For my Communication Honors Program thesis for Boston College, I plan to analyze gender roles and how gender is constructed in recent children’s films produced by Disney. Since the Disney Corporation is so prominent in today’s culture and thus influential to its audience, this topic of study is very important. It impacts many people including its main target audience—children. Existing research proves that children develop their gender schemata early in life. Furthermore, the media they interact with influences children and their concepts of gender. Therefore, the way that Disney portrays gender in its children’s movies is worth analyzing since it can impact the way children develop and view gender and stereotypes.
