Shrek was a popular computer animated movie released in 2001. It was given a PG rating making it suitable for children ages seven and up. The films popularity among a young audience makes it ideal to examine in terms of its socializing effects. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the actions, reactions, and emotions displayed by the title character’s love interest, Princess Fiona played by Cameron Diaz. I choose this character to study the way women are portrayed in contemporary society. I collected observations on the actions of the Princess and then used several sociological perspectives to analyze my observations. Specifically, I used the concept of modeling theory to explain what effects the Princess’ violent actions may have on young viewers. Then, I explained the problems with the Princess’ actions in their overall effects on female viewers. To do this I explained that Fiona’s actions are a combination of what Irvine Goffman would call masculine and feminine (James). Then I attempted to argue that the masculine traits, such as aggressive behavior, shown in the film are not acceptable. In this way an argument, using “Shrek”, is made against the notion of simply assimilating women to the masculine role.
Methods:
For this project I observed the computer animated film, “Shrek”. Specifically, I watched the actions of Cameron Diaz’s character Princess Fiona. I watched this film on the sixth of May. To best understand the actions of Fiona I categorized each of her actions and then made tally marks when an action was repeated. I watched the film twice to ensure that I had not missed anything. These observations were compiled into the eleven distinct actions or emotions displayed by Princess Fiona. This list included eleven operational definitions such as, smiles, swoons, verbal appeals for romance, and physical violence (see attached table, “Princess Fiona’s Actions”). These operational definitions were used to define abstract actions and emotions as concrete actions (Shepard 54). This way the actions of Princess Fiona could be described as quantitative variables, meaning that they could be measured and given a numerical value (Shepard 42). This list of actions was then broken down into two categories labeled feminine and masculine based on Rothmans gender traits (James).
Findings:
Shrek, rated PG, is a popular children’s movie making it ideal to study in its application to gender socialization. Gender socialization is the process in which boys and girls learn their gender identity or the actions expected of them (textbook p. 277). The sociological perspective named modeling theory, helps explain the dangers of exposing children to violence at an early age. Modeling theory attempts to describe how people are influenced by the material they are exposed to. One early proponent of modeling theory, Bandura, proposed in 1977 that learning is composed of both a modeling component and "reciprocal influence" (Bandura). Meaning in more simple terms that the first stage in developing violent behavior is to witness violent acts. The second stage involves these acts being reinforced. This reinforcement could come in the from the approval of parents or friends in the movie theater in the form of laughter at the violence committed by the Princess.
One of the most disturbing things about this movie is the number of violent acts committed by the Princess. In fact the only thing the Princess did more than attack someone was to smile. This is particularly disturbing to Jillian Sandell a graduate student at the University of California Berkeley. She argues that the solution for improving the role of women is not to socialize them into the traditional aggressive traits of the masculine role. According to the textbook, this is known as assimilation to the male model of success, meaning that women would learn to view themselves in the masculine role. Instead, Sandell argues that, ”Violence may have become more 'democratic' but this kind of equality in oppression is nothing to celebrate” (Sandell). Essentially she claims that both men and women need to rely less on violence as a means for solving their problems. Violence needs to be removed from the material that children are exposed to during their formative years.
Conclusion:
Shrek has made improvements on the traditional ways in which women are portrayed. However, this progress has not gone far enough. As previously noted this film has had and continues to have an impact on many American children. This is somewhat alarming in that the film promotes the idea that it is OK for women to simply adapt to such masculine traits as being aggressive and forceful. However, this is a poor example to set for children. This is backed by both the modeling theory and the popularly held belief that the media we expose our children to has an effect on them. In short, substituting violence for traditional female characteristics is not a way to bring true equality of the sexes.
Bibliography
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. James, Cathy. Lecture. Miramar College. 5 April 2002. Sandell, Jillian. “On the Edge of Change: Gender War and the Search for Utopia.” Bad Subjects 15. Sept. 1994 25 pars. 7 May 2002 Shepard, Jon M. Sociology. Samford: Eve Howard, 2002.

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