The Little Mermaid Implies Big Things
While you may think The Little Mermaid is teaching your child a lot of valuable life lessons, the film is actually telling your child to obey society's rigid gender roles: men are strong, larger than the females, and never cowards while women are petite, beautiful, and dependent on men. In addition, women need to be physically attractive in order to achieve her happily ever after.
Think back to all of the Disney Princess films your child loves, or even the Disney Princess films you loved as a child, and really contemplate their lessons and happy endings.
Think back to all of the Disney Princess films your child loves, or even the Disney Princess films you loved as a child, and really contemplate their lessons and happy endings.
All six of the main Disney Princesses got her man and had to be saved by a man in the process. Remember those parts of the films? Sleeping Beauty needed a man's kiss to wake her up, Jasmine needed to be saved by a man, Belle civilized the Beast with her domestic charm, Cinderella lost a shoe (how tragic for a girl to be without her favorite shoe) that ultimately led the prince to finding her, Snow White lived with seven men and was also rescued by her prince, and Ariel left her family, voice, and fins for a chance at love. Disney strategically creates an enticing plot and catchy music to help its audiences overlook its clearly sexist characters and lessons.