Patricia Gaile Cotaoco
Discourses of Cultural Production class
Many people are familiar with the popular Disney feature films, like Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Little Mermaid (1989). In all of these films, the princess is a passive character who simply waits for her prince to rescue her from whatever ordeal she was going through then. These characters are domesticated, forbidden to speak whatever and whenever they want, and are made to follow orders.
While these feature films may be considered old and already a classic, they continue to invade the market through the Disney princesses merchandise. Aside from the movie videos, there is also a wide array of Disney princesses products, including clothes, costumes, books, dolls, etc. Evidently, the era of Disney princesses is not yet over as these princesses have already become icons that little girls idolize and love. It is funny and interesting to note, however, that the idea of Disney princesses continue to be a success despite the oppressive message it sends across.
Nevertheless, animation companies tried to break free from the formulaic genre of animation films and the traditional type of characters in the story. Female characters such as Mulan, Princess Fiona of Shrek (2001), and Lady Marina of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) prove that women can be strong-willed, capable to think for themselves, and at times, even stubborn and rebellious. These movies prove that women can be their own person.
Mulan
Mulan is a Disney film about a young woman who pretended to be a man so that she can take the place of her father in the war. The patriarchal culture is strictly being observed, as well as women oppression, can be seen throughout the whole movie. In the first scene, Mulan is shown memorizing the qualities a woman should have so she can become bride-worthy. This oppression is also exhibited in the lyrics of the songs (“here’s my recipe for instant bride…/ boys will gladly go to war for you…/ you’ll bring honor to us all//”). It is also shown in the dialogues. An example of this is Chi Fu, the emperor’s chief council. He has lines like “She must know how to hold her tongue in front of a man’s presence,” “I knew there’s something wrong with you—a woman!” and “She’s a woman. She doesn’t mean anything.” Another example is Shan Yu, who does not even recognize Mulan during their fight at the temple. Instead, he refers to her as “the soldier from the mountains.”
On the surface, the dominant message that the movie wants to get across is that women can have strong characters too. However, looking at it closer, this strong characteristic is only superficial. The movie actually patronizes the power that men have over women. Even in the last few scenes, when Mulan’s grandmother joked around to “sign her up for the next war,” it still implies that women need men. It is only through Mulan’s character that resistance can be seen. Her character immediately strikes the viewer as rebellious and stubborn. She is not what an ordinary Chinese woman would be like—intelligent, meddles in conversations, and is always late. In fact, she is more of a tomboy in some ways. Again, this is the movie’s way of upholding male dominance. Although she has proven that women can work outside of their homes, can be stronger and more strategic than men, and can even save a country, she had to act like a man in order to accomplish those things. This just means that only men are capable of doing such tasks. In the movie, Mulan cut her hair short, dressed in armor, tried to change her voice, and acted like a man. She had to undergo through these transformations simply because of her desire to get in the army, and ultimately, to be able to belong in a man’s world. As Craig Owens said, “In order to speak, to represent herself, a woman assumes a masculine position; perhaps this is why femininity is frequently associated with masquerade, with false representation, with stimulation and seduction” (59). Laura Mulvey refers to this as a “transvestite position” or “masculinization.” This means that no matter how women try, they will never have a position or voice in a society ruled by men. It is either they accept their oppressed state, or they attempt to speak up, but assume a man’s voice.
Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona is a female character in Shrek (2001), a Dreamworks animation movie. In the movie, Fiona is locked up in a tower because of a curse: she turns into an ogre every night. She believes, or at least, she was made to believe, that the only way she can be “beautiful” or to break the curse is when a prince rescues her from the tower and kisses her.
The movie also hints on the issue of having a society that observes patriarchal culture. In the movie, Lord Farquaad is desperate to become a king; however, he must have a wife to be one. And so, princesses are auctioned before him as if they are commodities. In one scene, one can even see and hear how Lord Farquaad’s bodyguards shout and cheer for their bets. This scene is very oppressive to women.
It is therefore interesting to note Fiona’s character as she is not like the other Disney princesses. Although she, too, waits for her Prince Charming, her actions are not what a princess is supposed to be like: demanding, speaks rudely sometimes, and can keep up with men. She burps, passes gas, can make animal balloons, and can eat rats—things that are uncommon for a woman, much more for a princess. Aside from her wish to break the curse bestowed on her, Fiona resists every stereotype that society has of a woman.
Unlike Mulan, Fiona does not have to assume a man’s role. However, her character is actually that of a mysterious, manipulative, and vain woman. She has secrets (she hides in caves and dark huts during the night). In one scene, she manipulates and convinces Donkey into thinking that he has to look for a medicine to heal Shrek’s wound. In another scene, she even pretends to be sleeping and in dire need of romance just so that Shrek would kiss her. Her sweet words and pretty face can pass off as the innocent and naïve type: qualities a princess should have.
“The image of women is twofold: (1) she is the object of male desire, and (2) she is the signifier of the threat of castration” (Mulvey, 114). When men give in to women’s desires, it is not because they like them or they treat her as equal. They are just threatened by the idea of being overpowered. When Hélène Cixous wrote The Laugh of Medusa, she said, “Smug-faced readers, managing editors, and big bosses don’t like the true texts of women—female-sexed texts. That kind scares them” (198). And so, when Fiona’s manipulative character is exhibited, the male characters around her (whether it is Shrek or Donkey) feel scared. Man does not learn to respect a woman who poses as a threat to him. Instead, he treats her as the other, as someone who should be overpowered. Thus, the state of the woman becomes even more oppressed.
Lady Marina
Lady Marina is the female protagonist in the 2003 animated film by Dreamworks, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. An ambassador of goodwill from Thrace, Lady Marina is arranged to marry Proteus, prince of Syracuse. In the movie, Marina is forced to forget her dream of exploring the world through sailing because of the duties and responsibilities that she has to do.
There is also a hint of patriarchal culture in the movie, particularly in the dialogues of Sinbad. In the movie, Marina sneaks into Sinbad’s boat, claiming that she wants to make sure he does what he has promised: to get the Book of Peace from the Goddess of Chaos, and then bring it back to Syracuse and have Proteus free from jail. While they are sailing, Sinbad continuously tells her that a woman does not belong in the boat. What he means is that, a woman cannot do what a man does, and that the only place she belongs to is inside the house.
This dominant culture is what Marina’s character tries to resist. This resistance is best reflected in the scene wherein Marina sneaks into Sinbad’s boat. This is not something a woman would do, much more if she is engaged to another person already. Marina’s character is similar to Fiona, in the sense that she can also be the manipulative type of woman. When Sinbad has found out that she is in his boat, he tells her to leave. Instead of following his orders, Marina bribes Sinbad with a bag-full of gems and jewels and then says, “I’ll talk with you using your language.” This manipulative character is also shown when Sinbad and she are arguing. Marina shows Sinbad that his crew likes having her in the boat by asking his crew for a knife. With her sweet voice, large, puffy eyes, and pretty face, all of his crew immediately gave all of the swords and knives that they can get.
Despite this manipulative character, again, like Fiona, Marina rebels against the stereotyping and oppression of women. In one scene, she saves Sinbad and the rest of his crew from getting further hypnotized by mermaids. Similar to Mulan, Marina also performs stunts, which are usual only for men.
Preferred Meanings Versus Own Readings
According to Stuart Hall, “preferred meanings have the whole social order embedded in them as a set of meanings, practices and beliefs” (513). These are the meanings that dominant, oppressive groups continuously and persistently relay to the rest of the society. These messages are covered up by something superficial and attractive so that hegemony takes over.
For the three movies, the preferred meanings or the embedded meanings all speak of the same thing: women do not have a place in the world of men. If they want to become a part of it, they have to adopt or assume a male position (as in the case of Mulan) or have a manipulative character (as in the case of Fiona and Marina). Either way, women are still oppressed. For the first case, they are only assuming another position; whereas for the second, they get to be treated as the other.
James Carey’s Ritual or Expressive Model of Communication also deals with these embedded messages. According to Carey, this model “depends on shared understandings and emotions. [In this model] communication is linked to such terms as sharing, participation, association” (70). In these movies, the shared beliefs are that women need men, that women do not have to think for themselves because they have men to do the thinking for them, and that women are meant to be housewives only. Mulan, Fiona, and Lady Marina are examples of characters who go against what the shared beliefs say about women. These characters make their own decisions and they do not adhere to what society says they should do. Through these characters, viewers are given the idea to be more critical of the messages that they receive. They can actually decode the hidden messages using a negotiated or even oppositional reading or view. Hall has defined negotiated reading as “a mixture of adaptive and oppositional elements” (516). The viewers can take some of the messages which they think will suit, and then, reject the others. Employing a negotiated view, the viewer becomes an agent and decides for herself what to do and how to use the embedded messages.
Hall’s concept of negotiated reading is similar to the Reception Model of Communication. This model says “media messages are always open and polysemic and are interpreted according to the context and the culture of receivers” (McQuail, 73). Again, this model stresses the viewer’s capability to be an agent and make decisions on her own, just like Mulan, Fiona, and Marina.
Bibliography
Carey, James. “A Ritual or Expressive Model.” Ed. Denis McQuail. Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage Publications, 2005.
Cixous, Hélène. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Ed. Maggie Humm. Feminisms. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992.
Hall, Stuart. “Coding, Recoding.” Ed. Simon During. Cultural Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1999.
McQuail, Denis. Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage Publications, 2005.
Mulvey, Laura. “Gender and Sexuality.” Ed. John Storey. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Essex: Pearson Education Limited, 2001.
Owens, Craig. “Feminists and Postmodernism.” Ed. Hal Foster. The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture. Washington: Bay Press, 1983.
How Disney Princess Works. How Stuff Works. 25 August 2008.
Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Perf. Na-Wen, Ming, Eddie Murphy, and B.D. Wong. Walt Disney Pictures, 1998.
Shrek. Dir. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. Perf. Myers, Mike, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. Dreamworks Animation, 2001.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Dir. Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson. Perf. Pitt, Brad, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Dreamworks SKG, 2003.
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