Composition

Bambi:

I found it interesting that initially Russell Banks felt that Bambi was a gender neutral movie.  He could not remember the gender of Bambi while his wife did yet he felt a deep, life-changing connection with the character.  His wife and daughter may not be able to relate to Bambi in a similar manner because of the sexual imagery displayed in the movie.  As banks stated, the goal of Bambi was to reach large (manly if you will) antlers to become the leader (or prince) or the forest.  His daughter was able to relate to Little Mermaid in a unique way because of the female sexual bias within the movie.  I do think these gender connections are common but not static.  Young boys may be drawn to Little Mermaid because they feel closer bonds to feminine imagery.  While Disney movies may socialize individuals based on sex(Banks expected his daughter to be immune), this does not explain why some males may relate to feminine imagery .  Could young boys be socialized by Disney movies to become more feminine?

Repunzel:

I enjoyed Porter’s piece more than Banks.  Like Bank’s she explores the socialization but of white structuring in society.  Sarah is deemed ugly in reality because she has natural nappy hair.  This reveals our systemic preference of white European appearance; naturally African identities are warded off as dirty.   This form of socialization exists today in many forms.  For example, domestic violence victims that are of color and received bruising from a spouse are considered less severe because of the darker skin tone that they have.  We expect the ideal woman to have long flowing hair, to be white.  White is clean in our society and from that standpoint covert racism flourishes and pervades our society.