Disney no longer wants weak girls or women on screens



Weak female characters in Disney movies and series are over. The giant believes that it is time to give other roles and attributes to its protagonists.

"Today our female protagonists are determined, they are autonomous women, they are women who seek and pursue dreams, who do not expect anyone to save them, who of course they relate, fall in love or things happen to them, like everyone else," he said in a interview with Efe Belén Urbaneja, senior executive of The Walt Disney Company.

The director in Latin America of Corporate Citizenship and Brand Management of the American entertainment giant commented on the line taken by its contents, as part of a visit to Colombia to participate in an educational TV congress.

"We were evolving with society regarding the role of women. When Walt Disney (1901-1966) began to make these films, women had a role that is nothing similar to what they have now," he said, adding that the Things go beyond machismo.

Asked about the controversy surrounding the historic Disney Princesses and their example for girls, Urbaneja believes that her company has already understood that "today women have another place in society that has cost her a lot and is still costing her" .

"We have a way to go", but things have been changing since the company took the step with "Mulan" (1998) and its heroic warrior and protagonist, from which a version with real actors is prepared for next year, summarized.

Disney has even recently dared to laugh at its stereotypes as seen in "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (2018), where the girl Vanellope is in a hilarious scene with the entire princess galaxy, from Snow White to Cinderella passing by Ariel, in a sharp reflection on how ridiculous these seemingly perfect women could be.

For the Argentine executive, "it is not only about breaking with stereotypes, but about starting to show other family models, other female and male roles as well," which have been seen in innovative LGBT characters or that reform the vision of men.

Disney surprised, for example, with an openly gay scene in its "live action" (2017) version of the classic "Beauty and the Beast", in which his character LeFou, played by Josh Gad, showed no taboos feelings for another male character .

Urbaneja also advocated Disney's effort to deliver content aimed at children who help their education and especially their self-determination, especially for children.

"Our responsibility is increasingly evident. Children are increasingly exposed to audiovisual content, more and more time in front of the screens," he said and said: "We assume responsibility and understand it as an opportunity."

A challenge, he says, for which the company hears suggestions: "This is how we transform our content."

"It's about starting to tell stories in a different way" and he set an example to the series "Pablo" by NatGeo Kids, an animated fiction that tells the story of a boy with autism.

"For these changes the contents, the stories, the movies help a lot. Above all they help a lot in the construction of children's identity," he continued.

"I am 44 years old. When I was little, how many stories did I see of math or women applied to science? Probably none," he concluded and reiterated that the important thing is to "change the role of man in all our audiovisuals."

Disney's wide range of content grew with the announcement at the beginning of the year that the firm bought FOX, another of the industry's titans with brands such as NatGeo and hundreds of renowned films and series such as "The Simpsons," Marvel or "Star Wars."

On this integration, the executive commented that, in the case of content for children, "everything in FOX follows the same standards that we had with the Disney brand, which are very high standards in terms of responsibility and the values ​​they should include."

"For everything that is NatGeo Kids, Disney and cartoons that come from FOX are going to align in the same standards," he said, although it was clear that the contents intended for adult audiences "are another story" and follow another process .

Urbaneja participated Tuesday and Wednesday in Medellin in the III Ibero-American School + Congress, the innovative educational television program for remote areas of Latin America commanded by DirecTV and in which it collaborates with Discovery, Sky, the Tournaments Foundation and Takeoff Media.

Alejandro Rincon Moreno

. (tagsToTranslate) Disney (t) wants (t) weak women (t) (t) screens



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