Disney Characters

The main female characters of Disney cartoons have always been images of perfect women. Like Barbie, they are a model for girls to look up to, and to envy. While the outfits might be a bit more racy, I think those characters have always been portrayed as very attractive. Even Cinderella had cleavage. The role of these princesses has always been to set a standard for all little girls to look up to. Interstingly, while most girls look up to the disney characters, many fall short of that view of perfection. In the film we watched in class the other day, a couple of the girls made reference to Cinderella, saying that they were waiting for their prince charming. Even the teenagers of today are affected by classical figures of femininity like Cinderella. I think this shows that all of the Disney princesses, regardless of dress, are essentially the same; they all urge girls to become beautiful and attract a strapping young man to protect them.
Another thing I found interesting about Disney's characters in those movies were the men. Except for hair and eye color, all of the rescuers look almost exactly the same. They are all the classic handsome, clean shaved young man, and they are all pretty muscular, too. Most of these movies are geared towards girls, and that portrayal of men also affects them. It gives an image of what a good man is, and what women should look for. Thus, those Disney movies also affect us men because they can give women a superficial view of what a man should be. Then, since the ladies are looking for tall handsome, muscular men, we feel the pressure to be that way.