by Sila Anton

Created on: August 27, 2008

Of course they do! All movies contain subliminal messages, why would you assume animated movies would be an exception. However, there is a difference between the messages that are in Disney movies and the messages in "adult" movies. Movies geared towards those over the age of eight tend to have product marketing in them. You see a lot of strategically placed cola cans, billboards and cars. Whereas in kids movies the messages are directed more towards accepted norms and values. In a light hearted, musical fashion they embed social stereotypes into the minds of kids in an attempt to perpetuate the accepted norms that exist.

OK, that may seem a bit harsh but have you ever watched Cinderella? It is a good example of how a movie is used to shape the minds of our youth. She is by far the most popular of the Disney princesses and her story is a fairly simple one. She is an astonishing beauty with a heart of gold and the voice of an angel, who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters, who are just dastardly. They are mean and they treat her like dirt. She wears rags, lives in the attic and her only friends are a collection of mice and birds. She toils away daily, always in good spirits, because she is hoping that some day her life will get better. And low and behold it does. She gets all gussied up, goes to a ball where she catches the eye of a Prince who saves her from her horrible life.

After watching the movie repeatedly with my niece, we are talking double digits in one day here, my mind starts to turn to mush and ooze out of my ears. But my niece loves it. Cinderella has some catchy songs and the mice are funny but my concern is what lessons the movie is teaching my niece. The idea that by remaining subservient and abused, you will eventually get a happy life is upsetting. No girl deserves to be treated like dirt; but that is not the message that is being conveyed. Cinderella should have reached out to a coachman, a cobbler or the bread maker and gotten help. Waiting for some magical entity to descend from the stars to give you a fancy dress and make you appealing is not the answer. My question is what happens to Cinderella after she and the prince ride off into the sunset? Does she revert to being the subordinate being emotional abused at the hands of someone who doesn't make her scrub the floor? I doubt that someone who did not challenge authority prior would somehow develop the ability to start questioning it now that she has escaped.

Cinderella is not the only Disney movie that conveys the message of the inferior female. With the exception of Mulan, all of the Disney princesses are uneducated, beautiful, trusting creatures that are waiting for a Prince to come along and sweep them off their feet. The Princesses all have to be beautiful but none are smart. They rely on other people to save them i.e. dwarves, princes, street urchins and godmothers. This is not the message that we want to be sending our young girls. It would be great if Disney produced a movie with a smart, beautiful princess who had to save the Prince. It would be a movie that encouraged girls to be strong and independent not a jellyfish that lets the world walk all over her.

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