by Dee Holder

Created on: February 11, 2010

In the original Cinderella story, the step sisters were as beautiful as Cinderella, the real problem with them was that they were not very nice people not that they were not beautiful.  What won over the prince, and everyone else that saw her at that party, what drove the stepmother and the sisters (all beautiful) to treat her badly was that internal beauty and kindness that made her stand out.  It was that internal beauty that gave her that 'something' that drove the prince crazy. 

This is always something that has bothered me in many Disney movies and shows.  This focus on inner beauty, charm and grace seems to have been lost in favor of a focus on outer beauty and superficial desires.  To be fair these are cartoons, fantasy stories and I always try to remember this when I watch them.  They are very often good stories, with lots of action, good music and are fun to watch. 

But this focus on external beauty over inner light is something that I find hard to ignore.  Many Disney lovers will say "But no, all the princesses are nice people, it is their inner beauty that Disney is showing"  I would be more inclined to believe this if the step sisters had not been made physically unattractive as well as being shown as selfish and unkind.  It is this pairing with goodness and physical beauty and badness and physical unattractiveness (at least in the female characters) that I find disturbing.

In the original Snow White story, the Queen was very beautiful, true Snow White was more beautiful, but until she came on the scene the Queen was supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world, Disney did not really show her in that light, she was bad, thus how could she possibly be beautiful?  To be fair to Disney Snow white was released many, many years ago but have things really changed that much?

The second issue I have with Disney is the way it portrays older women, they are either round and cuddly or distinctly scary.  The bad, old women of Disney are all.. well witches! 

To be fair to Disney, this is not all of Disney's doing, the Fairy tales which Disney uses to fuel most of it's movies are inherently sexist.  They were written years ago, when most women really had few options other than waiting for their prince charming to come rescue them.  Most women were not in the position to go out into the world and have their own adventures, rescue their princes or choose not to have one if that was

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