The enchanting world of Disney princesses has captivated generations, shaping childhood dreams and aspirations. However, beneath the shimmering gowns and catchy songs lies a darker side, one that contributes to body image issues and potentially disordered eating habits, especially among young girls. This article delves into the complex relationship between the "Disney Princess phenomenon" and the pursuit of unrealistic beauty standards, exploring how these seemingly harmless fantasies can contribute to harmful thinspiration and self-destructive behaviors.
The Allure of the Disney Princess
Since preschool, the Disney Princess franchise has targeted girls with toys, collectibles, clothing, video games, books, makeup kits, school supplies, costumes, and household goods. The princesses include Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan, Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, Anna and Elsa (from Frozen), Merida, and Rapunzel. Regardless of the product, a princess must be beautiful, homogenizing them by highlighting their common beauty ideal at the expense of their variations in personality and power.
Growing up, many develop a deep connection with a particular princess or Disney movie. This fixation can manifest as a desire to emulate the princess, impacting self-perception and aspirations. This "princess play" often centers on beauty ideals, with children focusing on being beautiful and pretty. This princess-esque beauty can follow children far beyond childhood as an “enduring lifestyle brand,” the Disney Princess franchise now offers quinceanera gowns, prom and bridal dresses, and a makeup line at Sephora.
Media's Influence on Body Image and Eating Disorders
Increased media exposure is related to children’s preference for thin adult figures that could represent their future selves and self-reported body dissatisfaction and eating disorders proliferate after the introduction of media, particularly for young girls. Exposure to idealized images leads to a drop in body satisfaction, especially for those under 19. Girls who view television commercials containing "idealized images" report significant body dissatisfaction. Adolescents who viewed televised portrayals of thinness being rewarded felt dejected, and those who viewed a portrayal of fatness felt agitated. Dejection and agitation are antecedents to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia; continued exposure to thin-ideal media messages, therefore, could lead to bulimic and anorexic patterns of eating.
Even print media is a culprit. Bulimic symptoms increased for girls with low peer/parent support who received a subscription to Seventeen Magazine for 15 months. Same-sex ideal-body pictures altered the way college students ate in front of same-sex peers. Media exposure predicts disordered eating via a chain of variables such as gender-role endorsement, ideal-body stereotype internalization, and body dissatisfaction. Girls who viewed high levels of television for a year scored higher on a measure of disordered eating one year later than girls who did not watch as much television. Clearly, there is a relationship between media exposure and propensity toward disordered eating.
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The "Princess Myth" and Impossible Beauty Standards
The "princess myth," or comparing your body to the body of someone who has been drawn or animated, encourages young people to engage in eating-disordered lifestyles to attain these impossible standards of beauty.
Disney films "inspire at least as much cultural authority and legitimacy for teaching specific roles, values and ideals than more traditional sites of learning such as public schools, religious institutions and the family." The typical Disney princess is animated as small-waisted with delicate limbs and full breasts, and generally with extremely pale skin. Disney animators created "pleasure in looking" at their princesses by using socially-accepted images of female beauty when creating characters, turning to popular film actresses for inspiration. Disney’s "animated heroines were individuated in fair-skinned, fair-eyes, anglo-saxon features of Euro-centric loveliness, both conforming to and perfecting Hollywood’s beauty boundaries." It should come as no surprise that girls who grow up with the Disney Princess brand have body-image issues when they continuously compare themselves to impossible beauty standards.
Theoretical Perspectives
Researchers argue that the internalization of socio-cultural identity and appearance ideals - most of which come from the media - contribute to the development of body image issues, concern about one’s weight, and, potentially, eating disorders. Children especially “quickly appropriate, use, and transform symbolic culture as they produce and participate in peer culture.” The constructivist approach and cultivation theory both speak to this process.
The constructivist approach is a cognitive theoretical model that proposes children construct their beliefs about the world based upon their own interpretations of observations and personal experiences. Viewing skewed or unattainable standards of beauty would influence their own ideas about societal beauty expectations. Cultivation theory posits a negative effect of viewing unrealistic beauty standards. If a child is continuously exposed to certain mediated models of beauty, she will begin to believe that the "media version" of beauty is one to which she should aspire. This may have a direct effect on their attitudes and behaviors.
Both the constructivist approach and cultivation rely on viewers’ interpretation of the world around them in the formation of identity and beliefs. The anticipated identities projected by Disney about their princess line are those of impossible beauty standards. Thus, avid Disney princess fans adopt these identities as the ideal and then struggle to live up to those criteria.
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Social comparison theory supports this notion. People tend to assess their own opinions and potential by comparing themselves to others. We search for information about others - their behaviors, social standing, and opinions - for purposes of self-judgment, assessing the "correctness" of our own opinions, beliefs, and capabilities in relation to theirs. Many times these "others" can be found in mediated representations, and many times those representations are somehow warped or altered (i.e., photoshopped images). So when media users compare themselves to these images, they are setting themselves up for failure.
Disney Character Dining: A Fairytale Feast or a Recipe for Body Image Issues?
Disney offers unique dining experiences where guests can enjoy meals in the company of beloved Disney characters. While these encounters promise precious memories, they can also inadvertently reinforce unrealistic beauty standards. The presence of Disney Characters and the menu may be modified without prior notification.
These Disney Character Dining experiences are available in a selection of restaurants, subject to availability. Breakfast or dinner at Plaza Gardens Restaurant in Disneyland Park offers an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet with Disney Characters. Auberge de Cendrillon in Disneyland Park provides a table service experience with a royal meal of fine French cuisine in the company of Disney Princess Characters in a majestic medieval banquet hall. Royal Banquet in Disneyland Hotel offers an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet where guests can join Mickey and friends dressed in their regal best for a sumptuous buffet in Disneyland Hotel, and savor gourmet dishes inspired by Disney's royal feasts. La Table de Lumière offers dinner with royal Disney Characters in a sumptuous setting inspired by the iconic Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and the world of Beauty and the Beast.
The Impact of Social Media: Amplifying the "Thinspiration"
Social media platforms have become breeding grounds for "thinspiration," where individuals share images and messages promoting extreme thinness as an ideal. This trend can be particularly harmful to young girls who are already vulnerable to body image pressures.
One example is an Instagram feed which contains posts from July 13, 2013 until June 17, 2014, at which time they stopped. The themes that emerged from the data are harmful thinspiration, self-destructive behavior, and negativity aimed at others. Images ranged from visuals related to specific body parts to still-frames from animated Disney films. Chopping a body up into its parts is also a way to further objectify women. As Kilbourne (2010) noted, once women’s bodies are reduced to their parts, they become a "thing" rather than a person. She has also posted two "Disney princess thinspo" images: one of Belle from Beauty and the Beast and another of Mulan. These bodies do not exist in reality. Even worse than worshipping photoshopped bodies in images, which at least began as actual humans, an obsession with animated bodies is doomed to fail. She beats herself up virtually every day in some way, chastising herself for not living up to impossible standards. Again, an impossible standard. This girl has a clear vision of what "beautiful" means to her, and it is reflected in these tweets and images. She is painfully thin and, as outlined below, inflicts pain on her body almost daily. Cutting is considered a psychological condition known in the DSM-V as a Non-Suicidal Self Injury (NSSI) in which: In the last year, the individual has, on 5 or more days, engaged in intentional self-inflicted damage to the surface of his or her body, of a sort likely to induce bleeding or bruising or pain (e.g., cutting, burning, stabbing, hitting, excessive rubbing), for purposes not socially sanctioned (e.g., body piercin.
Read also: Diana and Bulimia: The Untold Story
Beyond the Fairytale: Promoting Healthy Body Image
It is crucial to recognize the potential negative impact of the "Disney Princess phenomenon" and to actively promote healthy body image among young girls. This involves:
- Critical Media Consumption: Encourage children to critically analyze the images they see in the media, recognizing that they are often unrealistic and unattainable.
- Celebrating Diversity: Emphasize the beauty of diversity in body shapes and sizes, promoting self-acceptance and appreciation for individual differences.
- Focusing on Inner Qualities: Shift the focus from physical appearance to inner qualities such as kindness, intelligence, and creativity.
- Open Communication: Create a safe space for children to discuss their feelings about their bodies and address any concerns they may have.
- Role Modeling: Parents and caregivers should model healthy eating habits and positive body image, setting a positive example for children to follow.
A Nordic Diet Fit for a Queen (or Princess)
Despite the potential pitfalls of princess-inspired ideals, it's possible to draw inspiration from the cultures and settings of these stories in a healthy way. The article references a "Nordic diet" inspired by the movie Frozen, focusing on fruits, vegetables, and frozen berries.