Decoding Disney: Amelia Steinbach

I was thrilled when I found out that Emma Watson was playing Belle in the live-action of Beauty and the Beast . I am a massive Harry Potter fan, and an even bigger Hermione Granger fan. However, in addition to her role as Hermione Granger, I also idolize Emma Watson for her work with UN Women and HeForShe. I think it means a lot that Disney chose a very spoken feminist to play the lead role in a movie with… questionable feminist messages, to say the least. In July of 2017, I had yet to see the live-action version, but was on a trip with extended family who owned the DVD. The only girl in their family was five years old at the time and is the literal definition of “tomboy” (a word that, for the record, I hate, but fits perfectly for this situation). She has two older brothers and really rebels against participating any “feminine” behaviors. She apparently loved this movie, though, and I really wanted to see it, so we sat down one night in Zion Park and played it on the rental house’s DV

I watched Moana for the first time with several of my young (female) cousins. I was pretty weary before the movie started; the trailer of the film looked promising, but my experience with prior Disney princess movies (watching as a teenager, rather than a child) was… disappointing, to say the least. By the timethat Moana was released, I had already begun to do research for a high school independent study about gender in Disney princess movies, and perceptions of body image. This research experience made me hyper-aware of the fact that I was sitting next to several young girls who meant the absolute world to me. For the next hour and a half, they would be absorbing the messages of the film, and I wanted them to be empowering. For once, I was pleasantly surprised while watching this Disney princess film. I will not pretend to be an expert of any kind on Polynesian culture, so I cannot speak to the legitimacy of the portrayal of Moana’s community and story. I fully recognize that t