I'm actually too excited to write this post. The LaCroix article was HUGE "a-ha" moment for me. I can't even organize all the things I want to discuss. Ok, I'm just going to flow these ideas. The overall category is WOMAN TO WOMAN CONFLICT AND DISNEY'S OBSESSION WITH IT or DISNEY WAS MEAN GIRLS BEFORE MEAN GIRLS WAS MEAN GIRLS. LaCroix's point that Disney movies promote woman to woman conflict is incredibly important. I would like to extend this point to say that many Disney movies are actually subtly centered on this conflict and speculate about some of the effects of this focus.
To articulate her point about Disney's promotion of female conflict LaCroix uses Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty as examples. I will use the same examples to flesh out my argument that woman to woman conflict is actually the center of these movies and not romantic love, even though the prince is often portrayed as the focus. In Snow White, the prince is on screen for all of four minutes. The movie really focuses on Snow White's escape from Wicked Step-Mother. The prince in Cinderella gets much more screen time, but overall the story is about Cinderella escaping the horrible life caused by her wicked step-sisters and step mother. Sleeping Beauty is similar in that the tension is between Sleeping Beauty, the heroine, and the villain, the evil Malificent. While the prince is part of the "happy ending, he is not the central focus of the film. Ok, now that we've established that the focus is on women to women conflict, let's explore what this conflict suggests.
Disney's apparent love for woman to woman conflict seems to send this concise message - "If another woman is "prettier" than you than she is your enemy. Especially if there's a guy involved". Snow White's stepmother literally tried to kill her when it was revealed that Snow White was prettier than her. In the movie, it is after Snow White blows a kiss at the prince that the Queen turns to the mirror and decides that Snow White must die. In Cinderella, the step-mother treats Cinderella awfully because she is prettier and nicer than her children and she wants one of her daughters to marry the prince instead of Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty is a bit more complicated as Malificent curses Sleeping Beauty because she was not invited to her first birthday party, but even this story follows the same line of an older, less attractive woman taking a pretty young princess out of the game when she reaches maturity (16). Disney repeatedly paints younger and prettier woman as competition and this idea extends into the real world.
I had a similar revelation about woman to woman interactions being masked by male-female interactions and a slight competitiveness between women while getting ready for a school dance. I remember my mom teasing me about putting all this effort into getting ready for some boy and repeatedly asking me what boy I'm trying to impress. I repeatedly told her no one. I was not being facetious or a "typical teenager" hiding things from her parents, there was legitimately no guy at the dance I really cared about impressing, but there where people there I did want to astound. Those people were my close female friends and other girls at my school. While a guy telling me that I was pretty was definitely nice, compliments from my female classmates simply meant more. t's like being a professional diver and getting a compliment from a spectator, some who appreciates the sport definitely but has no idea the intricacies that go into it, versus getting a compliment from another diver. In case it's not clear (some) men (definitely not all) are the spectators and other women (many but not all) are the divers.
I believe that there is a desire in many woman (on some level) to be the "princess of the ball" and that acknowledgement of "you look great" from other women is what provides that "princess" feeling. A big reason for this is that beauty has historically been associated with a woman's "value". Thankfully, we live in an age that realizes that this association is nonsense but we still play into it. We still obsess over the beautiful to an almost obscene level. Look at the amount of girls gearing up for the up-coming Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. I promise you it will trend on Twitter (it did last year) and (like last year) the majority of tweets will be from other women praising the gorgeousness of angel after Victoria's Secret Angel. While attractive people get more societal benefits for both genders, there is a bigger emphasis on female beauty. A friend said it best during a conversation about gender "with guys, if they're not cute it's ok. They can be athletic or funny or powerful or whatever and still be "acceptable". But with girls, you can be athletic or funny or powerful, hell, you can be athletic and powerful AND funny and people will still hit you with the "aww Honey, do you wana try something different with your hair? Have you been to Sephora? It's like if you're not "pretty" everything else you are doesn't matter". This desire or competition to be the "prettiest" has clear age lines because America's standard of beauty, in my perspective, has a necessary component of youth. So when a young, pretty girl starts maturing, she becomes competition to older women and, according to Disney, the competition must be destroyed.
LaCroix's article really impacted me because this is a competition I believe I see often and it is one that does not need to exist. Women are still a marginalized group and a strong sense of sisterhood, in other terms a shared womanhood, is necessary to push against modern day gender discrimination. While Disney movies may play a role in the instigation of this "pretty" competition, many many media outlets are involved. There are countless studies that describe the media's effect on female self-image and the overarching message is "You're not pretty enough, our product will make you prettier and pretty is a necessity". Media presents this goal that so many cannot reach and stirs some small sense of resentment or jealousy for those who can. Let us be careful not to turn into Snow White's mother continuously asking "who's the prettiest". Let us not see other women as potential enemies, but always as potential allies.
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