by Breelyn Sirk

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: July 11, 2009

The minds and developing personalities of children are easily influenced, and since watching Disney movies is a favorite pastime of children, they are bound to absorb some of the lessons and messages that the movies teach and apply them to their personalities and beliefs. The debate of whether boys are as affected by Disney movies is a difficult one that can only be solved by looking at the different roles males play in Disney movies.

Just as many feminists dislike how females are depicted in older Disney movies, boys also get a skewed view of male gender roles in those same movies. Many of the most popular (and therefore most watched) older Disney movies, such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs","Cinderella","Sleeping Beauty", and "The Little Mermaid" feature a beautiful girl or princess as the main character, but the male roles in the films were limited, and were frequently cast as the heroic and handsome prince who in the end is supposed to save the girl and thus "live happily ever after". This view that men are supposed to be perfect heroes is a hard thing for boys to be able to achieve, so being taught this lesson is teaching boys the age old stereotype that men are the strong ones who save the day.

If the male characters are not handsome champions, then they are usually silly buffoons, arrogant villains, or overly protective fathers. Take for instance "Beauty and the Beast" there are 4 male characters: Gaston who is the vain and stupid villain, Lefou who is the obnoxious sidekick to Gaston, Belles father who is sweet but no one takes him seriously, and the Beast who is at first an angry and scary tyrant. None of those male character types are good role models for boys, which leaves them confused because Disney keeps giving mixed messages on what men are supposed to be like.

Disney finally cleared up that confusion in the 1990's with a series of male character driven movies such as "The Lion King, "Aladdin" ,"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Hercules". Each of those movies had a very different plot line, but the one thing they had in common was a lead male character that is trying to find their place in the world. With those movies Disney finally gave boys good examples of male characters, and taught boys the valuable lesson that you don't have to be a perfect hero in order to accomplish your dreams, none of the characters in those movies were perfect, but they succeed through hard work and learning to believe in themselves, this impacts boys to do the same for themselves.

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