Family, Femininity and Cultural Anxiety in Disney’s Contemporary Fairytales.pptx

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Disney is forced to move beyond its disneyfied, sugar coated spectacle and re-evaluate the representation of family values, motherhood and femininity.
Disney princess phenomenon is a powerful tool which contributes to "a new 'girlhood' that is largely defined by gender and the consumption of related messages" (England, Descartes, Collar-Meek, 2011, p.555).
Pursues her dream of life
Projects her focus on a wish and acts rather than stays passive
Demonstrates courage
A typical 'Barbie' shape princess

Her magical hair is the real protagonist
Rapunzel as another motherless heroine
The elaboration of the modern, empowered, post-feminist heroine created a space for a depiction of progressive and dynamic familial relationships between sisters and mothers and daughters.
"Because of marketing, little girls gravitate toward princess products, so my goal was to offer up a different kind of princess — a stronger princess that both mothers and daughters could relate to, so mothers wouldn't be pulling their hair out when their little girls were trying to dress or act like this princess. Instead they'd be like, 'Yeah, you go girl!'" (Chapman, 2011)

The absence of the traditional family
Female agency always overtly reactionary or just simply limited
Protagonists usually are orphans or come from unstable family background.





An alternative mother, such as a god-mother or a grandmother,
Impersonated by evil stepmother, witch or mother-in-law.
The biggest part of the contemporary audience is more familiar with the Disney versions of the fairy tales
Disney attacks the literary tradition of the fairy tale. He robs the literary tale of its voice and changes its form and meaning (Zipes, 1995).
Disney seriously interferes with the unconscious understanding of the fairy tales symbolic order" and destroys the deeper meaning of the fairy tale (Bettelheim, 1976).
Fairy tale films play an integral role in expressing and formulating anxieties of the modern world.

Fairy tale films become instruments which not only serve as entertainment tools for audiences but also help spectators to work through cultural and social contradictions.
Fairy tales get conversations going that way encouraging spectators to react, to take sides and make judgments related to cultural and social values.
Fairy tales "are an integral part of the complex layering of cultural stories and influences that affirm and perpetuate cultural norms" (Parsons, 2004, p.135).
"Fairy tales are passed on us through what media gurus call multiple 'delivery systems'", thus enabling the stories to reclaim a multi-generational appeal (Tatar, 2015, p. 5).
A cultural tsunami of reimagined fairy tales has been apparent for the last five years or so.

Family, Femininity and Cultural Anxiety in Disney's Contemporary Fairytales
by
Indre Jakucione

School of Performance and Screen Studies,
Kingston University, UK

Free "of both old fashioned, sexist ideas about women's limits and feminism's supposed imposition of an asexual, unfeminine appearance" (Tasker in Radner, 2011, p.69)

Brave is one of the few fair-tale films that has "explored mother/daughter relationships with tenderness and compassion" (Zipes, 2015, p.282).
A role of a biological mother suggests the studio's response to the changing expectations and influence of post-feminist criticism.
According to official Box office mojo results Maleficent generated 758,5 mln USD, Cinderella – 542.7 mln USD, Tangled – 591 mln USD and Brave – 529 mln USD.

Promote post -feminist values of female independence and power
Offer new models of positive familial relationships
Present female-driven films and the developments of the complex relationships between female characters.
Does Disney start a new era in a production of fairy tale films?
Why mothers are not the ones who tell stories or teach their daughters of what it means to grow up in this diverse and controversial contemporary world of today?
Disney's aim to promote gendered ideologies of 'feminine beauty' clashes with the cultural values of the audience of the twenty first century.
Fairy tale film narratives still adhere to the construction of femininity along traditional patriarchal lines.
Re-evaluation of Disney's traditions in the representation of family, femininity and mother-daughter relationship is still in early stages.
Recent envisions of the femininity suggest the positive shift of focus from the potential of 'magic' to the maternal power and guidance.
Individual and collective identities of children are "largely shaped, politically and pedagogically in the popular visual culture of video games, television and film" (Giroux, 1996, p.90).
"Mythical power of fairy tales seems amplified in an age of electronic entertainments" (Tatar, 2015, p.5).
Marina Warner invites the audience of this "sceptical age" to believe in the power of fairy tale (2012, p.432).
Sue Short recognises and indeed celebrates appraising each fairy-tale film on its own merits (2014).
Fairy- tale films can not "get 'beyond' the 'well-made' Disney production" (Zipes, 2015, 278).
Dead
Cruel
Magical
Aurora is child of nature who has a strong inner world and sense of justice.
The story focuses on female characters and their relationships
The film raises controversial issues by breaking many conventions and traditions
Maleficent promotes matrilineal traditions - the mother-daughter bond is defined by respect and affinity.
Disney takes on a traditional/patriarchal approach to the story of Cinderella
The narrative is focused on a visual spectacle
Cinderella (2015) is another "well-made conventional fairy-tale film" by Disney (Zipes, 2015, p.278)
Mother's love and shared wisdom empowers main protagonist, thus enabling the film to depict Ella's untapped strength and personal agency.

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