Disney is an international film company that dominates full-length feature animations. Two feature long cartoons, Snow White (1937) and Mulan (1999), are good examples where a female character takes the central role, Snow White being from the first half of the 20th century and Mulan from modern times. Between the times when these films were made, one might expect the representation of women may have changed, (as female equality has improved) as well as some of the stereotypes of women that Disney has been criticised of conveying in the past. Before Mulan was created Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ had already marked a significant change in the portrayal of women, but it can still be argued that behind the audacious, attractive, and determined characters they are still happy homemakers just waiting to settle down.

Other traditional Disney heroines are characters like Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella. In many ways they are similar to Snow White and became examples of how to act, what to do, and what was accepted and expected as a role mo

Snow White is contrasted with her stepmother right the way through the movie. Many stereotypes can be recognised when comparing and contrasting the two female characters. One of these stereotypes is that women in a powerful position are evil and potentially dangerous. In this era women were regarded as being insubstantial and incompetent. They were supposed to stay tranquil, and it was not a woman’s place to express her own opinion, if they gained power it would turn them vain and merciless. Another of these stereotypes is one of appearance. When the stepmother transforms herself into a disguise, it is not one that just makes her unrecognisable, it also is shown to reflect her true personality, cruel. These features of her personality are hidden inside an old, ugly, crone, representing the stereotype that old woman and unattractive people are also unkind. These kinds of stereotypes are not exploited in Mulan, and to this extent Disney could be said to have moved with the times.

Mulan is far more complex than most Disney heroines; she has personal flaws, which make her easier to relate to than other characters. These flaws are ones such as outspokenness and hubris, which could cost her honour and the future of her family, given the restraints of Chinese culture. Mulan also achieves nearly everything on her own. Although Mushu (a dragon sent to help Mulan) provides her with self-confidence and companionship he is no fairy godmother. All these things argue that Mulan’s character does subvert the traditional idea of a heroine but there are also arguments that she still identifies with male authority instead of seeking her own empowerment. This can be recognised at the end when Mulan is offered a place in the emperor’s council, but refuses and instead decides to return home. Even though Mulan is a courageous and passionate heroine, her incentive for entering the army has nothing to do with her own desires but everything to do with the power of patriarchy (represented by her father and the emperor). It is still clear that men have control over Mulans life, and whether she is to live or die, which could be said to make her conform to being a traditional heroine, still at the mercy of a mans world.

One of the most striking features of the way parenthood is represented in Disney’s more recent animations is the almost total absence of the mothers. Mothers are absent in far greater numbers than either fathers or mothers of the pre-Little Mermaid era. The maternal vacuum is breathtakingly absolute: With the single exception of Mulan, every single relevant major character of the recent Disney animations — Ariel, Belle, Aladdin and Jasmine, Pocahontas, Hercules, Tarzan and Jane— either loses his or her mother in infancy, or is permanently separated from her during or before childhood, or simply has no onscreen mother at all.

Some topics in this essay:
Snow White, Captain Shang, Mulan Jane, Beauty Beast, Little Mermaid’, Mulan Mulan, White Mulan, snow white, Emperor Shang, Tarzan Janeâ€, disney movies, John Smith, disney moved, disney moved times, moved times, gender stereotypes, female characters, moved times disney, sexist views, ariel belle, unattractive people, society mulan, impart sexist views, extent disney moved, mulan extent disney,