Friday, March 28, 2014

Orsenstein, Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Argument

This author, Orenstein, argues that the industry of Disney princesses has a bad gender behavioral influence on girls.  Orenstein first starts out with a personal experience, pertaining to her daughter's imitation of Snow White.  Her daughter, Daisy, was "lying on the ground, her arms folded corpselike across her chest, her lips pursed, her expression somber" (12).  Her daughter was imitating Snow White when she ate the poison apple and now was waiting for the right prince to kiss her and wake her.  Orenstein describes her distaste for Disney princesses and the message they send to little girls.  As a result of these messages, the dilemma girls face in general are- they can succeed in school, play sports, get jobs, be mothers, but in addition must also be concerned of their faces, weight, clothing, pleasing men, and etc.  Orenstein then goes on to describe other doll like figures, such as the American Girl.  Mothers in general are happy with the message these dolls bring, but to the girls they are not so much concerned with the story behind the dolls, but the clothes they can dress these dolls in and the play-sets they can buy.  I believe Orenstein is blaming these fictitious figures for the possible influence they lay on girls.  But in the end I don't think even Orenstein knows how much of children's behavior is "truly inborn and how much was learned" (53). 

Orenstein mentions a couple times in this article, that there are plenty of girls that even though they grew up on Disney princesses or other doll-like figures, they grew out of this stage and became doctors, lawyers, mother, and more.  I disagree with Orenstein that the blame for this gender inequality should be blamed on Disney princesses; I believe this inequality stems from our history.  Before women were considered "equal" to men, women were similar to these Disney princesses- waiting for a men to "save" them.  However, I would have liked to Orenstein to expand upon the topic of women now a days having to be accomplished, yet also be conscious of one's looks, and etc.  Similar to Orenstein, it is hard to measure how much of this social media has played an effect on girls, in terms of how it has shaped their life.  As seen by Christensen, we see the role these fictitious figures play on girls in terms of sexuality, race, and body image, but does it have that much of an effect on girls in what to pursue in the future?  Does it actually stop girls from wanting to become a doctor, to then just focus on beauty and wait for a man to marry her and take care of her?  I personally am skeptical of this amount of influence, as I grew up on Disney princesses, and don't believe these fictitious characters have influenced me in a negative way. 






6 comments:

  1. I think that for some girls yes, these ideologies of being a princess distorts their ambitions to become anything else. Most "normal" kids (for lack of better term) grow out of phases and move on to a life of school and bills and friends and work. Others never out grow it. They feel entitled in that they should almost literally be bowed down to. I have another class with a girl who posted a picture of a diamond encrusted car with the caption "can i just drop out of school and have this car and never work again?" like what!? thats not life. its relate-able to how some people never out grow their gaming addiction and their video game becomes their life and unfortunately they take on gaming actions in real life. i feel like its the same idea. some girls believe they should be princesses.

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  2. "I believe Orenstein is blaming these fictitious figures for the possible influence they lay on girls. But in the end I don't think even Orenstein knows how much of children's behavior is "truly inborn and how much was learned" (53). I really like this and agree! I do believe that both girls and boys are born with certain things and this is definitley one of them!

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  3. I don't think that little girls grow up to feel the need to be a princess because of Disney, but maybe it has to do even more with the way that Orenstein mentions parents play into it. If mommy and daddy want you to play with dolls and be a princess when you are little because, well, you're their little princess, then there's a good likelihood that you'll want this materialistic princess like when you get older. Think about it: if your parents say you're a princess and you watch and imitate and relate to them, you're going to grow up feeling like you should grow up like them and get your prince. Every princess deserves a prince, but not every girl wants to be a princess right?

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  4. I agree when you stated "I disagree with Orenstein that the blame for this gender inequality should be blamed on Disney princesses; I believe this inequality stems from our history. Before women were considered "equal" to men, women were similar to these Disney princesses- waiting for a men to "save" them."
    I believe that the inequality stems from our history and not from Disney princesses, or other things she mentioned... including American Girl dolls, barbies, etc. Also each princess has overcome some trouble in their life, and I believe that we should stop focusing on the negative, and try to focus on the positive things that come from the Disney Princesses. I thought your argument was great! :)

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  5. I liked your video you posted here from Youtube from the virtual princess. This reminded me about the show in TLC called, "My Strange Obsession." One of the episodes was about three people who were obsessed with being a human doll. There were two girls and one guy. The guy had spent over $150k on surgeries to look exactly like a living Ken doll!

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  6. The video was was very good and true! Now a days a woman can be very successful with many degrees or have her own business but if she doesn't have a man some think she does not have it all.

    -------* As you said we can't put all the blame on the Disney Princesses because it does relate to our history! NICE connection!

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