st century have revamped their stereotypical princess character from being weak and submissive to being more powerful, independent and taking more of the lead role (Streiff, 2017). While this change in character could almost be seen as a breakthrough for female gender stereotypes in animated films, what exactly does it tell us about the change in animated male roles, because if it is one thing that can be noted from animated movies, is that two powerful characters rarely get along as there can only be one hero. In fact, the male characters in Frozen, are either greedy and selfish or submissive and powerless which ultimately portrays the male character as a hopeless role-model for children. This is confirmed when one of the male characters in Frozen makes no sacrifices for the female, unlike traditionally done in earlier Disney movies (Streiff, 2017).

Research from the literature has shown us that there is an obvious unrealistic male gender stereotype in Disney animated movies which dates back as far as the early 20th century when Walt Disney started producing animated films. We also know from the literature that the animated male stereotype is evolving into a more Androgyny one and as such, this study is interested in determining the extent to which the male stereotype has evolved over time, because the male stereotype in modern Disney movies to date has been largely understudied compared to stereotypes portrayed by their female counterparts (Pelton, 2015). As such, the literature reviewed for this project has assisted in formulating this papers main research question: ‘’How have stereotypical male roles and their use of language evolved in Disney animated movies over the past two decades?’’

Methodology:

This research project uses audio-visual texts to systematically observe male social roles and communication features between characters by means of content analysis. The summative content analysis approach has been chosen which ‘’involves counting and comparisons of keywords or content, followed by the interpretation of the underlying context’’ (Erlingsson & Brysiewicz, 2017 p.93). Furthermore, this is a comparative study of male stereotypes in both old and new Disney films and the source movies have been chosen by popularity, in which the main male characters were not animals. The two Disney movies that have been chosen from the 20th century are, The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992) whereas, the two movies that have been chosen from the 21st century are Tangled (2010) and Frozen (2013). A code sheet will be used to collect the data and will focus on seven categories in total. Five of the categories to be analysed relate to character traits and are:

1. Social status: Coded as either ‘’poor’’ or ‘’rich’’

2. Clothing worn: Coded as ‘’tidy’’ or ‘’untidy,’’

3. Overall demeanour: Coded as ‘’powerful,’’ ‘’weak’’ or ‘’neither’’

4. Character pastimes: Coded as fishing, cleaning, working etc

5. Outcome of character: Coded as either ‘’hero,’’ ‘’villain’’ or ‘’neither’’

The final two categories to be analysed relate to character communication and are:

1. Conversational dominance: Frequency of interruptions

2. Uncertainty: Frequency of tag questions

One typically male language feature will be analysed, and one typically female language feature will be analysed against the male characters’ speech in order to test the theory of England (2011) which mentions that male animated characters are starting to portray more features of feminine communication in modern Disney movies.

Furthermore, these movies have been chosen as they form part of the top 50 list of most popular Disney movies of all time according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb, 2018). They have also been chosen according to year of production in order for the analysis to cover differences in Disney movies over a clear 20-year period. Finally, the above-mentioned movies have been watched twice to make sure they have been analysed accurately.