Disney vs. The Future of Men

Thesis: The constructs of masculinity found in most Disney movies create an environment of images that shape and define what young boys view as masculinity. By presenting sexist relationships, physical expectations, and violence and dominance to represent power, young boys are left feeling emotionally unattached and physically inadequate. How many Disney movies did you see as a child? How many of those movies did you watch over and over again? And how many of the songs you so lovingly watched over and over again can you still sing today?The Walt Disney Company has been a powerful force in creating childhood culture all around the world. Disney’s massive success is based on images of innocence, magic and fun. Its animated films in particular are praised as wholesome family entertainment. These movies are endorsed by teachers and parents, and are obviously immensely popular with children. The fun and innocence may have its value, but it is important to understand how these movie s are representing the moral characteristics that the children viewing them will eventually grow up to represent themselves.Most alarmingly is the representation of masculinity throughout many classic Disney movies such as Mulan, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. These movies are presenting masculine complexes to young boys all over the world, giving them distorted images of what it means to be a man, and also how to relate to women. What is most dangerous about the way Disney movies represent masculinity is that the process is not a quick one. The means in which the media influences the way we think is less immediate, and has a much less straight forward impact on the way we think.Disney movies in particular create a certain environment of images that we grow up with and eventually become used to. An example of such a group of images is the constant representation of the male body in Disney movies as buff, and chiseled. After a while these images begin to shape what young bo ys know and what they understand about the world around them. This is not an immediate effect, but instead a slow accumulative effect that is much more subtle than we are aware of.One of the biggest problems with this process is that the Disney conglomerate has spanned over nearly five generations, so no one thinks to challenge the idea that an animated Disney movie is a great way to entertain children while simultaneously sharing with them a piece of traditional culture. One of the most destructive ways in which classic animated Disney movies are providing young boys with false and distorted images of masculinity, are the ways in which men are shown in relationship to women. Most Disney movies revolve around a heterosexual relationship containing a hero and heroine.Feminists have studied what these characters tell girls about themselves, but it is just as important if not more important to understand what these movies are telling boys about how real men interact with and treat wome n. Often the message to boys both explicitly and implicitly is that men should view women as objects of pleasure or as servants to please them. A perfect example of this misrepresentation is in the movie Mulan. In Mulan, and entire song called â€Å"A Girl Worth Fighting For†, explains what a man is looking for in a woman.Some of these traits include cooking, cleaning, and looking beautiful for her husband. This quote from the song shows exactly what type of sexist characteristics are represented in Mulan. â€Å"I want her paler than the moon, with eyes that shine like stars, my girl will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars. I could care less what she’ll wear or look like, it all depends on what she cooks like† Another highly destructive construct that Disney movies present to young boys is the representation of the male body.Disney movies glorify one particular body type above all others. Chiseled abs, a barrel chest and massive arms are typical of a m ale Disney character. Men with any other body type are generally viewed as outcasts, weak or subservient. One of the most extreme examples can be found in â€Å"Beauty and the Beast†, where the contrast between the powerful male heroine figure, Gaston and his sidekick, LeFou is undeniable. The song entitled simply, â€Å"Gaston† is entirely dedicated to glorifying Gaston’s manly physique and strength.In contrast to this, LeFou is shown as short, chubby, and bucktoothed. In â€Å"Mulan†, when Mulan attempts to join the Japanese army by passing as a man, she is taught very quickly that masculinity is defined by strength and physical ability alone. In the song, â€Å"I’ll Make a Man Out of You† Mulan is taught that in order to achieve true manhood she must overcome strictly physical obstacles and challenges as opposed to any emotional ones. Other movies such as â€Å"Hercules† and â€Å"Tarzan† depict their main characters as buff , muscular men, with almost super human strength and ability.While Tarzan surfs tree branches and swings from vine to vine with ease that can be compared to an Olympic gold medalist, Hercules lifts giant boulders, and sleighs a three-headed mythological beast. Though the aspect of fantasy plays a role in these movies, the take home message is that characters like Tarzan and Hercules are men to be admired, imitated and idealized. Not only do most Disney movies glorify their characters bodies but also the level of violence and dominance they exhibit. Masculinity in relation to violence and dominance is very clear in most Disney films.Not only is the victory of a battle glorified, the unwillingness of a character to fight is often shown as pitiful or weak. An example of such an instance is in the animated movie, Beauty and the Beast. In a scene where Gaston has beaten the beast to the ground he exclaims, â€Å"What’s the matter beast? Too kind and gentle to fight back? † This is prime example of how movies such as these are teaching boys that violence is the answer, and that any challenge to that idea is thought of as weak or emasculating. The climactic scene in most films is a battle between two men.A violent battle to win the love of a woman or maintain pride and status is the most important scene in establishing which of these characters is the â€Å"better† man. There are two major problems with this idea. First, that boys are being taught that dominance and violence is something to strive for and respect. Second, that these types of behaviors are necessary if not mandatory in gaining the acceptance and love of a woman. Never in a Disney animated movie will you see the losing character of a battle win the woman in the end.Because a lot of the most popular animated Disney movies were created in the mid to late 1900’s a lot of the themes shown in them are completely sexist and have no validity in current society. So basically, as lon g as parents continuing showing their sons Disney movies in which a character has to achieve some physical task instead of showing affection, or an emotional connection, men will continue to have no idea what women want. Because we as Americans feel such a deep, loving connection to theDisney movies we grew up with, it is only natural that we sit our children down in front of the television in an attempt to share with them a piece of our own childhoods. However as much as Disney has become embedded in our subconscious as wholesome and magical, today the world is a different place with different people and different ideas. The harmful effects of showing a child a Disney movie, especially a young boy can leave a dangerous mark. From body distortion, to dysfunctional relationship issues, the potential these movies have to alter a child future is certainly enough to switch off the Disney channel and turn on Lifetime.

Service organization analysis services marketing plan on a service Essay

Service organization analysis services marketing plan on a service company - Essay Example The bank is one of the largest in the country and has presence in more than 50 countries. The department chosen in this case is the bank's internet banking services. The bank has a well established department for this and gives comprehensive information in its web pages. The characteristics of services marketing with reference to this department is given in the paper. Relevant marketing theories with reference to services marketing is also given. An overview of the internet banking service of the bank is also given. This is followed by the internet banking industry in the country. Major competitors of the bank are also provided. The internet usage and habits of the public are also included. The bank is in a good position regarding this since the usage and penetration of the internet is one of the highest in the world. The bank's biggest challenge would be to convert the users to be more active in internet banking. One important aspect, namely service recovery is also discussed. It se ems that ANZ Bank is keenly aware of this factor and has chalked out well laid out plans for customer service and satisfaction. The organization selected for the service market analysis is ANZ Bank. ANZ bank (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited) is an Australia based major banking and financial institution. It renders services of home loans, car loans and business loans to its customers. Internet banking and phone banking is its peculiar features. Credit cards and savings accounts are also offered by it to the customers. It carried out insurance services also. Main strategy of ANZ Bank is offering a range of products suiting with different needs of customers in a better convenient way. Savings and investment accounts of ANZ carry competitive interest rates. ANZ online saver helps customers to manage their own accounts through online. (ANZ, 2008). ANZ bank is recognized as a major international banking and financial services group in Australia and New Zealand and included in the 50 list of top 50 banks in the world. It started its working in 1830s by opening office in Melbourne. (ANZ: History, 2008). Business Strategies of ANZ Bank: For sustaining in the highly competitive banking industry in Australia, the ANZ Bank has accepted good corporate governance and transparency as the fundamentals of its business. For guiding the business decision making on the right way the bank has insisted on specific codes of conduct ensuring company value. The Board of Directors is mutually responsible for the corporate governance and directing the financial performance. It has company policy of concrete honest and ethical behavior of the organizational members. ANZ is a member of the Code of Banking Practice, which specify standards of good banking practice. (ANZ: Corporate Governance). Characteristics of service marketing: Marketing can be of products, services or both. In the case of services, there are some characteristics that make it different from product marketing. They are referred to as the IHIP characteristics namely intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability. (Lovelock, 2004, p.3). Services are intangible and unlike a product, a person cannot see or touch them. Heterogeneity means that the same service given to different customers will different from each other. The service experience of customers on a particular service will be

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw - Essay Example d to the call in honor and love for country; they turned down their own interest and pleasure to defeat their enemies; and they won their independence to see their nation rise up again from the pit of a devastating war that had killed millions of their loved ones and created a massive loss of their properties. These heroic deeds during the world war lead Brokaw to call their generation the â€Å"greatest generation† America has yet seen. World War II was the most damaging war in the history which started in the year 1939 about 70 years ago, and believed to have ended in 1945. Germany’s invasion of Poland without any warning sparked the beginning of the war on September 1, 1939. On the third day of September, two other countries, Britain and France joined in the conflict against Germany; and in a span of one week, four other countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa had also joined in the war (â€Å"A WW2 Timeline†). This global military conflict was divided into two opposing military alliances namely: the Allies composed of countries including Soviet Union, United States, and United Kingdom, and the Axis composed of Germany, Japan, Italy, and many others. World War II is the deadliest and the bloodiest war that has ever hit the world with 61 million casualties of both military and civilian. Brokaw believes that there are significant, astonishing, and memorable stories behind every tragedy -- stories of hope, of greatness, of survival that leads him to create the book â€Å"The Greatest Generation.† â€Å"The Greatest Generation† accounts stories of veteran Americans, men and women who fought during the World War 2 against two of the greatest military machines ever created in the history of mankind. They gave up their lives, offered up their honor, dignity, and courage to see their nation rise up again. The book aims to let Americans of today’s generation know how much these people have sacrificed and fought the good fight so they can attain and

Gender Differences in Love and Intimacy Research Paper

Gender Differences in Love and Intimacy - Research Paper Example Notions related to love covers admire, want, having a preference, possession, care for, service, and even reverence. Intimacy denotes a close bond where reciprocated respect, encouragement, and confidence are shared to the partners (Oxford Dictionaries, 2009). Gender Differences Theorists have put forward that men and women differ, in the types of sentiment, they experience while in close relationships. The strength of the sentiments and how willingly they put across those emotions also varies a lot. A number of theories, starting with evolutionary theory, cognitive social theory, social structural theory as well as gender hypothesis all concur that there is gender difference between men and women regarding sexuality. Men are normally more sexually active as well as more liberal as opposed to women. Cognitive theory, social structural theory, and social learning theory suggest that sexual difference observed between men and women could be reduced by aspects like secular trends and cultural behaviors towards gender empowerment and multiculturalism disparities in sex roles, which ought to differ with each culture. As noted by Petersen and Hyde (2010) it is possible that methods from various theories assist in the complex explanation of this gender differences in intimacy and sexuality. Men watch close relationships as less weighty than women do. Cultural theories suggest that women feel love for people while men labor. This concept has been put forward by an extensive variety of psychologists and sociologists.

The individual as representive of society's values Essay

The individual as representive of society's values - Essay Example Given this issues, this paper will try to look at two parallel stories to identify the social values represented by the protagonists and main characters. William Faulkner’s â€Å"Intruder in the Dust† with Lucas Beauchamp as the protagonist and main character and Richard Wright’s â€Å"Native Son† which revolves around the life of Bigger Thomas. Looking at the plot of William Faulkner’s story â€Å"Intruder in the Dust†, it can be observed that it revolves around the life of Lucas Beauchamp, a black man that is known to mingle among their white neighbors and unlike any other of the black race, he is not afraid to belong in the white man’s world (Faulkner). Similarly, the plot of Richard Wright’s story, â€Å"Native Son†, revolves around the life of Bigger Thomas also a black man. Bigger Thomas, unlike Faulkner’s Lucas, is living a lowly life and is not very much favored in his society (Wright). Analyzing the plots of the two stories, it can be noted that they are parallel yet the protagonist and the main character differ in how they act and react in the norms of their respective societies. Among the differences of the two stories include, Lucas having defied the usual perspective and actions of his race and Bigger Thomas having acted what was the white men’s perceived to be actions and reactions of black men towards the situation. However, both plots include murder and both Lucas and Bigger Thomas is accused of the crime. The similarity of some acts in both stories will enable us to compare and contrast the representative social values each of the character possessed and portrayed. Looking in depth, it can be noted that Lucas Beauchamp is characterized in the story as a proud, independent negro with the integrity not to accept payment for the good deed that he showed to others especially to white men. He is considered both by his own race and the white man’s race as a threat to their interests since he considers himself of equal footing to any man and did not conform to the stereotyped role the society dictates a colored man should be. He is also characterized as self-serving as he is only interested in his self-preservation yet in contrast, the story also implied that he is a social being given by his good relationship with Chick and other white men in the story (Faulkner). Bigger Thomas on the other hand grown up under the racial prejudice among his race, hence, considered himself as a marginal being and not capable of doing anything great. His character in the story resorted to committing crimes such as robbery, murder and rape. His very existence is characterized by anger, fear and frustration in his previous and current situation in which he effectively hidden in his tough personality. Unlike Lucas, Bigger Thomas never considered himself of equal footing with his white neighbors and perceived them as constant threat to his survival and oppression to h is rights such that he perceived them as entities dictating him his every action and even thoughts. He is also a self-preserver as he resorted to lying and conning in order not be accused of the crimes he committed. However, it cannot be excluded that being black and oppressed, he is not really of bad disposition but only resorted to such things in hopelessness and fear brought about by the racist and

Chaplins Silent Movies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Chaplins Silent Movies - Essay Example The cinema industry has developed from silent movie to the higher level audio projection noticed in the modern movie industry. Characters have manipulated this provision to accord the movie production an identity that is projected to the society. Famous actors and performers have been associated with the existing technological development found within a given movie setting. Charlie Chaplin had been identified with the comedy genre and his performance on the silent movie theme accorded the production an identity. He had managed to revolutionize the technology evident during his time to develop movies that attracted audience based on the performance (Milton 1996, p86). The result meant that the audience was capable of identifying his movies with a similar theme from the actor. Chaplin presented multiple talents in not only producing the comedy theme during the silent movie period, but also served as an outstanding actor. Chaplin managed to revolutionize the silent film era through pres enting a unique style in the completion of his film creation.Chaplin movies had made him popular at the time when sound had been the absent entity within the development of film production. Chaplin had been remarkable and created an identity among the audience to relate to a style that had not been developed by other actors. Without sound, comedy had been the most difficult entity to achieve, but Chaplin managed to create a style that applied visual effects to present humor. The most noticed provision applied in his style was in the image he had created of himself. The stage presentation was unique to be familiar among his fans. He humored audiences with the antics he had created with the package of a bowler hat and the combination of a baggy trouser. Chaplin also developed an outstanding moustache with an expressive cane, mostly applying visual humor to move the fans. The development that Chaplin presented to the film had included positive reforms and application of creativity to r elay a massage. His style had been influenced with the ability to communicate with the audience without speech application. Chaplin had initially been a musician and had developed his acting career based on the desire to revolutionize his lifestyle. Under Mack Sennet, Chaplin developed his acting career to become a successful comedian while making short films. By 1920, he had managed to progress into developing films that held more content and time to deliver prosperity in his career. With his talent, Chaplin had founded the United Artists to produce affordable films completing the details personally with his talent. He had been a producer, writer and an actor who sought inspiration from the former comedian Max Linder who had applied a similar style. He managed to successfully incorporate the style within his movie creation to personalize the theme and accord an identity form that had appealed to his audience. Chaplin had created his films based on presented this and experience acco rded from childhood experiences. Chaplin had grown up in poverty from an irresponsible father and a mentally challenged mother. These conditions had limited his progress with the threat posed on the success towards societal development. He had ventured into the film creation industry with the motive of delivering success in his personal lifestyle. Moreover, Chaplin had been a performer, and

The Glass Menangerie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Glass Menangerie - Essay Example Tom Wingfield, Laura’s brother is the narrator of the events of the play from memory. Amanda’s husband is described as â€Å"a telephone man who fell in love with long distance†, who had deserted his family when Tom and Laura were children. Amanda had to fend for her family al alone and therefore suffers a withdrawal from reality. Laura has physical handicap, walks with a limp and wore braces to high school. Therefore this has made her frightfully shy, to the extent that the outside world scares her. She finds solace and is very comfortable with her collection of glass figurines and enjoys her father’s old Victrola Phonograph Records. Tom worked in a shoe warehouse but was a â€Å"selfish dreamer† who wasted a lot of time on movies, alcohol and reading novels. The atmosphere at home was quite strained as there were quarrels and arguments that took place very often. Each of Tennessee Williams characters have their own goals that they want to achieve. Amanda is looking forward to Laura finishing High School and taking up a job, but her hopes are sadly dashed to the ground when she finds hat Laura has stopped going to school because of her terrible shyness. Amanda is extremely disappointed but resolves once again to find a suitable match for her daughter Laura before she becomes like one of those â€Å"barely tolerated spinsters†. So she puts Tom in charge of bringing in a good bridegroom for her. Tom brings in Jim O’Connor who happens to be the very boy that Laura secretly loved in High School. Laura tries her best to overcome her shyness and Jim helps her a lot. Just as she feels very comfortable with Jim, he tells her that he is engaged to a girl called Betty whom he would marry shortly. He also went on to explain that he had changed so much after the engagement, because of love. Poor Laura’s hopes are sadly dashed to the ground and both she and her mother fretfully blame