Feminism & Cartoon Princesses

This course is designed to introduce learners to feminism and feminist theory by looking at cartoon princesses, from the 1930s to today! This conversational class explores several basic feminist theories in easy to understand ways, providing students with the information they need to apply those theories to princess texts. 

Week 1: What is feminism? In this course, feminism will be defined along these lines: "Feminism is the belief that all people of all gender have equal value and should be treated as such. When there are injustices or inequalities based on gender, we should try to fix them!" Week 1 theories include: Agency, Gender Inequality, Gender Roles, Diversity, and Intersectionality. The instruction about these concepts is adapted to meet the level of understanding of middle school aged learners. We will also address "Why study princesses?"

Week 2: The Classic Princess years: 1937-1959. Discussion topics: how do these characters affirm or contradict traditional gender roles? When looking at older movies like these, how can you evaluate them for contemporary ideas like today's feminism? Do the princesses in classic movies have agency? How did these movies set up the expectations for princes movies of the future? 

Week 3: The Renaissance years: the 1980s and 1990s. How are these different than the original princess movies? Do the princesses have agency? How was diversity changing during the Renaissance years? What has changed since these movies were made? Are these princesses good role models for children? 

Week 4: Modern Princesses: 2009-present. What about today's current movies? How are they different than princesses of the past? Are the characters in these movies feminist icons? What should movie makers do next?