The Lack of Women Role Models In Disney Movies

Most of the movies are old fairy tales. Read some of the old Grimm's fairy tales or Hans Christian Anderson tales and they either don't have a mother or they have a wicked step-mother. The one that is to be the role model for the audience is the girl that overcomes adversity. Belle fell in love with the beast despite his looks. Ariel gets to marry the man she loves despite her fathers hatred for humans. Cinderella marries her prince despite being abused by her step-mother. The list goes on. The mother figure is not the one the story focuses on. It's the main female character. But now that you mention it, I'm gonna wonder where that figure is in Disney movies now.

Could it be that Disney based much of its output on the Fairy stories and myths of European writings,with their moral teachings and the life lessons to be learned as presented at the end? Many of those stories have characters from broken homes,featuring a cast of dysfunctionals,so it's probably not surprising balanced Female/Mother characterisations don't feature highly..Could it be the LACK of the Mother Character that helped make the movie's Point? I'm no expert on Disney's output or Women Characters in these movies,but I'm thinking back on stories Like Cinderella (Abused Stepdaughter),Snow White (Abandoned as She was a threat) Jungle Book (Kid lost in the Jungle and raised by Animals!) etc..Interesting discussion!

Now wait a minute! What about Mulan? or the Little Mermaid? or Belle? or Lilo? or Mary Poppins? There are a lot of good female role models in Disney movies. They don;t take on the typical "hero"-except for Mulan- role but many female characters embody a message of following what's right despite what other people think and say.