Sunday, November 8, 2015

Blog Post #8

Peggy Orenstein, Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Quotes

       As soon as I read the title I knew this would be an article I would love. Growing up I was in love with everything pink. I loved all the disney princesses but Cinderella and Ariel were my favorite ones. In high school is when I was first exposed to the "hidden truth" behind the princess stories and how wrong the messages are to young girls. This leads to my first quote which is based on a conversation between the Author and Andy Mooney a representative of Disney about the hidden messages in the princess stories. On page 16, "He had a point. I have never seen a study proving that playing princess specifically damages girls' self-esteem or dampens other aspirations. There is, however, ample evidence that the more mainstream media girls consume, the more importance they place on being pretty and sexy." Her point being that all the princesses are valued for their beauty and nothing else. Their whole story is based on their looks and the need to wait for prince charming to rescue them. By little girls watching this they believe to think that is all that matters, they just need to be a pretty princess and they will live happily ever after with their prince. Another quote that ties in with this quote focuses on female bonding, "Let's review: princesses avoid female bonding. Their goals are to be saved by a prince, get married and be taken care of for the rest of their lives. Their value derives largely from their appearance." In the text she links this to an argument her daughther had with one of her friends that there can only be one princess. It is true in this sense because there is no female bonding there aren't princesses that are bff's and hang out. They are usualy on their own, Cinderalla her step sisters didn't like her so there was no bonding, as for Snow White her step mother hated her so no bonding there either. We are never taught how to help each other but instead how to compete against one another. The last quote that stuck out to me was another conversation but this time between the author and a sales rep at a Toy Fair in New York; "'Is al this pink really necessary?' I asked a bored-looking sales rep hawking something called Cast and Paint Princess Party. 'Only if you want to make money,' he said chuckling. Then he shrugged. 'I guess girls are born loving pink.'" It's weird to think that pink was enforced on girls as a business sheme. I loved pink growing up and it makes sense now, all my toys were pink most of my clothes were pink my diary was pink, my playing table was pink. There was pink all around me so it makes sense as to how we love pink so much. 

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/disney-princess/articles/247765/title/disney-princess-merchandise-never-ending-hatred



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