The author recently reviewed many Disney and Pixar animations. I believe that many people’s childhood memories still contain the stars falling over the castle and the desk lamp that has been stepping on the letters.
It can be seen that children are not the only ones who are fascinated by "Disney's Wizarding World".
Sociologists and other researchers seem to be equally attracted by Disney and its close ties to American culture, and there are many online sociology reviews and sociology courses dedicated to this topic. Sociologists are not the only ones who are fascinated by Disney, and even medical experts find that Disney’s films are worth analyzing
Why are so many sociologists so fascinated by Disney-related research and critical analysis?
Joel Best and Kathleen Lowney suggested that Disney "is closely connected with the widely recognized positive moral values and makes them a favorable factor for improving social problems." Or, The public's near familiarity with Disney can provide a useful cultural bridge to help sociologists connect and attract a wider audience. For whatever reason, there is a lot of research on Disney movies.
Therefore, the author collected some in-depth analysis of the social influence of Disney and the connotation behind it by some foreign sociologists, and observe the social roles that accompany you through your childhood from a sociological perspective.
1. "A Girl Worth Fighting For"
A study of 50 first-graders showed that children interpret classic Disney stories based on gender. Baker-Sperry read Walt Disney's "Cinderella" to a small group of students, observe and analyze their reactions. Almost all children have prior knowledge of plot and character, but boys and girls have different reactions and interpretations of classic fairy tales. As a whole, girls reject the retelling of stories that are inconsistent with the original female characters, and tend to establish personal connections with the female characters in the story. The boys strongly opposed Cinderella and imposed "social sanctions" on boys who expressed interest in the "girl" story.
2. "Beauty and the Beast"
Bazzini studied the "beauty and goodness" stereotypes in many Disney movies. This stereotype is the general belief that "beautiful people are good people." Children between the ages of 6 and 12 watched one of two Disney movies: Cinderella (highly stereotyped that "beauty is good") or "Clock Tower" (lowly stereotyped that "beauty is good"). After watching the movie, the children were evaluated and found that compared with unattractive peers, children were more likely to give higher positive reviews to pictures of attractive peers. Bazzini and his colleagues concluded that "watching a prejudiced Disney movie may not increase the child's stereotype that beauty is good, but watching a Disney movie with fewer stereotypes will not solve this problem."
3. "In a World of My Own"
Disney can influence the world of games imagined by children through its "transmedia" products. In "Gender and Education", Wohlwend analyzed the observation results of two kindergarten boys who played the role of princess in an imaginary game and used Disney Princess cross-media as a tool for game negotiation with peers, thus challenging gender norms . Disney’s cross-media links children to “familiar narratives” (or “identity texts”), restricting pretend games by promoting traditional gender binaries, but it also provides boys with flexibility, allowing them to use “imagination” as a Name creatively change gender norms.
4. "One Jump Ahead"
Many people consider "The Princess and the Frog" to be Disney's iconic movie because it introduced Tiana, the "first black princess". In the short preface of the Journal of African American Studies, King questioned the idea that "The Princess and the Frog promotes a positive transformation of the image of blacks in animated films." The author brought up a lot of thoughtful discussions about the film, especially about the scenes and the fact that Tiana was a frog instead of a princess for most of the film. The author points out that the film does not provide "a brand new black cartoon character", but tends to protect the audience from complicated racial issues.
5. "Dig A Little Deeper"
Herbert-Leiter analyzed the use and "Americanization" of Indian identities and culture in Disney's "The Princess and the Frog". Herbert-Leiter admitted that Disney's depiction of New Orleans and the Louisiana Everglades was an "encouraging choice", but lacked the important historical background portrayed by Ray the Firefly. The author believes that Disney's racial "otherization" of Ray is magnified, making the protagonist (Tiana and Naveen) far away from complex racial, racial and cultural issues, which shows that although Tiana is not white, she is not a true "representative of ethnic minorities." .
6. "Baby Mine"
Hubka used the parameters of the National Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS) to investigate child abuse by adult characters in 45 Disney animated films. Hubka found that abuse in Disney films includes physical and emotional abuse and neglect. 62% The young protagonist has suffered some degree of abuse. Compared with other forms of abuse, emotional abuse occurs more frequently. It is not clear to what extent Disney’s description of child abuse will affect the children watching the movie, but the author It is believed that frequent use of abuse to induce sympathy from the audience may have unexpected consequences for the concept of child abuse.
7. "Circle of Life"
The young and handsome men in Disney are not the only animated characters that have been controversial. Robinson analyzed the older characters in 34 Disney movies. He uses some indicators to classify the role of older persons: having grown-up children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, etc. The results show that over time, the manifestations of aging have increased, and most of them are white males and are not the main characters. Interestingly, about 67% of older women play villains, while older men play more different roles. Robinson and colleagues concluded that although the senior characters portrayed in Disney movies have good or inferior physical fitness and personality traits, a large part of them may still affect children's attitudes towards seniors.
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Source: contexts quicklit: 7 recent findings on disney (not just about gender)
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