Abstract

Disney characters and themes are inspiring for children. There is much more than an apparent setting of the Disney movies. Children learn to respect and help others; they also absorb some hidden messages. This research also aims to examine the hidden elements in the content produced by Disney as a major entertainment corporation. The researcher analyzed relevant movies and found prominent elements, i.e., escape, sexual content, jealousy, and stereotyping. Notably, parents of Disney movies' viewers do not guide their children or discuss the movies with the children to increase the potential influence of the movies on little minds. The effects of Disney movies include fear, low confidence, egoism, unrealistic expectations, ignorance, daydreaming, and contentment. Further, we have discussed the results and proposed recommendations for future researchers.

Key Words

Disney Movies, Hidden Elements, Themes, Effects, Children

Introduction

Disney animated movies have a huge fan base with a revenue of 69 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 (Watson, 2020). The movies have comedy, fun, romance, love, care, magic, emotions, fantasy, a perfect story, and most of all, "a happy ending" (Hefner, Firchau, Norton & Shevel, 2017). Perfect graphics and color combinations make them more attractive to watch. Some characters like Elsa, Cinderella, and Moana are good, strong, and passionate, from which a viewer can learn to be a hard worker, strong being, and struggle fighter. However, on the other hand, there are some hidden messages delivered through these cartoons. The hidden messages and themes can have a hidden effect (Jackson, 2010). Children unconsciously start adopting dresses, lifestyles, and family setups that they watch in fantasy movies. By watching these Disney fairy tales, kids developed to spend more time alone and like to live in their own world gradually (Villani, 2001). Family values and traditions are slowly vanishing due to the global diffusion of culture through these movies (Belkhyr, 2013). All the stories revolve around a girl or a boy's life who usually live without family, who have struggled hard in their childhood and never went to school. The characters have one unique charm to help their dreams come true. The common characteristics of Disney animated movies characters include similar outfits, being able to communicate with animals fluently, cannot cut hair and do their styling, living alone, there are no female friends, they are always in problem, they never give up, they rely on fairy Godmother or a boy, and there are always happy endings (Putnam, 2013). 

The history of Disney's animated movies was started by the world-famous movie called Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (Wills, 2017). The story of the movie was based on a fairytale. This was the pioneer among animated movies that no one could compete with because it brought a new idea to the media industry. After Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, released in 1950, became the favorite movie that brought a strong belief in dreams come accurate quote (Otnes & Pleck, 2003). Disney released more and more movies one after the other in the following years. Children's minds are full of creativity, new thoughts, love, emotions, laughter, learning, and creating dreams (Russ, 2020). Cartoons are the primary source of diversion for the human brain through which kids can learn positive and negative things (Sharma, & Suri, 2020). Children watching Disney movies tend to adopt Disney culture in their early years. It has also been observed that parents arrange the stuff for their newborn babies. Even every year on birthdays, they celebrated their birthdays in Disney cartoon themes like Mickey Mouse cake, Snow White dress, Barbie accessories and Frozen Balloons. They also like to carry school bags and geometry boxes of Disney movies printed with their favorite character's photos (Coyne, Rogers, Shawcroft & Hurst, 2021).

The main focus of the study is the factors in Disney movies that can impact children's adoption of fantasy worlds. It finds the family structure presented in movies, the future effects observed by parents, suitable lessons and attractive factors in movies, and hidden messages and themes. 

Literature Review

Analyzing the manufacturing of Disney movies, Wasko (2020) has written a book exploring the elements and factors presented in the movies. Disney characters and themes are unexpectedly unmistakable. These stories contain family failure, hilarious jokes, faces, escape from real life, dreamy world and unimagined features, and stereotypical elements related to feminism. Another significant element is loneliness and individualism, where everyone has their own world with no interruption of mother and father and an absence of a human friend. (Wasko, 2020). 

Glassman (2016) identified suitable lessons children learn and apply in their practical lives. 'The Lion King' gives a lesson not to run away from your weakness, undoing's, or fears. 'Beauty and the Beast' teaches that beauty is nothing if your heart and soul are not pure. 'Mulan' says that gender is not essential but will power and vital aim. 'Frozen' teaches strong family bonding, saying that independence is nothing without siblings. 'The Princess and frog' teaches hard work. 'Tangled' highlights the importance of mother-daughter relations and tells that every person who shows love and care is not necessarily a well-wisher. In 'Cinderella' the poor girl becomes a princess because she is a pure soul, so she gets everything (Glassman, 2016). 

There is love, magic, and music in the movies. The movies bring happy endings to make the children know that everything settles at the end (Oh My Disney, 2014). Ross (2004) explains escape and fantasy in Alice in the wonderland, the little mermaid, and beauty and the beast. The main characters want to escape from their lives and are trapped in an imaginative world. The innocence and romance inspire all children of the 90s because young brains cannot catch the tricky meanings behind those scenes (Garlen, 2019). On the other hand, Sakellariou (2017) completely disagreed with the presence of innocence in children's animations. 

Snow White and Cinderella live a typical life with dreams. Mulan, the Little Mermaid, Brave, and Frozen princesses achieved their dreams and transformed themselves into power outside their comfort zone (Streiff & Dundes, 2017). According to Disney movies, the typical romantic famine feature is to fall in love at first sight, and every curse can be faded with the first kiss (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman & Lund, 2003). Disney has respected the characters' individuality, such as Belle from Beauty and the beast is independent, bold, and book lover (Brown, 2015). They also have the lessons of "Be yourself" for women to be strong, independent, intelligent, and different (Leigh, 2014). Disney started reinventing folk tales into live-action movies like beauty and the beast, snow-white; Cinderella is the latest (Hurley, 2018). Frozen was another example (Steinhoff, 2017). There are no rules and regulations of family postures; some Disney princesses have friendly fathers, and some have cruel stepmothers. There are no siblings or other relatives like grandparents (Morris, 2015). Aurora of sleeping beauty has only 18 dialogues in the whole movie. After tangled, the little mermaid had the highest speaking time (Min, 2016). There are fewer dialogues but more musical songs in Disney movies (McLean, 2017). Disney princesses have become a social symbol for girls. They start adopting their lifestyle and urge to be attractive and intelligent (Azmi, Rashid & Wahab, 2018). In Disney movies, older adults are jealous of youngsters, as they harm princesses by killing, kidnapping, or capturing them. This is hard to understand the message by little minds (Zaki & Abdullah, 2015).




Theoretical Framework: Social Learning Theory

The study is supported by the social learning theory presented by Albert Bandura (1963). This study is directly linked to human behavior and culture, which is inspired by the behavior of others. Children observe and learn through imitation. Albert Bandura explained how children learn in social environments by observing and then imitating the behavior of others. The theory says that children's learning cannot be justified by reinforcement only, but some other factors are present in the environment that influence the behavior. The theory was developed after the observation of the behavior of the students about how they adopted the behavior. The theory was developed after a series of experiments conducted on children. They were observed for behavior after watching an adult attacking Bobo dolls. Children imitated the behavior of attacking the bobo doll. However, when they observed adults acting aggressively and then being punished, Bandura noted that the children were less willing to imitate the aggressive behavior themselves. This theory provides the foundation to the study as children also learn through observation and then imitate the behavior after watching Disney movies. Social Learning theory is the most appropriate to provide the theoretical foundation to the study as the theory's postulates are compatible. 

Methodology

A mixed-method approach (Creswell & Clark, 2007) has been deployed in the study; Disney movies' hidden messages and elements were appropriate to find through qualitative content analysis. From the Disney production, 21 movies have been selected, including Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Alice in the Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, The Princess, and the Frog, Tangled, Brave, Wreck-it Ralph, Frozen, and Moana. A survey with 50 randomly selected parents living in Rawalpindi/Islamabad, having one or more little ones 5 to 15 years old, has been conducted to find the effects of the movies on children.

It is the study of character (specific features), the storyline (theme around which the story revolves), personality (charm factor), family life (type of families: biological or non-biological), traditions (limitations for the main characters), symbols (hidden messages), economic status (upper, middle, or lower class), time spent on cartoons (by the viewers), Disney products used (by the viewers), and appearance (looks of the princesses).

Analysis and Results

The findings have been summarized after statistical analysis and testing. Total respondents of the study were 45, while the other 5 did not return the questionnaire. Hence, the response rate of the study was 90%.

Among the respondents, 24 (53.5%) fathers and 21 (46.7%) mothers were part of the study. The majority of the participants, 25 (55.6%) of the study, have 5-8 years old young ones who are viewers of Disney movies, 12 (26.7%) participants are having 9-12 years old, and 8 (17.8%) are having 13-15 years old children, viewers of Disney movies. 

Most of the parents, who were the study participants, have more than one child as Disney movies viewers. Parents usually allow their children to watch Disney movies, and children like to spend around 3 hours watching them. The most-watched movie by children is Frozen, followed by Tangles, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. 

The most inspiring Disney characters for children are Elsa & Anna, followed by Rapunzel, Aurora, Princess Jasmine and Cinderella. Children become addicted to watching these movies and like to watch them repeatedly. The prominent effect is that they seem happy, but some also show aggression, stubbornness, irritation, and rudeness. The psychological effects include fear, low confidence, egoism, developing unrealistic expectations, ignorance, daydreaming and contended. 

Children like to get Disney inspired products, including dresses, jewelry, watches, school bag, and lunch boxes. Most of the children want a new Disney toy every month. Children want to have character figures and puzzles of their favorite Disney characters. Parents usually do not spend time discussing movies with children. They do not elaborate the stories and lessons in it and do not guide their children without good and bad things in the movies. The majority of the children are interested in having Disney-themed parties at their homes with their friends and cousins. There is little evidence that children learn offensive words from these movies where most children do not. However, they learn language, respect and help others from the movies. Children tend to become friendly towards their siblings after watching Disney movies, but a few also get jealous of their siblings. They compare themselves with siblings and quarrel with them.




Content Analysis

Themes of Disney Animation

Some common themes are frequently found in Disney movies. These themes are somehow stereotyping to create a specific image in children' minds; includes step relations (such as in Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty), True Love between Disney princesses and a rich, tall, and handsome boy, a Kiss that will break the curse or bless the Princess, Being Perfect, and Magic and Love. The girls are perfect, polite and delicate, and the boys are rich, handsome, tall and authoritative. There are always happy endings, and everything gets perfect at the end. 

There are imaginative idols in Disney movies in the characters of heroes who are the savior of the Disney princesses. Princesses depend on their princes for their life, teaching specific gender roles to children (Rönnberg, 2002). There is a difference between real life and Disney life that makes it challenging to manage real life for the children imagining Disney life at their growing age (Tenzek & Nickels, 2019). 




Characters' Appearance

Appearance is something that attracts someone first (Todorov, 2017). Disney characters' personalities and appearance are developed especially to attract the young viewers; they find them ideal and consider them a standard for beauty. Especially young girls find Disney princesses ideal (Nor Jijidiana, Radzuwan & Zanirah, 2017). The Princess has such a pretty appearance like Snow White is as fairy as snow. Cinderella is witty and tall, sleeping beauty Arora is mature and attractive, Alice is cute with her wavy hairs, Arial of the little mermaid is regular in height, but gutsy portray.

On the other hand, Jasmin is bold and attractive with enormous eyes; Rapunzel is innocent with big, mesmerizing eyes; Elsa is strong and responsible; Anna is cute and innocent; Merida is a strong girl Moana is adventurous. On the contrary, the heroes of Disney movies are strong, prosperous, rough, tough, loyal and intelligent. The presentation of Disney movies' characters makes the children idealize appearances, whereas the reality is different from the movies (Hasanah & Octaviyanti, 2018). 

Expression of power and magic shows the strength of the individuals. In some movies like Tiana and Frozen, talent is the power and strength of the characters. The leads use their strength to rule and achieve success. Having power is also a sign of authority. There is the chase for magic and power, for example, Rapunzel and Snow White's mother. 

Disney movies also bring some excellent lessons for the children. There is a lesson of protecting others; by Flynn Rider in Tangled, Peter Pan, and Christoff in Frozen. The message of helping others can be learned from the animal friends of Disney movies. The movies also teach to keep the hopes high and trust in good days to come (de Leeuw & van der Laan, 2018). 

Most of the Disney leads are princesses. Disney has given women authority and power. Women can do anything to chase their dreams of a happy life even though they can bargain with devils. Disney princesses are ambitious girls with dreams and goals. Each Disney princess has an act of solid courage to fulfill their dreams. 




Hidden Elements

Princess appears in more flexible and seductive postures. Huge big eyes, beautiful innocent face, sparkly jewelry, long stylish hairstyles, slim and slender physic attract everyone. They do not cut their hair. They always appear lonely and heart full. They have no female friends and are not allowed to communicate with the outer world and strangers. Princess is trapped in awful situations, but they face it bravely. They are always sassy and singing to communicate with animals. They rely on fairies or a man to protect them. Most of Princess try to get married at the age of 16. Snow white kissed a guy at the age of 14. Disney princess makeup is always fresh, and most of them are enslaved. The princesses' dresses represent the traditions and culture of the area they belong to. The dresses are bold, unique, attractive and eye-catching. Most of the princesses wear gowns or maxi like long flared dresses. Some princesses like Ariel, Pocahontas, and Jasmin wear revealing dresses, but most are elegant. All of them are royal.




Magical Figures and Animals

Fictional creatures are spontaneously described in Disney movies. These are four types; animals, magical objects, human and non-human. Animal includes princesses' friends like Cinderella's mouse Gus, Rapunzel's chameleon Pascal, Jasmine's tiger Rajah etc. (Condis, 2015). Magical objects are usually friendly, like a magic carpet, snowman Olaf, Jennie, but some are villainous, like Jaffar's magic wand. Humans include the leads and supporting characters. Non-human characters are Ariel the little mermaid, Tiana the frog, and fairies like maleficent. 




Happily, Ever After

Primarily prince and Princess are teenagers or in their early twenties, the age of love and attraction. Young viewers of fairy tales start believing in princesses and price. When they come to the age, they start perceiving that life will be happy once they fall in love with someone but, it does not happen. This way, they make their lives difficult to compromise with (Hefner, Firchau, Norton & Shevel, 2017). Even after falling in love and marriage, there are imperfections and hard situations in life. Disney is blurring the reality for children with the happily ever after concept (Hefner, Firchau, Norton & Shevel, 2017). 




Family in Disney Movies

Except for Merida in Brave movie, they all have stepmothers or live with fairies. Most of the princesses are not brought up in observation and guidance of their fathers. Mulan and Merida have both parents and siblings, but they are grown up as warriors. The parents of Rapunzel and Aurora are alive, but they do not live with them because a cruel witch cursed them and took them away from their parents. Tarzan lives in the jungle because he lost his family, and the gorilla took him away and fed him. Simba lost his father and ran away. Arial, Bella, and Jasmin are brought up under the guidance of their fathers, so they are confident and bold to have their own opinions about life and stuff. Bella is a responsible child, and she helps his father in everything. Tiana, Anna, and Elsa lost their parents at young ages between 5 to 8, so they became responsible for their dreams. 




Hidden Themes and Concepts of Disney Movies 

Disney movies have some hidden and dark themes, including violence (Schimmel, 2019), nudity (Frankel, 2019), sexuality (Perlino, 2017), aggression (McClure, 2019), ethnicity (Thomas, Cross & Harrison III, 2018), and stereotyping (Streiff & Dundes, 2017). Children cannot differentiate between truth and lying themselves, and distortion of reality can easily manipulate them. 

Table. 1 presents violence, aggression, stereotype, boldness, racism, and escape as hidden themes and concepts. It is mentioned how each theme has been presented in different movies. 

 




Table 1. Hidden Themes and Concepts

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Movie width="90" valign="top"> Violence width="78" valign="top"> Aggression width="95" valign="top"> Stereotype width="97" valign="top"> Boldness width="54" valign="top"> Racism width="72" valign="top"> Escape

Snow White and seven dwarfs width="90" valign="top"> Witches want snow white lung n liver>Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Try to kill>Poison>Hardship width="95" valign="top"> Jealousy doubts>Magic>Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Reality>Dreamworld>Kiss >Romance >  width="54" valign="top"> Royal>  width="72" valign="top"> huntsman>Queen>Death> >

Mickey mouse width="90" valign="top"> Double meaning words>Fights>99.9% violence>Separation>  width="78" valign="top"> To kill or beat Pluto>War zone>  width="95" valign="top"> Jealousy >Fighting>Magic>Horror>Romance>Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Unrealistic creature>Kiss >Romance width="54" valign="top"> Rich man width="72" valign="top"> Yen Suk

Cinderella width="90" valign="top"> Cold-hearted stepmother >Disrespect of maid>Locked the maid>Sisters cut their feet to fit in a shoe>loss parents width="78" valign="top"> To become a relative with a royal family with a blood child.>Jealous from stepdaughter width="95" valign="top"> Jealousy >Power>Rude >Women real place is home and home doings >Stepmother never became a mother> Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Love at first sight but no recognition of face >Kiss >Romance >Dance width="54" valign="top"> Rich family width="72" valign="top"> Stepmother and sister >

Alice in the wonderland width="90" valign="top"> Dormouse stab on feet to wake her up.>Drowning in tears. >Queen of heart saying beheaded Alice.>Chasing >Destroy n fire up a village,>Shouting >Trapped >Falling in hole >Rude attitude>Scary monsters >Hammer attacks>Separation from parents  width="78" valign="top"> Loss of childhood >Caterpillar smoke hookah.>Mushroom, carrots and drinks convert into size-shifting.>Verbal aggressiveness >Cigar smoking >Birthday celebrations > >  width="95" valign="top"> Life is a puzzle >Secret world >Bored from school lessons and fell asleep.>Curiosity  >Directions >Proud >Cloud of smokes>Talk to strangers  >Right is wrong, and good is evil.>Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Underworld adventure>Queen shows underwear.> >Curiosity puts everyone on dangerous paths of positive and negative life.>Smoking>Drinking>  width="54" valign="top"> Rich Childhood width="72" valign="top"> Risk>Threat of death >Loss of childhood >Queen of heart

Peter pan width="90" valign="top"> Falling in love but no response >Abounded by mother>Crocodile eats captain hook>Guns fights >Ship sunk >Octopus >Skulls  >Killing kidnaping >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Decisions made on her desire >Tinkers jealousy >Flying width="95" valign="top"> Stay child forever  >Women are always motherly hood.>Stealing and treasure hunting is everything >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Life without parents >Bisexual  width="54" valign="top"> Classic width="72" valign="top"> Adult and maturity>Responsibility

Sleeping beauty width="90" valign="top"> Hide in jungle >Dark magic >Dragon fight >Live with fairies >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Magic >No friends >Forest life >No human friends> >  width="95" valign="top"> Spinning wheel>Love at first sight > Revenge >Hate >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Love >Curse>Kiss >Romance  width="54" valign="top"> Royal family width="72" valign="top"> Death>

The jungle book width="90" valign="top"> Live with the wild animal>Eat animal food >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> No human friends >No parents and family width="95" valign="top"> Exploring forest >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Search human >Naked child width="54" valign="top"> Forest child width="72" valign="top"> Forest

The little mermaid width="90" valign="top"> Dealing voice for leg>Black magic>Renting souls >Horrible creatures>Separation from parents  width="78" valign="top"> Power >Sinking ships>Deaths >Hypnosis >No mother >Chasing creatures width="95" valign="top"> Nudity >Shell dress >Spell game >Runaway>Never listen to father>Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Dreams >Love >Power>Dark music>Romance >Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Royal family width="72" valign="top"> Run from reality and own origin >Death

Beauty and the beast width="90" valign="top"> Love with beast creature >Dark forest >Abandoned>Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Broke all things when you get aggressive >Jealousy >Fear >Teleporting >  width="95" valign="top"> Pride >Hate >Magic >Humans converted into things and beast >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> True love>Kiss a beast>Bisexual (gay) width="54" valign="top"> Royalty width="72" valign="top"> Death

Aladdin width="90" valign="top"> Jealousy>Power abuse >Street rat became a prince with magic>Hypnosis>Separation from parents  width="78" valign="top"> Kiss to Jaffar without love >Lie always accepted >The struggle is not important >Money is power width="95" valign="top"> Seen African girls as a dancer >Dreams always come true with lies and magic>Tiger became a human friend>Bargaining  >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Nudity >Adult dresses>Attractive figure>Seduction >Bold words>Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Arabian width="72" valign="top"> Poverty >Death>Magic>

The lion king width="90" valign="top"> Father death>Forbidden land>Bull race>Mountain falls >Abandoned child >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Manipulations>Tricks>Hunger fear >Eating weak>  width="95" valign="top"> Spend life in guilt>Lost the power>Loss of family>Bargaining>Motherlove>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Hidden sex symbols>Drinking>Romance >Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Power width="72" valign="top"> Death>Fear>Blame>Guilt>Childhood

Pocahontas width="90" valign="top"> Ruling land>Gunfights>Money >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Romance>Lose the pride >Follow the dreams width="95" valign="top"> Difference between native and white people>Bargaining  >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Bold dress>Romance>Cultural difference >Kiss >Romance>  width="54" valign="top"> Royal tribes width="72" valign="top"> Love out of cast >

Hunchback of Notre Dame width="90" valign="top"> Cruel personalities>Difference of rich and poor>Loss of parents width="78" valign="top">  >                Self-conscious>Lack of love width="95" valign="top"> Beauty attracts >Personality is everything >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Sexuality>Dances>Dresses>Love steam>Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Rich class width="72" valign="top"> Reality>Self-confidence>

Hercules width="90" valign="top"> Satanic society >Lie between truth and false>Separation from parents>  width="78" valign="top"> Greed >Jealousy >Satanic words>Dark magic>Power abuse width="95" valign="top"> Fight of Gods >Power and possession>Hidden messages>Transgender>Bargaining    >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Seduction >Romance>Double meaning bold taunts>Flirt  >Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Power width="72" valign="top"> Power >Fear >Death

Mulan width="90" valign="top"> Hidden in men appearance to survive>War is the only way of power>Men bathing >Survival >Respect>Separation from parents  width="78" valign="top"> Killing >Weapons>Abandoned live>Hardships  >Transgender >Disguise width="95" valign="top"> Women are not equal to men>Women are not allowed to be strong >Fight for self-respect >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Bold content>Hide during cleaning or dress changing>Nudity>Kiss >  width="54" valign="top"> Poor farmer width="72" valign="top"> Reality>Being a woman>Early marriage >Death >Punishment

Tarzan width="90" valign="top"> Live with the wild animal>Lost human lifestyle>Power>Animal best friends>Abundant >Animal killing >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Life is not worthy >Do anything to gain power >Loss of parents width="95" valign="top"> The animal has no right to live >Money is everything>Sell anything thing precious>Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Bold scene >Romance>Kiss >Tarzan first interact with jane potter compare her body width="54" valign="top"> Power full width="72" valign="top"> Forest>Reality>Humanity >Death

The Princess and frog width="90" valign="top"> Kissing a frog>Becoming a frog>Living in dirty streams>Crocodile and snakes>Fear of losing everything's >Loss of father>Separation of mother width="78" valign="top"> Poverty>Easy soul bargaining's>Personality switching>Power abuse>Dark magic voodoo>Hypnosis>Teleportation >Eating flies and worms  width="95" valign="top"> Hard work never fulfills your dream>An entire fear life is everything>Soul bargaining make you a prisoner of a dream>Easy way of success >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Kissing>Nudity >Double meaning word>  width="54" valign="top"> Poor and rich width="72" valign="top"> Hard work>

Tangled width="90" valign="top"> Explorer the world>Do not listen, mother>Talk to stranger>Protect and hide him>Magic is everything>Separation from parents>Getting old is not allowed width="78" valign="top"> Kidnapping>Killing>Child abuse>Abuse self esteem>Degrade confidence>Manipulate personality >Dishonesty >  width="95" valign="top"> Curiosity >Stay alone in a tower without doors >No friends>No parents >Women in power>Theft is good>Lie is authentic >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Bar>Drug addicts>Thieves >Smoker and drinker>Trusting everyone >Romance >Kiss width="54" valign="top"> Royal width="72" valign="top"> Death>Young age>Tower prison

Brave width="90" valign="top"> Killing>Animal abuse >Body transforming >Lose of body parts >Dark, creepy forest >Scary scenes and creature>Spirits >Runaway from home >War >Rope tiding>Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Shooting arrow>Anger >Arrogance >Old witch dealing >Curse >Beasty creature >Abundant >Rash decisions >  width="95" valign="top"> Early age weddings>Love for mother but do not want to be like her mother> Magic>Witchcraft >Family conflict >Bargaining>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Nudity >Use of potion >Drinking>  width="54" valign="top"> Royal >Medieval times width="72" valign="top"> Rebelling against parents>

Wreck it ralph width="90" valign="top"> He left his game to gain respect in another game>Wreaking >Self-acceptance >Power abuse >Killing >Ripping heart >Shooting > Eating characters width="78" valign="top"> Villains want respect >Forgiveness >Ashamed >Self-abuse >Scared >Scary creature >Hate>Manipulation width="95" valign="top"> Dream>Changing life >Felix >Teasing >Ok, to be different >Judgmental>Bargaining  >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Kiss >Bold sentences >Abusing >Self-acceptance width="54" valign="top"> Power >  width="72" valign="top"> Reality >Fieldwork >Hard work > >

Frozen width="90" valign="top"> Magic forest >Death >Loss of parents >Ship sinking >Spell >Wildness >Destruction >Monsters >Wild animal>Assassins >Separation from parents width="78" valign="top"> Power abuse >Injuries >Pain >Fear>Frozen land >Anger >Hate >Cheating >Dumped >Lies >Isolated >Name-calling width="95" valign="top"> Magic >Judgments >Abounding>Prison>Runaway >Bargaining >Family conflict >Self-sacrifice >Bravery >Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Kiss>Romance >Flirting >Bold words >Fitted dress>Champagne >Drinking>Smoking > >  width="54" valign="top"> Royal width="72" valign="top"> Powers>Death >Love >Judgments>Fear

Moana width="90" valign="top"> Forest >Death >Separation from parents >Natural disaster  >Monster attack >Ghost width="78" valign="top"> Mythical >Personality shifting >Pain >Drowning >Abundant >Bold words width="95" valign="top"> Bargaining>Exploring >Family conflict>Not listen, elder width="97" valign="top"> Kiss >Romance >Sexy figure >Flirting >Tattoo > >  width="54" valign="top"> Polynesian island width="72" valign="top">




There is the stereotypical presentation of Disney princesses. Their beauty is their only salvation to attract a man to rescue them. There are many hidden sexual, bold, harsh, and cruelest hidden messages given in Disney movies. Peter pan kills or hides those who want to grow up. In Cinderella, the stepmother and sisters are shown as brutal characters who never love a poor child. In Lion King, there is escape when Simba runs away in guilt, giving a message that if you fail or feel guilty, just run away and do not face reality. There is the negligence of parents' orders and belief in beautiful lies. There is a bargain with Satan to sell the soul, and there is magic and power. 

Hidden sexual pictures can be found in movies. There is a secret symbol in the lion king, revealing the mermaid's dress, Tarzan's search for the body of Jane, and kisses and romance. The movies are polluted with such stuff to manipulate little minds. Mostly Princess does not wear pants under their dresses; shoulders and body figures are prominent. 

Jealousy is a violated factor where villains are envious of the main characters and are eager to make a deal with Satan. In the little mermaid kissing a frog is the most disgusting scene. Talking to lizards and mouse is horrible. In Peter, the pan crocodile eats Captain Hook. Princesses who fell in love with street rats or thieves are shown as heroes as they have done some good things.

Moreover, children are highly influenced by Disney movies morally, ethically, emotionally, and socially (Zhang, 2017). Children's minds are immature, and they store many data without knowing its meaning or impact on their own life (Apperly, 2012). They start considering cartoons stories and lives as reality and dream of a fairy tale lifestyle. Girls grow up with a dream of prince charming and wait for their first kiss (Sharp, 2015). Indirectly the movies give a message of limited family, having two or only children (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman & Lund, 2003). In these fairy tales, animals are shown as best friends. Another noticeable element is that a cruel personality is surrounded by a character who always does some bargaining. There are specific situations to become a princess; that are, must be having magical hairs of Rapunzel of Tangled, magical hands of Elsa of Frozen, animal talk of Cinderella, poison as Snow White, cursed as in Sleeping Beauty, kidnapped or enslaved like Belle of Beauty and the Beast, or making a deal with sea witch-like in the Little Mermaid (England, Descartes & Collier-Meek, 2011). 

Discussion on Results

Most children start daydreaming and living in their own world when they face reality. The things they have in their minds and imaginations make it difficult to accept reality. The happy ending is considered a goal by children. It affects the social life of a child. A relationship faces trust issues, and there are no perfect situations in real life. At the same time, children believe in Magic and Miracles. Children dislike their siblings and start hating their stepparents. They do not feel affectionate towards their family. They get familiar with cultures and acquire language fluency. 

The survey analysis has found that parents do not pay much attention to what children are watching and trust Disney movies. Parents need to become friendlier and a source of guidance for their kids rather than being authoritative and expressing their differences (Rowe, 2018). Parents who could not have the childhood of their choice like to make their students dress up as Disney characters and look like their favorite characters (Harvey, 2020). This behavior ultimately makes the children believe that their parents are there to fulfill their dreams; that is why they become lazy and dependent but keep nourishing their luxurious dreams (Coyne, Rogers, Shawcroft & Hurst, 2020). Parents feel comfortable about Disney movies rather than giving attention to what children watch. They ignore the content considering watching cartoon movies made for kids (Hurley, 2018). 

Parents-child relation is significant for a healthy life (de Leeuw & van der Laan, 2018). The mother-child bond is missing in Disney, and it is, therefore, better to watch such movies together with kids and teach them how they are different from the real world (Meng, Sheng, Zhao, Wang & Su, 2020). 

Conclusion

The analysis of Disney movies' content and the survey with parents of young Disney movie viewers have found some objectionable content that needs to be monitored by the parents but neglected. Parents have accepted that their children want and like to watch Disney movies, and they also trust those movies. They do not monitor, watch, or discuss the movies with their children. While on the other hand, children are also affected by watching Disney movies. Children observe a different family structure and friends from animals and other creatures. There are both some good and some wrong lessons in Disney movies. Therefore, parental guidance is essential to make the children pick the proper lesson. The hidden themes and concepts in the Disney movies are stereotyping, sexual content, jealousy and escape. 

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