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Brette Rappleye
Dr. Kendra Parker
ENG113
6 November 2017
Disney Princess Villains: Feminist and Gender Studies

INTRODUCTION

Disney is known for playing a large part in the development of children. Children idolize

the company and its characters. And while the children are more than likely unaware of it,

Disney helps to construct a sense of morality, creativity, and imagination. Although these are

certainly positive attributes that build a strong foundation for a child to flourish, there are critics

out there who argue that there are controversial issues buried deep within the films. One of the

largest conflicts critics come across is the portrayal of Disneys villains. From the time Snow

White came out in 1937 up until the release of Frozen in 2013, there had been severe concerns

with the representation of women within the films and even some of the men. In fact, when

carefully examining the princess movies that starred a female villain- Snow White, Cinderella,

Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Tangled-one is sure to see that these women have

much more depth and value than the princesses. And when considering the princess movies

where the villain is male, controversy has the potential to unravel. The way Disney villains are

portrayed communicates specific messages to the people in todays society. Through careful

examination of Disneys animated princess films and articles criticizing them, the portrayals of

Disney villains unveil lookism, elements of feminism, and anti-feminist qualities that closely

relate to todays culture.

METHODOLOGY
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Using feminist and gender studies approaches, I will present the different ways in which

the villains in Disneys animated princess films are portrayed. First I will discuss issues with the

physical appearances of Disneys villains in association to lookism, the discrimination against a

person who is physically unattractive. Two types can be derived from these films. One causing

mortality to be linked to good looks, and the other influencing the discrimination of either

transgender or gender fluid people. Then, I will suggest that, through character evaluation,

certain Disney villainesses are conceivably feminist, while addressing the opposing argument

that each of the villains are targeting other women, so they cannot be feminist. I will explain that

since the villains are victimizing them as people, not as women, they can still be considered

feminists because of their character traits that comply with the ideologies of todays feminists

such as independence, strength and confidence. Finally, I will address the conflicting view that

anti feminism is apparent within Disneys villains. Particular Disney villains demonstrate

shallow tendencies and sexist attitudes that are irrefutable.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In discussions of Disney, a highly controversial issue is the portrayal of the villains

within the animated princess films. With society evolving and becoming more open to discussing

controversial issues, people are more susceptible to creating their own judgments and critiques.

This can trigger detections of lookism, feminism, and antifeminism which can be observed from

the various films.

THE PORTRAYAL OF DISNEY PRINCESS VILLAINS

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The portrayal of Disney villains reveals stereotypes rooted in society that are caused by

lookism which may persuade children to partake in this type of discrimination. For example,

each Disney villain was created to be unattractive according to societys standards, dictating

those who look like them as immoral people. Todays beauty standards for women consists of

things like being young, thin, having long and flowing hair, and even wearing certain makeup. In

addition, men are supposed to be tall, physically fit, with great hair. Both the male and female

Disney villains who feature in the princess movies seem to be drawn up with characteristics

opposing societys standards. In detail, Evil Queen from Snow White, has two different figures.

One of which shows no sign of hair and is covered with makeup, and the other is exceptionally

old, covered in wrinkles, with a long and pointed nose. Lady Tremaine, the evil stepmother in

Cinderella, is old with high-arched eyebrows, puffy grey hair, and deep bags under her eyes.

Jafar from Aladdin has no visible hair, large bags, and a facial structure that appears to be sunken

in. Shan-Yu from Mulan is balding, has dark bushy eyebrows, claw-like nails, and is even

overweight. Because children tend to develop beliefs based on what they see displayed in

Disneys movies, they begin to recognize how the characters with beauty are good and the

unattractive ones are evil. They then begin to associate beauty with morality and unattractiveness

with evil, creating an unpleasant form of lookism.

Villains within the Disney princess movies can also trigger lookism when considering the

crossing of gender roles. Disney villains both male and female tend to lack the assumed qualities

of their sex and are made to resemble the opposite sex, giving them a appearance of

transgressing normative gender scripts regarding appearance. The villainesses have the tendency

to possess masculine facial structures, like Maleficent with her angular face and square chin,

complemented by dramatic makeup, or like Ursula with her heavy eyeshadow and thin high-
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arched eyebrows, formulating a drag queen image. Male villains tend to have dark eyeshadows

and even eyeliner or other makeup on like Jafar from Aladdin and Dr. Facilier from Princess and

the Frog. Both of these men are also very thin, almost skeletal and accessorized with clothing

typically reserved for women. Jafar wears a gown resembling a dress that shows off his feminine

figure, and Dr. Facilier is wearing a purple suit with a cropped shirt that would most commonly

be worn by women. The problem with these associations is that children may begin to perceive

gender non-binary, genderfluid, and transgender people as evil and discriminate against them on

account of the behavior displayed by Disneys villains in princess movies, creating a second type

of sordid lookism.

After character evaluations, the portrayal of Disney female villains exposes more feminist

traits than the princesses that the majority of viewers seem to idolize. For starters, Ursula is a

bold business woman who is not afraid use her fierce independence and outspokenness to get

exactly what she wants. Todays feminist movement is all about the empowerment of women.

Women should be strong and independent and fight for what they want. She also is not

apprehensive about showing off her curves, defying the typical beauty standards displayed

within Disneys earlier films. The feminist movement inspires body confidence and for women

to be proud of how they look. In her song Poor Unfortunate Souls Ursula laughs about how

men are not attracted to outspoken and expressive women, and you never see her hold back her

opinions because of a man-something that is also promoted by the feminist movement. Ariel,

however, was willing to give up her voice and disempower herself to maybe fall in love with a

man she had never even spoken to and needed her father, a male, to rescue her. When

considering the principles of feminism, Ursula unmistakably acquires more feminist attributes

than Ariel.
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Maleficent also retains more feminist qualities in comparison to Aurora. Rather than

idolizing beauty and male attention like Aurora, Maleficent admires power and independence.

Instead of focusing on her physical appearance, she constructs herself an image of strength and

authority. She will not be disrespected and will not allow anyone to stand in the way of her goals

despite her intentions. The whole reason the feminist movement began was to stop the

oppressions put on women and do cease the disrespect inflicted on them. As the movement

evolved, it influenced women to stop concerning themselves with merely their physical

appearance and to work on building themselves up as powerful, goal-oriented individuals, and

Maleficent is just that. Throughout the movie, Aurora solely the prize of a prince who is awaken

at his kiss. She physically had to wait for a man to rescue her and accomplishes nothing of her

own. The ideals of todays feminists parallel to several of Maleficent's character attributes,

unlike Aurora.

Although many people would argue that Ursula and Maleficent are not feminist because

the subjects of their rage are women, I would remind them why they are targeting these women.

These villainesses are not victimizing these women because of their sex. Moreover, it has

nothing to do with the fact that they are women. Ursula is just a villainous woman who will do

anything to get what she wants, and Ariel was just another soul for her to collect. Maleficent also

had no feelings of hatred toward Aurora because she was a woman. In fact, Maleficents anger

was directed toward the king, Auroras father, and the best way she knew to hurt him was to

curse his daughter. Therefore, the feminist attributes of these women cannot be denied.

The portrayal of Disney villains also has the ability to destabilize the argument that they

are more feminist than the princesses because of their unjust attitudes and actions toward

women. Queen Grimhilde, otherwise known as the Evil Queen, is so infatuated with the concept
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of being the fairest of them all that she has developed the belief that beauty equals desirability

which directly defies one of the most important ideals of feminism that women are more than

their physical appearance. Believing that there is more to a person than just their looks had not

even crossed Evil Queens mind. In fact, when told that Snow White, her own step-daughter, was

the most beautiful girl in the kingdom, Queen Grimhilde plotted to kill her. This action was not

in any way, shape, or form related to empowerment or independence. She is strictly consumed by

her obsessions to meet societal expectations of beauty. Destroying Snow White was just to

ensure that no one would be more alluring than her. Therefore, the character traits of Queen

Grimhilde do not align with todays feminists.

Certain male Disney villains can also be designated as anti feminist because of their

sexist attitudes toward women. As an illustration, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast is

captivated by Belles beauty and sees her as nothing more than an object he cannot have.

Throughout the movie Gaston makes vigorous demands for Belles attention, while threatening

her and her family. He has a condescending attitude, not just towards Belle, but toward all the

women in the movie. Gaston patronizes Belle for appreciating things a good book and

knowledge. His behavior suggests that women should care about anything besides their looks

and finding a strong man to support them. This is clearly everything the feminist movement

stands against. Some of the most crucial points of the feminist movement are that women do not

need a man to provide for or complete them as a person and they are much more than their

physical appearance. They are strong, independent, intelligence, and most importantly-capable.

Women are capable of achieving whatever they please. And while Belle tries to express this,

Gaston attempts to repeatedly remind her that all she will never be more than her looks, which is

something only a sexist and anti feminist person would do.

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CONCLUSION

After viewing some of the most famous animated Disney princess films and analyzing

their villains, one can uncover several different ways to portray them using feminist and gender

studies. Approaching from a gender studies standpoint, it is clear that Disney villains unveil, at

minimum, two types of lookism. These issues consist of morality being linked to good looks and

discrimination of those who are either transvestite or cross gender norms. When exploring

different portrayals of villains from a feminist point of view, two fundamental elements arise-

feminism and antifeminism. While certain villainesses can be depicted as iconic feminists, others

are not so lucky. The characteristics displayed by those perceived as feminists included

independence, strength, confidence, and even power. Those who did not align with feminism, but

rather antifeminism, were obsessed with looks and were severely sexist. In relation to today, both

lookism and antifeminism are a huge issue in todays society, and feminism is precisely the

movement that attempts to fight both of them and it is through Disneys villains starring in

animated princess films that these complex and controversial issues are hidden, waiting to be

unburied and resolved.

Works Cited

Aladdin. Walt Disney Pictures, 1994.

Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney Pictures. 1991.

Disney, Walt. Cinderella. 1950.

Disney, Walt. Sleeping Beauty. 1959.

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Elamparo, Brittany. Why Disney Villains Are Actually Drag Queens. The Odyssey Online,

The Odyssey Media Group, INC., 30 Oct. 2017,

www.theodysseyonline.com/disney-villains-drag-queens.

Glover, Michaela. Why Disney Female Villains Are Iconic Feminists. The Odyssey Online,

The Odyssey Media Group, INC., 30 Oct. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/its-

good-to-be-bad.

Hannah Silvestri. Heroes and Villains: Disneys Representation of Evil. Hannah Silvestri's

Digital Controversies Blog, Wordpress, 9 May 2016,

hannahsilvestri.wordpress.com/digital-composition/heroes-and-villains-disneys-

representation-of-evil/.

Mulan. Walt Disney Pictures. 1999.

The Little Mermaid. Walt Disney Pictures, 1989.

The Princess and the Frog. Walt Disney Pictures. 2009.