Talking Point #5 - Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein: Hyperlinks/Connection

A large vocal point of Orenstein's writing is Disney. Most important to her purpose is Disney's marketing techniques for their princess line. I wanted to post a view pictures and see what kind of conversation sparked.

Orenstein talked about how by making the Disney princess merchandise so vast it was allowing young girls to play out the princess fantasies and take after the examples given in the movies. There are arguments throughout the article that rather than little girls wanted to behave and replicate the actions of these princesses, they just want to dress up because it is fun. We all have a pretty good sense of what the children Disney princess costumes look like and for the most part the adult Disney princess costumes are in the same fashion. There are a couple of exceptions -- oh hey Snow White. There are more just like that one. You can even see the pattern in adult Disney villain costumes. So although little girls are not necessarily playing the rolls of these princesses, what message are they receiving when they see some of the costumes that are out there. Does it play into their schema of femininity? ARE little girls just simply playing dress up?