The evolution of the princess: Impact on perceptions.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to explore Disney's official views of their role within the Princess Culture and the truth behind a Disney Princess's popularity, taking into consideration the Anti-Princess Culture. Mixed methods of qualitative interviews with Disney princesses and princes and Disney employees were combined with a quantitative survey of Southeast Missouri State University students. The qualitative aspect of this study examined Disney's representation of the princesses. The quantitative aspect of this study examined college students' perceptions of the Disney princesses. After a review of literature and exploration of the Disney princess motifs, it was hypothesized there would be significant gender and ethnicity differences in ranking princesses. It also was hypothesized there would be a strong, positive relationship between the three generations of the princesses and their intelligence and personality strength rankings, where Generation 3 princesses are perceived as stronger than Generation 1 and 2 princesses. Two other hypotheses included there would be a significant viewing difference and ranking princesses, and there would be a positive relationship between a princess's perceived popularity and her rankings of beauty, intelligence, and personality strength. Results of the qualitative data exposed the secrecy of Disney princess and prince characters which the company builds to accentuate human behavior, as well as the changes Disney makes based off their target markets. Results of the quantitative data partially supported the hypotheses. Significant differences were found between genders and ethnicity. Generation 2 and 3 princesses were considered stronger than the first Generation princesses and viewing the movie did significantly alter the perceptions on the princesses. Limitations and opportunities for future research were also discussed.