Disney has captured the attention and hearts of people from all ages and backgrounds for nearly a century now, with some controversy about the messages sent along the way. Most of these criticisms circulate around the representation of gender roles, racial/cultural diversity, as well as other forms of representation. One area Disney has seemed to fail repeatedly yet is never chastised for is linguistic representation. Language and language attitudes play a large role in shaping how people–especially children–see the greater world and may sometimes be more important than other categories. In response to these criticisms, some linguistic studies have examined the racial representation of characters and their roles in Disney films, while connecting them to language ideals the general public may not be aware of. These studies found non human characters to be the most likely to have a foreign accent while females are the least likely to have any deviance from Standard American English (“Teaching”). What the women in these films do seem to practice, though, are gender-normal language behaviours that are often perceived as being docile, unsure, and unintelligent.
With this in mind, recent literature has explored movies like Frozen and found that despite the strong female lead duo, men still take up 59 percent of the total lines (Azmi 2016). Previous movies like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty were much more disproportional and portrayed the standard, docile, and soft spoken princesses. As the princesses have fought for more screen time representation, have the other messages they’re sending changed as well? Azmi looked at the independent nature of these lead characters, examining how often they were interrupted, followed male commands, gave commands themselves or used what are called empty adjectives (the gender-normal behaviour described above). Empty adjectives refer to hollow responses or mere space holders in conversation like, “that’s cool” or “adorable” (Hedenmalm). The expression of some female dominated speech patterns is inconsistent in the evolution of the princess movies, but “what all movies have in common, however, is female characters who are independent, capable and make sure to express their opinions (Hedenmalm).” Because these characters face adversity in the doubts of the abilities of women by those surrounding them, the princesses of more modern placed movies like Aladdin and Princess and the Frog expressed much more resistance to control and took on more independent language as such.
As these films continue to evolve with time and strive to portray strong female leads and story lines, the general public and linguists alike are curious to see to what degree they are actually succeeding. Moana is the most recent princess to be released, and was widely praised for her more athletic figure, cultural representation, and relative independence in her story line. It seems the linguistic representation has been noted as well, with Disney putting “together a group of experts, which they named The Oceanic Story Trust. The group included archeologists, anthropologists, tattoo masters, choreographers, weavers, fishermen, and sailors. They stayed in contact and ran ideas by them throughout the process to make sure they stayed as true as possible to the spirit and roots of Pacific Islanders (Bellessa).” These acknowledgements also included the idea that, “Creating a character isn’t just about the words. Because the story of Moana is inspired by the oral histories of the Oceania people, it was important for Disney to find someone to voice Moana who also had Oceania roots (Bellessa).” It seems Disney has been taking note of the wishes of their audiences and finding ways to be representative in their films. With this in mind, my paper will explore whether modern princesses like Moana will not exhibit the same gender-normative linguistic features of her predecessors (empty adjectives, being interrupted, obeying commands, etc.). This will provide insights into whether smaller children still forming categories surrounding gender, race, etc. are able to see these princesses as positive role models in their lives and connect to the idea of strong, female leaders.
Works Cited
Azmi, N.J. “Gender and Speech in a Disney Princess Movie.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, vol. 5, no. 6, 2016, doi:10.7575 /aiac.ijalel.v.5n.6p.235.
Bellessa, Summer. “5 Reasons Why Moana Is the Disney Role Model We’ve All Been Waiting For.” Babble, Disney, 26 Sept. 2016 www.babble.com/entertainment/
moana-disney-role-weve-all-been-waiting-for/.
Hedenmalm, Li. “Language and Gender in Disney.” Luleå University of Technology.
“Teaching Children How to Discriminate.” English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States, by Rosina Lippi-Green, Routledge, 2012, pp. 101–129.