I was rewatching one of my favourite disney animated films today and was thinking about the messages they send. The film was Frozen - of course, it's all anyone talks about - and I was in love with the sisterly love message it sent. (This will contain spoilers, if you're bothered). Every other Disney princess film is wrapped up by a prince or similar male figure saving the day and it was refreshing to see family love instead of romantic love be the thing that saved Anna.
My other favourite Disney films are my favourites because they are sort of unconventional and give healthy messages about equality. Pocahontas, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan. Obviously they're not perfect, but they come pretty close. I think the messages that these give to young children, especially young girls, is that you don't need a man to save you, you can be your own hero and not to judge someone by their appearance.
There's been a little bit of critique against Frozen because neither of their main characters are that likeable, more so Elsa than Anna. Elsa appears, cold (ha), emotionally unavailable and unstable. Anna is naive and too trusting. This is probably the parents' fault for locking Elsa away however so I think we can let that slide. The songs are so damn catchy anyway.
To the real point of this post, I think it's incredibly important that Disney films portray relationships more accurately and show women as less passive in order to promote equality and fair representation in the younger generation. They are so influential and can do a lot of positive things when made well. I hope that the next Disney film can be about another independant woman, of colour would be great, homosexual would be even better! This might be a little bit too hopeful though. It seems like Disney is progressing, albeit slowly, but I have a good feeling about the future.
I don't think we should stop watching the older films but some of them were really... politically incorrect. I was watching Pocahontas with my little sister and she referred to the Native Americans as "the redskins" which shocked me actually. I had no idea where it had come from. Then I realised it was from Peter Pan, when they visit the Native American camp with the chief and chief's daughter Tigerlily. So these things have more of an impact than you think.
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