Different Pictures, Same Image: Disney’s Problem With Body Exclusion

The human race is diverse. Seems like a pretty accurate statement, right? Regardless of political biases or opinions, I am sure most agree that this is correct. However, Disney has not grasped this yet. Disney is an entertainment corporation responsible for all of your favorite movies. Everyone loves movies like Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Princess and the Frog for their witty dialogue, intriguing plotline, and iconic characters. However, we see a lot of similarities in these characters, specifically their body types. There seems to be a trend of Disney making all-female protagonists rail-thin with an hourglass figure while making plus-sized antagonists. But why is it important to have inclusive body types for fictional characters? Without inclusion, Disney implies that to be beautiful, one has to be shaped like the characters seen on screen.

There are around fourteen official princesses. Out of the fourteen, every princess has the same body type. Each has an unrealistically thin waist, large breasts, slim arms and legs, and wide hips. Bodies come in millions of shapes and sizes, yet Disney crafts only two categories: unrealistically skinny and everything else. This is also not a common body type in the slightest. This body shape would only occur in very few women out of thousands. After seeing many movies with the same shaped protagonist being labeled as a beautiful fair maiden, the viewers slowly accept this as the sole beauty standard and the only attractive physical characteristics. This is extremely harmful to Disney’s primary audience, impressionable children and teenagers, and this mindset can cause self-confidence to plummet in anyone who does not have this specific body type.

While Disney makes its protagonists very skinny, it also makes its villains plus-sized. A notable example of this is Ursula. She is portrayed as a nasty, evil woman, two traits that are not very admirable. It is extremely alarming that one of Disney’s few plus-size characters is a villain. Furthermore, toward the end of the film, she ends up transforming into a slim woman to appear more “traditionally attractive” in an attempt to charm Prince Eric. She changes her body into a shape that is more “desirable” in order to attract a man, furthering Disney’s fatphobia. This depiction is a terrible way for plus-sized women to see themselves in mainstream media. It seems like Disney has no problem including larger characters, but it is unable to portray them in a positive light.

Even though women have historically endured more public body-shaming, men also face unrealistic body standards and discrimination; these unrealistic standards exist in Disney princes’ movies as well. All the princes in these movies, again, have one single body type. These heroes and love interests are always extremely muscular and toned. No man is shown as skinny or plus-sized unless they are being used as comedic relief or as the villain. For example, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog is a very skinny man, but he is a villain, who is shown as untrustworthy and deceitful. Chien Po in Mulan also illustrates this; he is a plus-sized character, but his whole personality revolves around him only caring about food. In fact, his main role in the movie is to create comedic relief in the form of a quick, goofy laugh before returning to the main character's problems.

All in all, Disney movies are far from body-inclusive, which affects people’s views of themselves. Seeing the same image of beauty over and over is very emotionally taxing to those who do not look like that. It can end up causing body dysmorphia and lacking self-confidence for some of its viewers. Obviously, Disney is not the only major corporation to be insensitive. We see body exclusion in magazines, billboards, television, and social media. However, that is not an excuse, especially given that Disney’s products are geared toward impressionable young children. Disney must revise its narrative from the past in order to start making inclusive changes to be more body-positive and sensitive to its audience’s insecurities. These changes must be enacted immediately, so another generation does not grow up feeling erased.