Male Protagonists and Disney Traditionalism

Nicholas Meyer

Male Protagonists and Disney Traditionalism

Disney’s animated films have often been criticized for reinforcing or promoting traditional or conservative values. Many Disney movies feature male protagonists or supporting characters, who start the movie as morally grey or only serving his own self-interests. As the story progresses, the male protagonist’s arc pushes him away from his selfish behavior and more towards the traditional ideal male role-model. Many male characters start out as self-serving, impulsive, and arrogant. By the end of the film, they end up as more stable, ideal men, usually after a sacrifice or grand gesture of maturity and selflessness. This trope dates back to as early as Lady and the Tramp and is found in films as recent as Tangled. 

Characters like Tramp, Jim Hawkins, Flynn Rider, Aladdin, and others all start in a place of self-serving freedom. Their arc is usually directly related to forming a relationship with a female character, or the story, which forces them into a role of responsibility. Disney is sending the message to young boys that it is their role in life to give up their self-interests in order to better serve society or their loved ones. Their lives of self-serving freedom must be given up in order to do what is right for the greater good of society at large. It should be noted that these characters rarely, if ever, actively choose to better themselves, but are coerced into it by a female character or forced into it by plot reasons.

Many Disney films, both old and new, have male protagonists who act selfishly, or even criminally. While these characters all tend to have good hearts and are never inherently evil, they act in criminal ways for their own self-gain. These characters are not to encourage bad behavior, but because they allow for more clear and satisfying arcs, as well as appealing to young male children who would be in the audience. In the 1955 film Lady and the Tramp, the male protagonist, "Tramp” is a street dog who plays by his own rules. He enjoys the freedom he finds in not being tied down by a family or owners, as he has numerous friends on the street, and it is suggested that he has numerous past love interests. This changes when he meets the female protagonist “Lady”. Lady falls for Tramp as he shows her a life of adventure and fun that she did not experience before. Lady and Tramp fall in love over the course of the movie, with the culmination of their relationship being when Tramp defends Lady and her owner’s baby against an attacking rat. This completes Tramp’s character arc away from a selfish playboy into someone who would sacrifice their own safety for someone else’s well being. The film ends with Lady’s owners adopting Tramp and the two of them starting a family of their own. Tramp gives up his free and adventurous life in order to stay with the woman he loved and to further commit to the virtuous life he adapted to. 

Two later Disney protagonists complete similar arcs: Aladdin from Aladdin and Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet. Unlike Tramp, these two are shown to be actual criminals, with both films opening with the characters on the run from the law. Both films also use their opening scenes to set up that, while criminal, both characters are simply in unfortunate circumstances and are ultimately good people. Aladdin opens with a chase scene involving a stolen piece of bread, which Aladdin argues that he has to steal in order to simply stay alive. The scene ends with Aladdin giving the bread to homeless children in a typical “save the cat” fashion. While Treasure Planet is not quite as obvious, it clearly links Hawkins' delinquent behavior to his strained relationship with his mother caused by his father’s abandonment. Aladdin then tries to change his lifestyle and situation in order to win the affection of Princess Jasmine. Hawkins’ story follows him trying to find the mysterious Treasure Planet in order to find money to rebuild his mother’s restaurant. Over the course of each film, both characters grow out of their criminal behavior and change into more socially acceptable, traditional men. Both characters reform their negative behavior and become better people, not because they want to change for themselves, but they have to in order to achieve their narrative goals. In Aladdin’s case he ends up marrying Princess Jasmine, making him next in line for the throne, and in Hawkins’ case, he is able to rebuild his mother’s restaurant and enlists in the space academy. While both characters undeniably end up in better places than where they started, it was neither of their goals to better their situations or achieve specific goals. While at the beginning of the movie, Aladdin seems unhappy, it is because he feels misjudged and trapped by his current lifestyle (Davis 84). As the story progresses, his goal is to win the love and affection of Princess Jasmine, however, this is because she also feels confined in a similar situation. While giving them this shared sense of dissatisfaction works to build their connection and chemistry, neither characters’ story arcs are fully completed. After Aladdin meets Jasmine, his conflict stops being self-centered and shifts focus to him marrying her. While Aladdin does end his film by starting a new life in the palace as a member of the royal family, he only achieves this by changing and earning the love of another character, instead of finding his place on his own terms. Hawkins completes a similar character arc, as while it is established early in the film that Hawkins is fascinated with and wants to find the real treasure planet, he only embarks on his journey because he has no other option. Instead of him wanting to discover the planet to achieve his own goal, he is forced into it due to the destruction of his mother’s diner. Over the course of his adventure, Hawkins bonds with John Silver, a cyborg pirate who acts as a mentor and surrogate father to him. Silver is the only person in Hawkins’ life to see his potential for greatness, which inspires Hawkins to “chart his own course”. While this allows for a complete story arc, Hawkin’s journey was only started out of necessity for his and his mother’s financial well being, instead of his own desire to change his ways. The film’s representation of Hawkins charting his own course is him joining the space academy, the film’s equivalent of the military. This may be a better alternative for Hawkin’s delinquent lifestyle, however, it is a traditional and societally accepted path, instead of a destiny of his own making. 

The theme of reforming a scoundrel has been prevalent in Disney’s animated films since the classic era and still persists in their modern films. Most recently, this includes the likes of Flynn Rider from Tangled (2010)).  In Tangled, Flynn Rider steals a crown owned by the king and queen of the kingdom; in his escape, he discovers Rapunzel’s castle. He then agrees to escort Rapunzel to the kingdom to see the festival of lights, and so he can return the crown in order to cash out on it. About halfway through the movie, the characters sing a song about each of their respective dreams. When it becomes Rider’s turn to sing about his, he sings of his desire to live on an island, by himself, surrounded by an exuberant amount of money. This song further defines Rider as a selfish man with shallow goals and interests (Medina 1). Over the course of the film, Rider and Rapunzel grow closer and eventually fall in love. This culminates in Rider sacrificing his life by cutting off Rapunzel’s hair in order to save her from a life of servitude to the evil Mother Gothel, who only wants Rapunzel for her magic hair. By cutting her hair, the mortally wounded Rider ensures that Rapunzel can return to her birth parents, the king, and queen, and leaves Mother Gothel to die. Rider starts the film as a selfish thief who is only interested in his own gain but ends the film as someone who is willing to die for the woman he loves.  While Rapunzel is able to save Rider through the power of a magic tear, neither of them knew she was able to do this, making his sacrifice just as relevant to his arc as if he had died. This arc is only possible because he gives up his previously stated interests and desires in order to benefit Rapunzel. The film ends with Rider and Rapunzel returning to the kingdom to take their respective as prince and princess. While this provides Tangled with a happy ending, Rider’s desires shown and stated in both the beginning and middle of this film are not fulfilled, as he has given up those goals, not through his own agency, but through him changing through his relationship with his love interest.

Another character arc that Disney frequently uses in it's animated films are male protagonists who are lazy, angry, or selfish, who are then reformed through the intervention of a female character. These characters make for an obvious and satisfying story arc, however, they teach questionable and problematic messages to both the young male and female audiences. Three films that readily exemplify this trend are Beauty and the Beast (1992), The Lion King (1994). 

In 1992, Disney adapted the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. The story has no clear origin, as variations of it have existed in numerous different cultures across all different time periods (Berberi 196). The basic premise of the story is that a beautiful girl falls in love with a man, who takes the form of a monstrous beast, with the moral being that love should be based on connection and personality rather than on appearance. In Disney’s adaptation, Beast is not only a giant, animal-like monster, but also has emotional and anger management issues, making him a beast in both meanings. Over the course of the film, Beast learns to be less selfish and angry by growing through his relationship with Belle (Berberi 198). In the end of the film, Belle learns to love the Beast, which breaks the curse and turns him back into a normal, conventionally attractive human. While Disney keeps the idea of love being based on who a person is, instead of what they look like, the way they change the character details leave the film with problematic messaging. In the French version of the fairytale that the film is largely based on, the author, Cocteau, stated that the idea was the make the beast incredibly ugly, but so morally and ethically superior to other men that him changing into a normal man causes problems for Belle, who had fallen in love with the beast (Berberi 196). While this may have been too existential for a movie aimed at children and families, by changing the beast into someone with anger management issues and violent tendencies, Disney sends the message that it is a woman’s job to change a man into the person he is supposed to be. The film does a good job of linking Beast’s behavior to his literal and emotional isolation, by making him go through changes because of Belle undermines his character arc. This is made worse by Belle’s lack of an apparent arc. The film makes it clear that the Beast is not a bad person, but has to change in order to lift his curse, and that can only be done by making Belle fall in love with him. The film ends with Belle falling in love with the Beast and the curse being broken, however, he is the only one to change and grow over the course of the film. If the story had them both progress at similar narrative beats it would not be as problematic, but Disney’s version of the story sends the message to young women that it is their job to change and even fix men into the people they should be, instead of accepting and loving them for who they are. Similarly, it sends the message to young men that it is not their job, nor their responsibility to change for the better, as some women will come along and turn them into the person they’re supposed to be. 

In 1992’s The Lion King Disney adapts their version of hamlet, set in the animal kingdom of the African Sahara. The film follows Simba, a lion prince whose destiny it is to take the throne after his father passes it on to him. However, after his father is murdered and he feels responsible for it, Simba runs away from the kingdom and his destiny. He then finds Timon and Pumbaa, who offer him the alternative, carefree lifestyle of “Hakuna Matata”. Simba then spends several years growing up under their influence and responsibility-free life. It isn’t until his childhood friend, Nala, finds him and pushes him does he embrace his destiny, and returns to take his place as king. The film is largely a coming of age story about responsibility and taking one’s place in society. The film rejects the notion of freedom and suggests that it is a man’s responsibility to take his place in the service of society (Sweeny 135). Simba only embraces his destiny after being pushed into it by his love interest, instead of coming to it on his own terms. While the film shows Simba being discontent with the lifestyle of no responsibility, he does not progress on his journey home until Nala pressures and pushes him into it. Instead of choosing to return home out of his own desire, Nala must remind him that it is his destiny and duty to serve the kingdom, despite the fact that Simba has found a new life with Timon and Pumbaa. Simba then returns home to Pride Rock, takes his place as king, and saves the kingdom from despair. The film makes it clear that it is his destiny to do so, however, instead of Simba accepting this and making this decision out of his own will, he is coerced into doing it by outside forces. This sends the message to young girls that it is their job to help men achieve their destiny and fulfill their responsibility, instead of having one for themselves. It also sends the message to young men that they don't have a choice in their lives. Simba may have accidentally stumbled upon the hakuna matata lifestyle, but it's one he chooses to stay in out of his own free will. While he does choose to return, it is only sparked because of external forces instead of it being a calling of his own volition. By rejecting his more fun and free lifestyle, Simba grows into the man that society wants and deems him to be, however, by having other characters push him to this conclusion, it takes away from his character arc of being his own, self-reliant person.

Throughout many of Disney’s films, they prominently feature male protagonists who go on lengthy journeys or quests which develop them as characters. Most of these characters start as unruly, selfish, or even downright criminal; however over the course of their respective stories, they develop into more traditional and socially acceptable men. Disney has their character arcs end when they fit the traditional mold of what a man should be: that of someone who is responsible, family-oriented, and serve others before themselves. While this is not inherently a bad message to send, the problem arises when the characters don't have agency regarding their development. They are either forced into changing by the plot of the movie or are changed in order to win their love interest. This teaches problematic to both young men and women, as it teaches women that they don’t have goals or purpose of their own, but only exist to serve the maturity of the men in their life. It teaches young men that they are not allowed to have lives of freedom or self-interest, but exist to serve their families and society at large. Even worse, it teaches them that this isn't a decision that they can reach on their own, but something that will be forced on them by outside forces, meaning if they want to change out of their own desire, they don't have the power to. By taking agency and decision making away from their male protagonists to serve story structure, Disney is teaching young men that there is a correct and incorrect way to live and act and they will only be accepted if they allow and expect to be changed- whether they want to or not.

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