Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:57:15.797Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Gender, Disney, and Pixar in Historical Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Carmen Fought
Affiliation:
Pitzer College, Claremont
Karen Eisenhauer
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
Get access

Summary

This chapter provides a historical context for Disney and Pixar, and delineates how the two studios have evolved to respond in different ways when it comes to the politics of media representation. The Classic Era of Disney (1937-1959) features a conservative vision of the ideal female character, princesses who are polite, kind, white, and traditionally beautiful. The Renaissance Era of Disney(1989-1997) buoyed by the second and third waves of feminism began to present more “empowered” heroines, who aimed to embody (or at least acknowledge) the values of feminism, and some diversity in terms of look, even if the actors and speech remain primarily white. The New Age Era of Disney (2009-2019) is ongoing, and features more diverse princesses both in terms of look and in terms of subverting more traditional princess tropes (Frozen) or doing away with romance altogether (Brave and Moana). Pixar does not have eras in the same way as the Disney films, because it is less less focused on female leads and thus less influenced by feminist discourse . However, Pixar is important in terms of examining masculinity in children’s films, and how language and gender compares to the Disney canon.

Type
Chapter
Information
Language and Gender in Children's Animated Films
Exploring Disney and Pixar
, pp. 21 - 43
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×