Princess Culture

Today in class we talked about the princess culture and we watched several videos that I thought were interesting. The two videos about the Disney princesses without the narrative and instead music playing, showed how the princesses can be displayed and viewed differently. We noticed that the princesses were all skinny and had big and bright eyes. The men seemed memorized by them and also were displayed as strong "hunks". It was almost provocative and sexual in a way that made the princesses appear as ideal and someone that men want to be with. I found this interesting since this is a kids movie that it would appear to be aiming at adult cues and shows how media affects children at such a young age. I was actually just watching the Lion King last night, and there were even times in that movie that I was surprised to see in a kids movie. You don't realize it much when you are a kid because all you know is that its a cartoon and they add in lots of songs and you find many ways to connect to it, but as you get older you see underlying messages that are conveyed throughout the narrative in the story as well as the actions of the characters and they way they may dress. I also thought the connection between this display of media on young children affect how they act and behave in real life. We can see this through other shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, and also on clothing for children. If people think that media doesn't affect children, they need to think again. I think media actual affects children more than adults because they are more impressionable and look for ways to understand right and wrong and how to behave.