Animation movies and reality: a study of Walt Disney’s ”Cinderella” and US society in the 1950s

Walt Disney is considered one of the pioneers of the American animation industry and, since the 1930s, has been famous worldwide for his animated movies and cartoons. The Walt Disney Studios productions depicted the US society and shaped both the cultural environment and the lives of the children that grew up watching its works. The goal of this study is to analyze the role played by Walt Disney’s Cinderella and its similarities with the life of the American homemakers of the 1950s. I draw from sources such as Barrier’s Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in his golden age (1999) and Maltin’s Of Mice and Magic. A History of American Animated Cartoons (1980) to analyze the history and impact of the animation medium. Moreover, Barrier’s The Animated Man. A life of Walt Disney (2007) and Schickel’s The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney (1997) provide me with a deeper understanding of Walt Disney’s successes and failures. Regarding the political and cultural climate of the 1950s, I source information from books such as Woods’ Quest for Identity: America since 1945 (2005), and May’s Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988) that clearly identify the end of Second World War and the Cold War as the causes of a return to domesticity and strict gender roles. Furthermore, articles and journals, such as "The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children's Fairy Tales", written by Baker- Sperry and Grauerholz in 2003, offer in-depth analysis of fairy tales and Cinderella, in particular regarding the role of children stories in the creation of gender stereotypes and feminine beauty ideals. In the first chapter, I study the impact Disney had on the animation medium, for he brought many innovations into a recently established industry. Among his many accomplishments, the introduction of music and color in his production proved to be revolutionary. Moreover, analyzing his biography, it emerges a tendency to portray characters that the audience could identify with. One of them is Cinderella, the protagonist of the animated movie of the same title released in 1950. The second part of this work analyzes how Cinderella embodies the qualities of the career homemakers of the 1950s. Through her cheerful attitude and kindness, she takes care of the house and the animals, her friends, and it was the reality for the majority of American women, as well. The conflict between the United States and the USSR diffused a renewed sense of domesticity and conformity throughout the country. Pushed out of the workforce after the Second World War, women were entrusted with the task of becoming the perfect mothers and homemakers during a time in which all American citizens married more and earlier and had more children.