You may not realize it, but "Disneyfication" is a word. It refers to the transformation of cultural phenomena to resemble the images promoted by Disney films and theme parks. As the materials for this week have shown, these images can frame our understanding of gender and gender roles. So given this, a careful examination of the images that Disney offers to American society (and increasingly the global community) can help us better understand an important cultural influence on how gender proceeds in our imagination and in our interactions. Your assignment is analyze an animated Disney (or Pixar, etc.) character for the gendered messages that are being conveyed.

-The Assignment. Select an animated character from a Disney film (or a similar film studio) – this can be a hero, a villain, or a secondary (but still important) character – and provide a detailed discussion about how the character presents a gender strategy and what might be the message that children take from that presentation.

1.Detailing the Character's Gender Strategy. The first part of your analysis should focus on how the character presents their gender – what kind of strengths and capacities does the character present? what kinds of weaknesses? how do they interact with people of the same gender and with people of a different gender? how does their body convey a sense of gender beyond the biological?

2.Setting the Character into the Narrative. It matters whether our character is framed as a hero or villain or comedic side-character, wise sage, etc. The characteristics of a hero are praiseworthy, of a villain are scornful, and of other characters falling somewhere between. Identifying the gender message from the film requires understanding if the narrative sets the character up as a model to be emulated or reviled.

3.Gendered Message. And the final element of your paper should articulate precisely what you think the gender message is: what lesson about gender might a child take away from this film? how does this message frame out the importance or irrelevance of hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity? does the character reinforce the feminine apologetic or challenge it? For this section, look back into the readings for this week, and use some of the concepts that Wade and Ferree offer to help with your analysis of the gendered messages conveyed by your character.

4.In the end, I'd like to read a 1200-word (at least) discussion detailing of the gender messages presented by an animated character.1200 words minimum; please include the no at the end of your essay/single-spaced block format (no paragraph indents but with a line of empty text between paragraphs)