Elisha Manning

English 102
Petcher
02/19/16

Disney Princesses
Disney is most known for their fairytale movies based around a beautiful princess who,
despite her unfortunate circumstances, ends up living happily ever after with her one true prince.

In the article Disneys New Princess, by Nina Strochlic, it discusses Disneys princess
Sofia. Sofia is supposed to be Disneys first Latina princess. Princess Sofia is young, faire
skinned, and bright blue eyed, so the fact that she is supposed to represent Latinas is a concept
that is quite hard to grasp. At a glance, one would guess that just by looking at Princess Sofia that
she is of some sort of European decent, not Latina. Although many ethnicities, including Latin,
have a wide range of appearances, Princess Sofia does not embody the appearance of a Latina.
One of the women outraged by Disneys portrayal of ethnicities stated, Im 22 & I still dont
have a princess that looks like me. I hope that by the time I have my children, Disney has come
to their senses. This is a good source for my argument due to the fact that it shows how Disney
misrepresents culture and ethnic groups. This source is a secondary source whose purpose is to
provide a recent example of how Disney has misrepresented an entire culture of people. The
author does a great job of pulling different examples from the show to show the
misrepresentation of Latina culture within the show. She also use peoples responses to the show
to support of her claim. Disneys New Princess is a credible source because it is a scholarly
journal and she has done her research into Disneys motives behind the show. The author also
includes a lot of useful information such as Disneys comments and responses about the show,
its make up, and planning.

Elisha Manning
English 102
Petcher
02/19/16

In the article The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision of
Race the author discusses the negative stereotypes used by Disney in its recent film The
Princess and the Frog. The author points out Disneys lack of authenticity to the time period and
region in which the movie takes place. The author also points out how only certain
characteristics of the time period and African American culture were used almost in a deliberate
fashion. The author uses specific scenes to demonstrate their argument. This is a good source for
my argument due to the fact that it gives multiple examples of misrepresentation in the article
and supports the examples given with historical evidence. The author has taken the time to do
their fair share of research and has included cited history and research to support their claim. The
main point of the authors argument is to show Disneys misrepresentation of African Americans
in the film The Princess and the Frog and support it with historical fact. The reason why this
article is a good source to back my argument because it is a scholarly reviewed journal and has
been reviewed by other individuals. This shows that the argument has been carefully thought out
and the proper research and support has been provided making it more reliable and credible.
In the Disney movie Aladdin, a young princess named Jasmine becomes the age of
marriage and her father must find a suiter for her to marry. Jasmine does not want her father to
pick who she must marry and wants to be able to fall in love with someone. The movie takes
place in a foreign land similar to a part of the Middle East. In an attempt to run away and escape
an arranged marriage, Jasmine encounters a thief who saves her life. He falls in love with her,
but soon discovers her true royal identity. After finding a magic lap, he then poses as a Prince
and makes her fall in love with him. The movie Aladdin is a primary source. For my paper I
would focus on the stereotypes that the movie itself presents. What interested me about this

Elisha Manning
English 102
Petcher
02/19/16

movie was that it was always one of my favorite Disney movies and I had watched it repeatedly,
but it wasnt until recent that I had noticed the stereotypes and misrepresentation it displayed.
These stereotypes include labeling of Muslims as thieves through the uses of characterization in
the character of Aladdin himself. They also include the labeling of Muslim and Middle Eastern
common people as poor through the use of characterization in the characters of Aladdin and the
common people who appear throughout the movie. Lastly these stereotypes include the sexism
and Middle Eastern women through the characterization of the character Jasmine.
In the article A Girl Worth Fighting For: A Rhetorical Critique of Disney Princess
Mulans Bisexuality, The author focuses on the Disney Princess Mulan who is the quirky, out of
place princess best known for cutting her hair and impersonating her father in order to go fight in
the war in his place in order to save his life. The author brings the readers attention to the fact
that Disney has claimed Mulan to be their first bisexual princess, even though nowhere in the
movie is it lead to believe so. The author claims that choosing Mulan, out of all of the Princess
that Disney has, to be the bisexual princess is a misrepresentation of bisexual women. The
author argues that by Disney choosing the most masculine princess to be its bisexual princess
reinforces harmful stereotypes about bisexual women. According to the author, it sends a false
perception to its audience, and most importantly young girls, that bisexual women are butch or
masculine and that a woman cannot be both feminine and bisexual. The author uses specific
examples from the film showing how Mulans manly being is intended to imply her sexual
orientation. This article is a secondary source. The authors purpose is to show how Disney has
misrepresented bisexual women and the bisexual community with reinforced stereotypes. This
article is not a bad source, but is not the most credible either. It lacks research and evidence. The

Elisha Manning
English 102
Petcher
02/19/16

majority of the article is claims with examples, but not much supporting evidence to fully
convince the reader. I think this could be a god source to use to add interest to my argument, but
it is not strong enough to use a staple for my argument.
In the article The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale for Educators, the author
explains the faults in Disneys representation of their princess Pocahontas. The author points out
how Disney distorted history and put not only a fairytale spin on it, but almost completely
removed the truth all together. The author uses multiple examples from the film including the
song that the settlers sing calling Pocahontas and her people savages. The author uses cited
history as a support for their argument and shows the difference between Disneys version of
events and the historically accurate version of events. The author also includes a section on how
children process these type of things to show the last effect of Disneys actions. This is a good
credible source to use for my argument because the author uses specific scenes and details of the
movie as examples. The Author also backs up their claim using historical findings and research.
The article was also written by the school of education at the University of Kansas which also
adds to its credibility.

Elisha Manning
English 102
Petcher
02/19/16

Works Cited
Aladdin. Walt Disney Films, 1992.
Gehlawat, A 2010, The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision
of Race, Journal Of African American Studies, 14, 4, pp. 417-431, Academic Search
Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 12 February 2016.
Hanksville.org,. "The Pocahontas Paradox: A Cautionary Tale For Educators". N.p.,
2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
Key, Adam. A Girl Worth Fighting For: A Rhetorical Critique of Disney Princess
MulansBisexuality. Journal of Bisexuality 15.2(2015): 268-268. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
Strochlic, Nina. Disneys New Princess. Newsweek 160.19(2012): 8. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.