The Production of Meaning through Peer
Interaction: Children and Walt Disney’s Cinderella
By: Lori Baker-Sperry
In this source, by researcher Lori Baker-Sperry, she
examines the gender role in young children through the reading of the book
Cinderella. The focus point of this article was to show how young children
reacted to this classic Disney book. Baker-Sperry read the book to eight
different first grade classrooms, and explains her findings in this article.
She noticed that every child knew the book and its basic story line, no matter
if they were a boy or girl. She did note that the girls were more involved and
actively participated in the reading, even going ahead in the book and telling everyone
the ending. At a young age, these girls nearly had the book memorized and it is
only one Disney book, not to mention most girls owned the movie as well.
Baker-Sperry asked the class questions throughout the reading, regarding the
personality and physical appearance of the characters. The girls answered by
saying that Cinderella was “beautiful, kind, blonde, young, and skinny”, they
said that the prince was “handsome, brave, and nice”, and that the evil
stepmother and her daughters were “ugly, mean, old, and nasty”. The boy’s
responses were that they were all dumb and stupid. The article also mentioned
how the girls would relate their lives to Cinderella’s, hoping that one day
they will have a happy ending like she did. At a very young age, girl’s expectations
are being shaped around Disney princess’ lives, which automatically set them up
for failure. These books and movies have such a powerful effect on girls and
allow them to form an unrealistic life. The author of this article is a
scientific researcher, and uses many outside sources to back up her
information. This source is very reliable and helpful for my research paper. It
will help make my paper solid and academic. It elaborates on most of the
information in my other sources so it will all flow nicely. The source isn’t
biased since it is academic research. It has truthful results that will help me
write this essay. It will help shape my argument since it is exactly what my
research is about. It helped reinforce my topic by proving that Disney princess
movies shape the expectations and goals in young girls lives.
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