Cartoons and the Ideals of Beauty

I know the title may seem somehow strange but that's because many of us do not relate cartoons to how children want to dress and look like. I believe that cartoons do affect the child's way of clothing. Cartoons, I believe do not just dissimninate or show examples of "beautiful" cartoon charcters but rather enforces new standards of beauty: new guidelines for saying that someone is beautiful.

Children are willing to imitate cartoons which can extend to their choice of clothes. I know a mother who has an 8 year old daughter who is always wiling to wear "high heels and miniskirts" imitating Barbie in her way of clothing. The problem is that it is sometimes difficult to tell the child that what his favorite character wears is inappropriate because he is his example in everything. American cartoonists usually draw their female cartoon heroes with very perfect and unrealistic body shapes. So, no matter how hard the girl tries, she will never be that perfect!




Previously, I have tackled this issue in one of my researches and I remember writing about how emotionally girls are affected by the female cartoon models that they see in ads. Maybe because physical appearance may be more important to girls than to boys, so that's why a girl may care more to look like her cartoon hero. Of course, if the girl can not wear the tight or revealing clothes of her favorite character, or if her body isn’t that perfect and fit, all this may increase their negative self image.

But the problem is not just in how cartoonists draw the characters and how they dress. There's a deeper side of the issue, because some cartoons also enforce wrong notions: that beauty is more important than other traits. Maybe this takes place unconsciously, but if you re-watch the Cinderella movie for example, you'll find that the Prince married Cinderella JUST BECAUSE SHE LOKED SO BEAUTIFUL and he loved her during their 10 minute dance. Is this enough to choose a wife? Such cartoons concentrate on the notion that girls have to be beautiful and attractive in order to reach their goals. Probably if Cinderella was as ugly as her stepsisters, her future would not have been that bright! So, here cartoons are emphasizing the importance of physical beauty and ignoring other values that children should be taught as the importance of work in order to achieve one's goals and that beauty is insufficient to make a girl successful in her life.