What Disney Says About Princesses

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Cultural Studies of Children: Critical Perspectives on Childhoods, Popular Culture, and Consumerism

Abstract

The marketing strategy for the “Disney Princesses” line of products is targeted at girls as young as two years old (Strauss, 2004). In 2006, there were over 25,000 different pieces of princess-related merchandise—including clothing—available for purchase, generating profits into the billions for the Disney Corporation (Orenstein, 2006). This research is guided by the idea that one foundational purpose of dress is to define identity (Reilly & Cosbey, 2008), as well as by several additional research questions, including: How do the “princess” clothes that are highlighted through a specific marketing strategy help shape how girls are constructed in society? How do these corporate constructions of “princess” influence girls in constructing their identity?

I frame this research using Foucaultian theory (1972, 1995). In particular, I take up Foucault’s notions of surveillance, technologies of power, and ethics. From this perspective, I posit that “princess” clothing and marketing function to impose homogeneity and conformity. I also consider issues of identity, and view the construction of identity as dependent on the relationship between self and society (Reilly & Cosbey, 2008). Identity is thus created through individuals’ experiences and interactions with whatever discourses are presented and utilized in society (MacNaughton, 2001; MacNaugton & Hughes, 2001). Identities are thus “multiple and complex, and even changing” (Greishaber & Cannella, 2001, p. 13), and “are always historically produced through a range of discursive practices” (Weedon, 1997, p. 146)—which are always tied to power relationships. As children come to understand gender, their experiences with/in various discourses, along with the particular cultural contexts within which they live and interact, contribute to their perceptions of how to “do” gender and what it means to be a proper “girl” or “boy” (Dyson, 1993; Heath, 1983; Iorio & Visweswariah, 2011; Lind, 2005; Oschner, 2000; Wohlwend, 2007; Yelland, 1998).

For six months, I visited several children’s clothing stores and their respective websites. I collected various catalogs with a targeted audience of children, observing both the clothing offered and the ways in which those clothes were marketed. Data were compiled through a narrative depicting my observations of clothing and marketing related to princess themes.

The Disney Corporation has created a “princess” discourse that manifests itself throughout the retail market; this discourse is steeped in capitalism, consumerism, and materialism, offering an artifact of culture (Apple, 1991; Aronowitz & Giroux, 1991) reflective of both historical and current perspectives on society (Foucault, 1972). The ease of success in the marketplace (Orenstein, 2011) and development of a discourse positions Disney Princesses in a place of power over people as they help sculpt society (Foucault, 1972). Disney has found a way to state what is normal and acceptable (Foucualt, 1995; Gallagher, 1999). Positioning children as innocent and subjective, Disney’s perpetuation is an imposition on young girls’ identities of what is “right” in terms of gender roles, expectations, and practices. This shaping aligns with the societal ideas of children as innocent (Greishaber & Cannella, 2001) and continues to contribute to a binary of what is considered right and wrong in childhood identity.

Author

• Jeanne Marie Iorio, Victoria University - Melbourne