Annotated bibliography

Bispo, Ashley. “Fairytale Dreams: Disney Princesses’ Effect on Young Girls’ Self-Images.” Dialogues@RU 9 (2014): 1-15. Web. 21 February 2016. http://dialogues.rutgers.edu/all-journals/volume-9/148-fairytale-dreams-disney-princesses-effect-on-young-girls-self-images/file

This paper was posted by Ashley Bispo on the online journal Dialogues@RU for Rutgers University. Bispo discusses the negative effects that the Disney princess image has on the mindsof young girls and the development of their self-images. Regarding body image, the author points out how the appearance of princesses in Disney movies often has an emphasis on sensual features and unrealistic thinness. This image is consistently conveyed to girls by the media as idealistic, which causes body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in the future since girls are growing up with a preconceived image of what the perfect body looks like that is unattainable. Bispo also points out how Disney princess films associate good characters with beauty and villains with poor physical appearance. In addition, she argues that the lack of culturally diverse princesses in early Disney movies has caused girls of ethnic minorities to view their cultural heritage as unimportant in society. This is because they aren’t seeing reflections of themselves in the highly valued white princesses. The source supports my claim because the author is sharing the same idea that the inaccurate cultural and physical representation of the Disney princesses is having a negative impact on the mental health of girls.

Cheu, Johnson. Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Disability. Jefferson, NC: Mcfarland & Company, 2013. Web.

This book was written by Johnson Cheu, author of several scholarly essays and a professor at the Michigan State University. An online version of the entire book is found on the ProQuest ebrary. Section 1 of the book consists of essays about race and ethnicity in Disney. Through his own personal experience of struggling to find characters that mirrored himself in the world of Disney, Cheu discusses how many productions from the franchise have depicted ethnic minorities in a racist fashion since the early 1900s. He states how “Disney gave [him] caricatured representations of the diversity of [his] world” (9). The author breaks down many shows, cartoons, and films that Disney has created throughout time and describes how different cultural groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, are inaccurately depicted. Cheu’s book supports my claim because it includes in-depth explanations of how Disney is influencing and illustrating the cultural stereotypes we see in the world today. It can help me expand the scope of my paper because I could discuss how characters that aren’t necessarily princesses also reflect the diversity issues within the franchise.