The Independence of Princess Images in Frozen and Princess Animated Films Series of Disney

Abstract

Social gender theory is proposed to distinguish biological sex, which holds that gender is not just born but acquired through psychological, cultural, and social norms and more. Nowadays, scholars generally study the issues of communication and gender from the perspective of social gender. The Disney Frozen and Princess series of animated films has created 14 princesses with different images and styles in 80 years, from 1937 to 2017. The inner characters of the women in the films are influenced by the environment and ideology of The Times to a certain extent. Based on gender theory, nine princesses were randomly selected from 14 princesses in 13 Disney officially recognized princess films and Frozen as research objects, and the independent characteristics of princess characters were coded and analyzed by using the content analysis method to explore the main reasons for the change. The research finds that, with the development of the times, the princesses in the Disney princess animation series gradually show more independent characteristics in personalities. Moreover, the main reasons for the differences and changes in these princesses are the changes in social culture.