Brightest Blessings Disney fanatic!!! First and foremost, I want to assure you and dismiss any doubt in anyone's mind that this is a Disney bashing article. IT IS NOT. Disney probably funds their animated movies through all the merchandise I buy. I love Disney. These are just a few observations I made through my countless years of watching Disney flicks. (Incidently, I don't buy the movies on video for my daughter...I buy them for me! LOL)

The topic of this web page is the gender role models for the heros and heroines in Disney animated features. More often than not, the role model for any lead character is a father figure; whether the main character is male or female. Most often when it is a male role model, he's either a King or a very important individual. However, when a female is the primary role model (which is very rare as you will see in a moment), she is usually what is coined a "negative" role model. One has to wonder a few things. 1. Did Walt Disney hate his mother? 2. What is the impact on today's youth with the idea that a mother is not necessary to breed a strong individual and 3. Why are the only strong mothers represented when the characters are animals.

In today's society, the majority of people assume that the lack of a father figure is what is damaging today's youth. Single mothers are all too common. In a weird way, is the Disney corporation asuging that it is in actuality the mothers that are causing the lack of morals by insisting that a strong father figure will breed a strong child into a strong adult? In some strange, backhanded way, is Disney cooberating the moralist idea the the mother is not necessary nor responsible for the healthy upbringing of a child? OR...Does Disney make the assumption that as long as there is a good feminine role model present (such as a Fairy Godmother) that a child can grow up without benefit of a mother. Hmmm. Food for thought. Let's take a look at some staggering facts about Disney animated features. I will list twenty one of the most popular movies and show the percentages at the end of the chart.

Once again, it is important to note that I LOVE DISNEY and there is no way I would every "bash" it. Whether a mother or a father is the primary role model, Disney shows the one thing above all that is necessary for a healthy, happy child and that is unconditional LOVE. The observations might only be coincidental and in regards to the stories that Disney chooses to animate. Perhaps they just haven't picked a story with a good mommy quite by accident.

**R.M. stands for Role Model

**Mulan is not mentioned because I haven't seen it yet.

Heroine/Hero Villian Mother? Father? Female R.M.? Male R.M.?
Pocohontas Gov. Ratcliffe None. She died. Chief Powhatan Grandmother Willow None
Belle Gaston None. Never mentioned. Maurice, the good natured inventor. Mrs. Potts None really. Maybe Lumiere and Cogsworth.
Aladdin Jafar, the Royal Vizir None None Later mentioned in King of Thevies Genie
Jasmine Jafar, the Royal Vizir None. Never Mentioned The Sultan None None
Sleeping Beauty Maleficent The Good Queen King Stefan Flora, Fauna, Merriweather None
Cinderella Evil Stepmother and sisters None. She died. Loving father who died. Fairy Godmother None
Prince Charming Evil Stepmother and sisters None. Never mentioned The Good King None None
Snow White Evil Queen None. Never mentioned. Good father. He died. None None
The Little Mermaid, Ariel Ursula, the sea witch None. Never mentioned. King Triton None. Sebastion the crab?
Simba Uncle Scar Sarabi Mufasa None. Timon and Puumba
Bambi Man Bambi's mother. She died. The King Stag None None
Dumbo Man Mrs. Dumbo None mentioned. None Timothy Mouse
Dalmation Puppies Cruella de Ville Perdita Pongo Anita Roger
Penny the Orphan Medusa None None Bianca Bernard
Esmerelda Judge Claude Frollo None None None None
Quasimodo Judge Claude Frollo Mother but she dies. Father, arrested. Surrogate father is Frollo Laverne the Gargoyle Victor and Hugo the Gargoyles
Hercules Hades Hera, Queen of the Godes Zeus, King of the Gods Amphitryon Aclemene
Alice Queen of Hearts None mentioned None mentioned Older sister None
Peter Pan Captain Hook None None Tinkerbell, Wendy None
Wendy Darling Captain Hook Mother Darling Father Darling None None
Pinocchio Temptation None Geppetto, the Wood Carver The Blue Fairy Jiminy Cricket

So...what does all this mean? Let's look at the statistics of the Disney's role models.

Out of 21 heroines and heros, 11 were female and 10 were male. This is a good 50-50 dispersion.

Out of 17 villians, 7 were male, 4 were female and 3 were "other". This possibly suggests that it is easier to believe a male is capable of being "evil".

Out of the 21 characters examined, 7 had living, kind mothers. Out of those 7, only 2 were human. The others were animals and a Goddess (Hera). Which means, only two characters out of 21 had living mothers that were not animals. This might suggest that in the wild, animals treat their offspring better than humans do OR that it is not necessary for a human child to have a mother to be raised morally and strong.

Out of the 21 characters examined, 13 had living, kind fathers. This might suggest that father's are more capable of bring up children to be moral and strong.

Out of the 21 characters examined, 11 had positive feminine role models. That's about 50%. This suggests that even when a mother was absent, Disney attempted to give the character a female rolemodel, perhaps trying to even the score, so to say.

Out of the 21 characters examined, 10 had positive male role models. Again, about 50%.

It is also interesting to note that out of the 15 characters without a mother, 6 of them died before the child got to know her (These six mothers were mentioned in the story as having died). And...since Disney is probably not interested in tackling the idea of divorce, it is safe to assume that out of the 15 absent mothers, they all probably died.

Out of the 8 fathers that were not present, only 3 were positively identified as having died. We must also assume that out of the remaining 5 fathers not present, that Alice really does have a father, just not mentioned leaving the total of unmentioned fathers down to 4. And, just as we assumed that divorce is not an issue, that leaves the idea that all 7 fathers are probably dead.

I know this sounds like goobledy gook, but it really isn't. There is a severely lopsided idea of gender role models in Disney movies. 7 dead fathers as opposed to 15 dead mothers. Hmmm. Somebody doesn't like mommy in Disney Land.....

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