IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 10, Ver. III (Oct. 2014), PP 28-31 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 28 | Page Damsels in Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films Nandini Maity Research scholar, Department of English, University of Burdwan Abstract: Gender is one of the most discussed topics in today‟s society. Gender represents and also reproduces certain attributes, expectations and roles which are associated with male and female. Media is the most important resource through which people develop their identities and thereby come to understand the role that gender plays in the actual world. This article is designed to study the gender identity and gender roles in Disney movies and to see how identity is transformed through long term virtues and ideals that are set forth by the Disney movies. It is generally regarded that the Disney movies is unhealthy for children, especially the young girls to watch for the physical, social and behavioral attributes they suggest, conform to the values supporting male dominance. Disney movies are often criticized for their negative, stereotypical portrayal of female characters that are often unrealistically painted. In the context of Disney movies, the word „woman‟ has become synonymous with „victim‟ in a patriarchal society. The Disney Corporation films such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty et al are in the list of favorite Disney heroines for young girls for the last fifty years. These movies have certain themes in common—the female protagonist in each of these films is shown as a “Disney Princess” but the traits of these princesses, feature d through these films are submissiveness and servitude. Though they possess divine beauty, these princesses only seem to be capable of suffering in silence, and it is because of this, they are finally given the ultimate reward: salvation through the handsome Prince Charming. This negative portrayals of women and girls in Disney movies gain force through the way in which similar messages are consistently circulated and reproduced in varying degrees in many of the Disney movies even till today. Though both the male and the female roles have changed over time in the Disney princess line, yet the female characters actually exhibits less change in their gender role portrayals and there is no doubt that Disney Corporation is reaching their target audience and their message is continuously being made available to the young children (especially the young girls) around the world. Keywords: consumerism, feminism, femme fatal, patriarchy, stereotype, I Since the dawn of civilizations, there have been stories, folktales that are narrated to children and young people. These stories generally formed the basis of the cartoon characters. These stories were not only a way of consoling and cheering a child, but also of giving lessons to the child about the societal norms of their nation. These are memorized by children and remembered forever. Children idolize their favorite character ,the character they have most in common with and are best able identify with, and try to emulate the characters‟ actions. From these fairy tales kids discover and learn the proper manners and the function they should play in the society. However, this imparting of knowledge through tales can be used to manipulate and brainwash the children. Also the representation of certain group can change the outlook, the behavior and way of thinking of a group. One group that is represented in such a way in fairy tales and cartoon characters are women. Comic books are not only a source of pleasure, but they also serve as a unique reflection of the culture to which they belong. Comic book characters are usually depicted in visual and contextual extremes. These extremes are representations of how common stereotypes are turned into archetypes and can help us learn about contemporary American social structure because representation means using language to say something meaningful about, or to represent the world meaningfully to other people. It is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. This is clear when we study gender roles, the focus of my research being how women are represented in Disney comics. From the very early times of the Disney comics it is noticed that the representation of women was always within the frame of gender bias. The ascribed and acquired roles that women typically held such as wife, mother, secretary are nearly duplicated in comic books. A role is usually defined as a set of expectations about the way individuals with certain social identification will most likely act in certain situations. Roles are important in the case of comic book characterization. Unlike the male comic characters, the female characters were usually given very few roles with limited upward mobility. Because of the civil rights movements, second wave feminism and the sexual revolutions, the late 1960s, changed the landscape for women and their comic counterparts.