Traditional gender roles and the media Traditionally, girls are expected to be gentle and submissive while boys can behave rudely and have the freedom of the opposite sex is denied. This idea of ​​gender roles arises from the static expectations of old social views. Even though the media moves away from this nowadays, many films do not share the same sentiment. Mr. Mom, a film from the 1980s, depicts a wife and husband who change careers - one as a housewife, the other as breadwinner - with the underlying purpose of understanding each other better. However, even as both adults discover a newfound pride and comfort in their work, they ultimately return to their old positions, implying that they are ultimately happier in their traditional roles. Similar to Mr. Mom, as much as today's media likes to portray the reversal of these roles, many of these old opinions still prevail in films like Mr. Mom, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Mulan. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Along with Mr. Mom, animations like Beauty and the Beast portray an upheaval in society caused by the challenge to established gender roles. Mr. Mom describes a role reversal in which Caroline, a housewife, begins working in advertising while her husband Jack, a former engineer, loses his job and stays at home to care for their children. Caroline is belittled on her first day on the job by her superiors for being a woman, and the rest of her workdays are filled with sexual harassment from her boss, Ron. Other male executives blatantly disrespect her and her intelligence, sometimes choosing not to listen to her because of her seemingly useless ideas. In addition to this, Ron continually tries to push through despite knowing that she is married and has children. Even when she presents herself as an educated woman with experience in her field, her superiors expect her to be submissive, know her place, and not speak up when insulted, and Ron feels entitled to her simply because he is a man, his superior and rich. Similarly, in the song “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast, as Belle walks through her village, the townspeople sing, “With a dreamy, distant gaze and her nose stuck in a book: what a puzzle to the rest of us she is Beautiful." .” Belle is educated, educated, and dreams of a more adventurous future, which is more than most women do in this time period. The townspeople note that because she does not follow the trend of women her age, she is an "enigma" to them, implying that she is confusing and difficult. The simple act of being independent of the traditional gender role of an illiterate and submissive wife makes her strange in their eyes. Soon, Gaston also sings, "Here in town there's only her who's beautiful like me, so I'm planning to woo and marry Belle." Gaston's pride and sheer entitlement to marry Belle for her beauty shows that even though his most admirable traits are kindness and intelligence, all he can think about is his looks. This mirrors Mr. Mom in that Caroline's boss only cares about her looks and his own pleasure every time he makes a move on her rather than her genius at advertising or sparkling personality. The fact that Gaston and Ron harass Belle and Caroline, respectively, just for their looks shows the audience that all that matters is a woman's appearance, not her intelligence or personality. In The Little Mermaid, evidence of traditional gender roles is in the song “Poor unfortunate souls. Ursula, the evil sea witch, makes a deal with the mermaid Ariel, who she wantsto live in the world above the sea, to give her his legs for three days on condition that he pays a high price: his voice. Since Ariel is famous for her beautiful voice and without which she can hardly communicate, she is very upset by this offer. However, in response to her well-found suspicion, she is met with a compelling ultimatum given to her and the audience through a typical villain song. In “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” Ursula sings, “Come on, [men are] not that impressed with conversation. Real gentlemen avoid it when they can! But they adore, swoon and flatter a reserved woman. It is she who holds her tongue that wins a man! This song serves to remind Ariel of the concept of equivalent exchange in Ursula's conniving way: to get something, one must first give up something in exchange. However, the lyrics also remind the audience of what women are traditionally expected to be: quiet and “withdrawn.” When Ursula says "[it's] she who holds her tongue who wins a man," she means that men are only attracted to women who know when not to speak, which, in this case, is always. Ariel's acceptance of complete silence just to live in the human world and, more importantly, be with Prince Eric, only highlights the fact that to win over a man, a woman must be "withdrawn" and willing to stay in silence since men are not "impressed" with conversation." This message is repeated many times throughout the film in that when Ariel tries to woo Eric through body language and persistence alone, Eric actually falls in love with her and Ariel he feels comfortable and adapts to her lack of voice. He "worships and swoons and fawns," as Ursula said, over Ariel in her silence, which only perpetuates Ursula's contention that quiet women are what men want. Ariel never says a word to Eric during those three days except at the end, when the spell that gives her legs wears off, but even then he has already fallen in love with her. "Poor Unfortunate Souls" introduces the concept of men feeling attracted to introverted women, and although Ariel eventually regains her voice and marries her prince, the fact that Eric falls in love with his voiceless self speaks volumes about the underlying message of gender roles. Traditional gender roles around the world depict marriage as the ultimate goal for all women, including the ancient Chinese setting of Mulan. In Asian cultures in particular, there is a widespread belief that a son will always be more valuable than a daughter due to him carrying on the family name and ability to do heavy lifting for the family. The only duty a daughter has towards her family is to marry well, have children and take care of them. This is shown when Mulan, the only daughter of the Fa family, is rushed to beautify herself and prepare for a matchmaking session that will pair her with a potential husband in the song "Honor to Us All", in which the happy characters sing, “A girl can bring great honor to her family in one way: by making a good marriage. . . We must all serve our Emperor. . . A man carrying weapons, a girl giving birth to children. The entire scene depicts several girls, including Mulan, preparing to meet the matchmaker. Singing "[w]e all must serve our Emperor", she establishes that marriage is a duty rather than a choice for girls, who "must" serve the Emperor through marriage. The smiling girls and characters all around hint that the girls are happy with this duty. He then goes on to say that while “sons bear weapons,” “girls bear sons,” which also puts females below males in order of importance only from birth,..