Influence of Disney characters towards teenage girls.

The representation of a teenage girls appearance and body image is classically shown through out Disney characters. 

The dramatic and unrealistic differences between a real woman's body figure silhouette and the Disney characters body figure silhouette gives girls at a young age that this is the appearance and body image that we should have when it is blatantly unrealistic. 

Real woman's figure: Normal sized to smallish head, thicker neck to support head and back, wider shoulders along with less defined hip structure that supports the rib and normal sized breast area. Hip, thigh and calf muscle definition. Ankles protrude and feet are a little on the small side but are believable and realistic. 

Disney characters figure: Head slightly bigger than a realistic looking head. Shows features within the face and the emotions are able to be clearly showed. Size of head is still unrealistic. Very slender neck which would be unable to support head and back. Very demure shoulders. Have no structure or shape to them. Medium sized breasts. Any bigger, the Disney character would not be able to hold the weight of the torso. No hip, thigh and calf muscles. No definition of any muscles within the body figure. Feet are absolutely far too small and therefore realistically this character would not be able to walk as there is too much body weight given to the feet and is out of proportion. 

How does the representation affect teenage girls?

The representation of the teenage Disney characters clearly show that they are "perfect" looking and have the body figure most teenage girls would die for. The body figures of the Disney characters are clearly unrealistic as this affects teenage girls as they try to make their appearance and body figure look like the Disney characters. These a cartoons, By definition their features are exaggerated in a way that that the Disney characters heads are slightly bigger than the usual head as it allows features within the face such as eyes and mouth to be bigger and therefore we as an audience are able to see the emotions within a characters face a lot clearer.

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19600000/Disney-Princess-Lineup-walt-disney-characters-19604075-1280-800.jpg

In this image it shows the girl Disney characters. All are slim, beautiful, perfect complexion and body figure. They represent the perfect looking teenage girl through out a cartoon. This affects teenage girls as we get the idea starting at a young age that this is what we should look like as it is extremely unrealistic for a real human to have the body figure the characters have.

 

http://0.tqn.com/d/toys/1/0/F/G/1/Barbie-I-Can-Be-Doll-Asst.jpg

 

It has been realized that if Barbie was a real person her measurements are way out of proportion and are unrealistic. It would be impossible for Barbie to exist as a human. Barbie would be 5ft 9inch tall, have a 36-inch bust, 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips. Barbies hips would be squashed and distorted. This would be very uncomfortable and painful as her organs wouldn't be able to function successfully. There would be no definition of any muscles through out the body figure and no fat to support or protect her. Barbie would fit the weight criteria of having anorexia. Barbies body figure and appearance should be what young girls aspire to be. At a young age girls are entertained with Barbie dolls and Disney movies that have girls with perfect appearance and body figure that makes young girls think this is the ideal looking girl and they aspire to look like them. Boys also live up to the expectations of what girls should look like, as they don't realize it is impossible for a girls appearance and/or body figure to look like so. From a personal perspective and experience of playing with Barbie dolls and watching Disney movies at a young age I can say that I also aspired to be like Barbie and the Disney characters. 

http://nexttruth.com/?p=7254

It is proven that young girls do aspire to look like Barbie and Disney characters. Valeria Lukyanova is a girl who loved Barbie and Disney characters at a young age. She loved their body figure, the way they look, how they dress, the big boobs and tiny waste. Valeria was apired to look like Barbie and so thats what she did.

Valeria says “I’m white blonde and I’m proud of it”. By this because Barbie is a white, slim, beautiful doll it makes us think that only white people can make them selfs or be slim and beautiful. This is very judgemental as dark coloured skin could look at the Barbie doll and think 'because the doll has whiter coloured skin and i have dark coloured skin, I cant look like that. I cant be beautiful and slim'.

 

 

 

 

For Valeria to look like Barbie she had to pratically starve her self only consuming liquid type foods and she is vegan meaning she doesnt eat meat or any dairy products as it is unhealthy and fatty. This is not what we want girls to be doing or aspiring towards. Starving them selfs just to look like something that is all most impossible to look like. Barbie is so out of proportion that it is so unbelievable unrealistic for a human to be an exact replica of what Barbie looks like.



 

 

First ever Barbie advert- 1959

 

 

 

This is the first ever Barbie advert on television. All Barbie dolls that are presented on the add are slim, beautiful, perfect looking dolls. We can tell that each doll is also white and no dark coloured skin dolls are presented within this advert. This is very racist and judgemental as Barbie is the prefect and ideal looking girl. It could give others the idea that they cant use these dolls or apire to look like this doll because they are not white. They are dark skin coloured. This could impact teenage girls in a negative way in such a way that they might feel inadequate, not wanted, not beautiful or may not be accepted by other 'white' girls.