Conclusion

In conclusion, I am a firm believer that gender is socially constructed. I believe that at a young age society drills gender into your mind and from there on we reenact it in every aspect of our lives. I thought it was an interesting approach to look at gender through cartoons. We don't realize how early on gender is introduced as well as policed in our society. I was obsessed with Disney movies as a child and didn't realize until I got older that the ideals that go along with Disney movies aren't ideal. I don't believe anymore that girls needs to find their prince charming . It is now ok for a woman to have a career and her own sense of self.

 In the two shows I compared, "Sofia the First" and "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"  I found that my theory was proven correctly. Princesses are geared towards girls and pirates are geared towards boys. However, I did notice that Disney cartoons today are different than cartoons when I was growing up. Disney promotes that you should believe in your dreams and anything is possible if you wish for it. Now cartoons such as "Sofia the First" focus on a traditional character who challenges societal norms of gender. 

Here is an article that recently stirred up trouble within the Disney community. The inclusion of Merida from the movie "Brave" as a new Disney Princess prompted Disney to make her beautiful.

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=9de440c4-1f83-4d08-a41d-cd6c5c1f3379

Boy Games & Coloring Pages

The game section for "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on Disneyjunior.com includes games based on themes of heroism and piracy. In "Jake's Heroic Race" Jake and his crew must race their ship against Captain Hook's and complete activities such as launching coconuts in the "Coconut Cannon Challenge." This continual emphasis on sports forces boys to accept this behavior as society sees appropriate. Jake is seen as a hero, usually only attributed to a male figure, because he sailed his ship fast and beat Captain Hook and his goons. In "Pirate Crew Hideout" the aspiring pirate gets to choose his favorite sword and eye patch. This focus on a pirate being a male reinforces gender construction. The myth of  the pirate continues because young boys are taught to want to be pirates and ascribing to their characteristics: mischievous and devious.

The coloring section on "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" includes subjects such as heros, treasure chests, swords and pirate princesses. The subject of the hero is fantasized by the titles : "Be Brave, Confident, Loyal, Helpful and Kind." The characteristics ascribed to being a hero made me think about the "Leader Characteristic Survey" we took earlier on in the semester. It was interesting to me to compare and contrast our findings with Disney Junior's definition. The inclusion of a pirate princess template encourages a young boy to create his ideal woman. 

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates-games/

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates-coloring-create

Jake and the Neverland Pirates-Intro

"Jake and the Neverland Pirates" is a show about a pirate, Jake, and his crew Izzy ( a pirate princess) and Cubby. Jake sets out to save him and his friends from evil pirates such as Captain Hook who participate in acts of piracy and crime. The inclusion of a female character in the main cast was most interesting to me. She is Jake's subordinate, but not portrayed as a wench. Perhaps that's a harsh comparison, but pirates are known as male domineering criminals who beg, borrow and steal to get what they want. I think the inclusion of a female pirate as part of the gang challenges gender norms. Even though Jake is seen as the hero without Izzy's help he wouldn't have achieved heroism.

Here's a link to the "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" theme song.

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates/jake-and-the-never-land-pirates-videos-episodes/jakes-disney-junior-theme-song-2014624

Girl Games & Coloring Pages-Sofia the First

Games are usually left up to boys to play. However, if a game is targeted towards girls and includes gardening and dressing up it is suitable for girl's to play. In the Sofia the First gaming sections on Disneyjunior.com, there are many games for girls that deal with girly things. "Sofia's Enchanted Garden" allows girls to create their dream princess garden by choosing their favorite flower, watering the plant while accruing extra points for doing so. The basis of this game, gardening, perpetuates female gender. Disney is condoning that gardening is for girls not boys. "It's Tea Time" lets the aspiring princess (your daughter) create her very own tea set before serving her princess friends. However, after completing the game, you find out that the tea the princess made is served to a prince not to her princess friends. This game shocked me a bit. The game is geared towards girls by fantasizing that having tea is a royal behavior and meant to be enjoyed meanwhile you do all of the hard work only for a prince to reap the benefits. The subjects of the games such as gardening, dressing up and having tea reinstate the belief that girls should pay attention to how they look, serving others and keeping a clean house.

In the coloring section, templates are given of princesses, fairies, animals and prince charming. The subjects of these coloring pages like the subjects of the games reinforce societal norms on gender construction. Leaving out coloring pages on trucks and sports let's a little girl know that those things aren't considered to be girly things. Therefore, a girl will not attempt to take interest in them because they are not girl things to do. The inclusion of subject matters such as coloring the perfect ball gown to make your prince charming's outfit match perpetuate society's vain disposition when  it comes to a woman's appearance.

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/sofia-the-first/sofia-the-first-games

http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/sofia-the-first/sofia-the-first-coloring-create

Sofia the First (excerpt from show)

After our class discussion on "Theorizing Gender" I started thinking about gender as a social construct. On the weekend after our class, I was babysitting my goddaughter. We were doing the usual two year old activities: playing with toys and watching the Disney Channel. One of her favorite shows is Disney Junior's newest, Sofia the First. The story of a young girl whose mother marries a king and gets thrown into becoming a princess. She must quickly learn how to be a princess in time for her debut ball. Sofia must go to school to learn how to perform magic, wear pretty ballgowns, and do "princess things"such as dancing, picking flowers and "wistfully singing in window sills."     

The video below is a song from an episode of Sofia the First titled "Princess Things." This video made me realize how gender is based on social constructs and how front and center it is in the media. As we can all see this is a television show for children. The video promotes the idea that boys (princes) do "princely things" and girls (princesses) do "princess things" and "no one crosses in between." It's interesting what society considers female and male behavior. This song teaches children that girls should pick flowers, shop and participate in the arts (reading, singing and dancing) meanwhile boys should play sports (jousting & polo) and work out ( hike & climb trees.) 

I don't think I realized how mainstream gender was until I saw it reenacted on a children's TV show. The biggest problem I had with this is the fact that children are being taught how to act based on their gender when we live in such an evolving society. I feel that shows like these will prohibit our society from moving forward to the new normal. We live in a society where gay marriage is legal and the social norm is very different than what it used to be. A positive aspect of this video is the fact that Princess Sofia is resisting societal norms and questioning why she isn't allowed to do "princely things." I think that if more children are encouraged to go against the grain and question what goes on in society we will be able to progress as a country. 

*This was my original post from our class blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ufVJOj_79o

Sofia the First-Intro

"After Sofia's mother marries the King of Enchancia, Sofia must learn how to act like a proper princess in time for her debut ball while overcoming her new step-sister's jealousy and the bumbling Royal Sorcerer's evil scheme to take over the kingdom." This is the "about" blurb on Sofia the First's homepage. Disney perpetuates female gender by teaching little girls how to be like a princess. Like Sofia girl's are expected to believe in fairy tales, princesses are beautiful and one day they too will be rescued by their prince charming. Although Disney is known for enforcing and policing gender through the characters in their movies and television shows I found something different in Sofia; she challenges gender performance. For example, in one of the episodes Sofia wants to do  "princely" things that only princes normally partake in. Disney usually encourages to children to be brave and believe in their dreams. I thought Sofia's refusal to participate in "princess" things shows a turn in the way Disney portrays gender.
 Later posts to follow will include an excerpt from the episode, games and coloring pages found in the "Sofia the First" section on Disneyjunior.com.

Parent's Section on DisneyJunior.com

On Disneyjunior.com there is a section for parent's to log on and find out more information about their child's favorite show. There is a section to get ideas about throwing birthday parties which includes a boy's and a girl's section. The themes suggested for a girl's birthday party are princesses and tea parties. The princess themed party includes a crown cake, favors of princess stickers, and food such as tea sandwiches and fruit and veggie bouquets. The themes suggested for a boy's birthday party are: cars, pirates and the ever popular Toy Story sequence. The Cars themed party includes stop light cupcakes, favors of oil cans, and food such as racing wheel burgers and racing stripe veggies.

Below are links to the above mentioned themes:

Boys: http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/parties/birthday-party-ideas/cars-party-1825806

Girls: http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/parties/girls-birthdays/aggregate-1830788

Welcome

Gender is present in everything we do whether we realize it or not. While taking this class I became very interested in the idea that gender is a social construction. For my final project I decided to focus on how gender is socially constructed at an early age. The medium I chose to base my research on is Disney Junior. I will compare and contrast two popular television shows on Disney Junior: a girls show and a boys show. I will include clips from episodes, interactive features on the website and information geared towards parents. I chose "Sofia the First" for my girl's show and "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" as my boy's show.