My Three Sources

1. Does Hollywood Still Have a Princess Problem? (Ep. 394)

This is a podcast, and its author is Stephen J. Dubner. The main idea of this podcast is how Disney fairy tale movies impact people on their perspectives about gender roles and why this happens. The podcast first introduces the impact of inequality of genders on the society and politics. Then it introduces Disney fairy tale movies and how they construction social opinions on females and males gender roles. They gives examples and hypotheses, and proves them. Finally, they uses a question about gender role to make audiences think deeply about Disney and gender.

In this podcast, they introduce their main topics by using sentences like “there are such strict gender roles and guidelines that represent how women should act and how women should perform in a household, and what they should want in life. I don’t blame them. Because all of these movies are reflections of the time” (Anya Dubner 13:04-13:10). I plan to use this sentence as a supporting detail for my own main statement. It is consistent with gender roles and Disney films' impact on public's opinion about gender roles.

2. What Is Toxic Masculinity?

This is a close reading practice in our course. The author is Maya Salam. The work was published on New York Times, Jan. 22, 2019. The main topic is about what toxic masculinity is and how it develops and interacts with our societies. It first introduces Gillette's advertisement, then it introduces definition of toxic masculinity and its impact on society. Finally it gives some advice and actions by other authorities and organization to help reduce toxic masculinity.

I am planning to use sentences in this reading like "toxic masculinity is what can come of teaching boys that they can’t express emotion openly; that they have to be 'tough all the time'; that anything other than that makes them 'feminine' or weak" (Maya Salam). I think I can relate it to Disney fairy tale movies like Beauty and the Beast because in this film, the beast was portrayed to show traditional toxic masculinity. However, he changes at the end and become a model for good masculinity.

3. Is It Any Good?

This is a film review from Common Sense. This review approves the sweetness of Snow White and criticizes its terror scenes. It also relates the film to other Disney fairy tales and compares different princesses’ role in the film.

There is a quote from the review that I am going to use in my script “although Snow White may not be as brave as Mulan, as intelligent as Belle, or as talented as Ariel, she is, like Cinderella after her, the sweetest among the Disney princesses.” I think I seldomly think in this way. By criticizing Snow White's passivity and optimism, we seldomly look into her as a sweet girl. I think this is an excellent point that I am going to use in my script to contradict with other different opinions to show a broader sense of Snow White.