IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v7y2018i12p245-d184897.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Rise of the Androgynous Princess: Examining Representations of Gender in Prince and Princess Characters of Disney Movies Released 2009–2016

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Hine

    (Department of Psychology, University of West London, St Mary’s Road, London W5 5RF, UK)

  • Dawn England

    (School of Health and Education, Middlesex University Dubai, Knowledge Park, Block 16, Dubai, UAE)

  • Katie Lopreore

    (Department of Nursing, Middle Tennessee University, 13-1 E Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA)

  • Elizabeth Skora Horgan

    (Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

  • Lisa Hartwell

    (Master’s Counseling Department, Messiah College, One College Avenue, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055, USA)

Abstract

Previous quantitative research examining Disney movies has highlighted that whilst prince characters display largely balanced gender profiles, princesses exhibit biased gender role portrayals—performing mostly feminine characteristics, rarely participating in rescue behavior, and concluding movies in romantic relationships with the prince. However, such research, as well as public commentary, has also suggested that princess characters in movies released across the 2000s and 2010s may have more positive gender role portrayals. This study aimed to test these assertions by utilizing content coding analysis to examine the behavioral characteristics, rescue behavior, and romantic conclusions of prince and princess characters in five iconic Disney films released between 2009 and 2016 ( The Princess and the Frog , Tangled , Brave (released under Pixar), Frozen , and Moana ). Comparisons were also made with earlier titles to assess historical changes. Results showed that princesses in “2000s to 2010s” movies exhibited an almost equal number of masculine and feminine behaviors, thus demonstrating more egalitarian profiles over time. In contrast, princes appeared to adopt a more feminine behavioral profile in later movies. In addition, characters engaged in equal numbers of rescue behaviors, and princesses were more likely to remain single in “2000s to 2010s” movies. Results therefore suggest that Disney is indeed presenting more diverse, androgynous, balanced characters to viewers, and the theoretical and practical implications for the socialization of young child viewers are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Hine & Dawn England & Katie Lopreore & Elizabeth Skora Horgan & Lisa Hartwell, 2018. "The Rise of the Androgynous Princess: Examining Representations of Gender in Prince and Princess Characters of Disney Movies Released 2009–2016," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-23, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:12:p:245-:d:184897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/12/245/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/12/245/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madeline Streiff & Lauren Dundes, 2017. "Frozen in Time: How Disney Gender-Stereotypes Its Most Powerful Princess," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-10, March.
    2. Lauren Dundes & Madeline Streiff & Zachary Streiff, 2018. "Storm Power, an Icy Tower and Elsa’s Bower: The Winds of Change in Disney’s Frozen," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-29, May.
    3. Michael Macaluso, 2018. "Postfeminist Masculinity: The New Disney Norm?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-10, November.
    4. Cassandra Primo, 2018. "Balancing Gender and Power: How Disney’s Hercules Fails to Go the Distance," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-13, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lauren Dundes & Madeline Streiff Buitelaar & Zachary Streiff, 2019. "Bad Witches: Gender and the Downfall of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and Disney’s Maleficent," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Lauren Dundes, 2020. "Elsa as Horse Whisperer in Disney’s Frozen 2 : Opportunity “Nokk”s to Quash Gender Stereotypes," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Cassandra Primo, 2018. "Balancing Gender and Power: How Disney’s Hercules Fails to Go the Distance," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-13, November.
    4. Pimpatchanok Manaworapong & Neil Evan Jon Anthony Bowen, 2022. "Language, gender, and patriarchy in Mulan: a diachronic analysis of a Disney Princess movie," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Madeline Streiff & Lauren Dundes, 2017. "From Shapeshifter to Lava Monster: Gender Stereotypes in Disney’s Moana," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-12, August.
    6. Kailash Koushik & Abigail Reed, 2018. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast , and Disney’s Commodification of Feminism: A Political Economic Analysis," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Haripriya Sreekumar & A. Poongodi, 2024. "The Journey of Women in Disney Movies and Their Impact on Shaping Social Perceptions," Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(3), pages 255-262, September.
    8. Benjamin Hine & Katarina Ivanovic & Dawn England, 2018. "From the Sleeping Princess to the World-Saving Daughter of the Chief: Examining Young Children’s Perceptions of ‘Old’ versus ‘New’ Disney Princess Characters," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-15, September.
    9. Setten, Eric & Chen, Steven, 2024. "Playing with emotions: Text analysis of emotional tones in gender-casted Children’s media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:7:y:2018:i:12:p:245-:d:184897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.