Dharshini Karthikeyan - Week 3 - How Disney Affects the Way Children Develop An Identity
This weekend, I watched the 1998 version of the movie Mulan with my sister. While watching the movie, I realized
that the whole movie is essentially based on Mulan battling her own inhibitions about her identity. I then soon
realized that many Disney movies are based on young characters who try to discover their identity. For example,
the movie Encanto revolves around the main character Mirabel and her perception of her role and identity amongst
her family. In the movie Aladdin, the main character Aladdin strives to be more than the street thief people said
he was born to die as.
This made me wonder how movies about finding identity affect children as they grow up consuming popular media
like Disney movies.
One study by Coyne shows that Disney films contain “prosocial” behavior, which is similar to sharing, displaying
kindness, and helping others. In fact, Disney films contain, on average, “one act of prosocial behavior every
minute”, and this is seven times more than the average show made for children.
Watching Disney movies growing up has also affected millennials in the workplace. According to BBC, many
millennials have dissatisfaction with work, and some of this might be attributed to the media they consumed as
children, such as popular Disney movies in the 1990s. Griffin says, “In the early films, work was always portrayed
as this horrible bad thing”. For example, the wicked stepsisters in Cinderella can represent an unhappy workplace
environment where they are equivalent to a horrible manager.
Disney has also changed how they portray characters in their movies over time. For example, in earlier Disney films
such as Aladdin, women only had 10% of the total dialogue. More recent movies such as Zootopia showcase a
variety of characters with voices and identities of their own.
This has affected how children perceive the society they grow up in; the more diverse their media consumption is
the more likely they are to value the diversity of opinions and identities around them.
The specific traits that Disney emphasizes in their movies, such as kindness, the triumph of good over evil, and
determination are long lasting traits that subconsciously stick with children who grow up watching Disney movies
from a young age. This affects how children interact in society and how they craft their own identity.
Media made for children impacts how they grow up and what values they consider important. Disney movies have
successfully portrayed the character arc of growth and change for decades, which have impacted generations of
movie watchers for years.
Article: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190724-did-disney-shape-how-you-see-the-world
Hi Dharshini! I definitely agree with your point that Disney movies have a notable effect on the identity of children who watch them. This is likely caused (in part) by how malleable children's minds are when they are young. Disney movies often glorify the protagonist in a way that makes the audience of naive children yearn to be like them; this encourages the children to pick up the personality traits that protagonist has. The studies you cited in your blog post helped prove your claims that Disney movies subconsciously affect children’s identities, but you could have further analyzed that topic by making claims about whether or not those effects are positive. You did already cite lots of evidence about the “prosocial” behavior that children learn from Disney movies, so you could have used that to develop an argument about how Disney movies positively impacted their viewers. My viewpoint on the topic is that Disney movies provide healthy examples of kind and compassionate protagonists that children would benefit from copying; this blog post definitely makes me curious about what opinions other people have on the matter.
ReplyDeleteHi Dharshini! I really liked the educational style of your blog. It gave it a more unique twist to the usually narrative style of other blogs. I think the statistics that you listed, such as the prosocial acts per minute, the correlation between a dislike towards work and anti-work attitudes displayed by millennials , and the speech time of women in movies. However, I think that some of the examples that you provided about the effects of Disney is far-fetched. For example, I think that the dissatisfaction of work from millennials is, while there is a correlation, not something that is specific for people who have watched Disney movies. I think that more factors would need to be analyzed, such as the popularity of Disney for millennials, such as the amount of views, or if the millennials who gave the data were fans of Disney, or even the satisfaction of other generations about work. Personally, I would feel like the distaste for work is an inherent trait of humans. However, I really like the statistic about how only 10% of the entire dialogue in Aladdin was from women, but would like it if you also mentioned another statistic for the percent of female dialogue in a modern Disney movie to make a comparison with. I was never a large fan of Disney, so I might not be as informed about Disney as others. Either way, I think that you introduced some very thought provoking arguments, and have definitely piqued my interest on the effects of media on the mind.
ReplyDeleteHi Dharshini, I completely agree with the fact that Disney is a vital part of shaping children’s identity. I grew up only watching Disney movies or shows and I can definitely see the influence that it has had on me. My favorite movie at the time was Tangled. In the movie, Rapunzel was a very determined individual that did whatever she could to see the floating lanterns. She faced her fears by leaving the tower despite any consequences. She was also a kind individual who won the help of the goons at the Ugly Duckling and the horse, Maximus. Although I didn’t analyze the movie as a kid, I did try to copy some of her behavior subconsciously because she was my favorite character. I tried my hardest to be kind to everyone, be a hardworking and determined individual, and face my fears. Just as I was influenced by her character, I’m sure so many other children were influenced by their favorite Disney characters which helped develop their personality and therefore their identity. I would have enjoyed your article a bit more if you would have included a personal story, like how Disney movies have influenced you as a kid and helped you grow.
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