10 Disney Movie Characters Who Kids Should Not Look Up To
Disney is one of the biggest and most amazing companies in the world.
From theme parks to movies and everything in between you would be hard pressed to grow
up without being influenced by Disney in some way or another.
For the most part, the messages and characters found in Disney movies are usually pretty
positive�or that�s what they want you to think.
After some careful examination we have identified a bunch of Disney movie heroes who aren�t
actually such good influences on kids, despite what Disney might have you believe.
At the risk of ruining a few childhood�s here is our list of 10 Disney Movie Characters
Who Kids Shouldn�t Look Up To.
Belle, Beauty and the Beast (1991).
With Internet favorite Emma Watson playing Belle in the new live action Beauty and the
Beast film, we realize we are taking a risk by critiquing Belle.
We must admit that there are a lot of great aspects to Belle's personality as she does
a good job of making intelligence and literacy desirable traits for young girl.
She even rejects the charming Gaston because he is a narcissistic jerk.
The problem however comes when she agrees to be the Beast's prisoner in exchange for
her father's life.
This decision gives way to a very controlling and abusive relationship between Beast and
Belle.
The two of them have some very tense and even violently explosive moments, all of which
ending with them falling in love.
While this could be seen as romantic tale, it also suspiciously reeks of Stockholm Syndrome
as Belle is, after all, in love with the one holing her prisoner.
This one is tricky, but you definitely don�t want to take any chances when it comes to
messages of abuse in children�s movies.
Aladdin, Aladdin (1992) Aladdin is undoubtedly one of Disney�s greatest
animated movies of all time, and the sequels are just as fun.
The songs are great, the action is intense and Robin William�s Genie is, well, genius.
Unfortunately for Disney, a lot of parents began to wonder whether Aladdin was really
the best hero figure for their young impressionable children to be looking up to.
Aladdin made it okay, and maybe even cool, to steal and break the law.
Yes, he was poor and was living in a world of oppression but if you stop and think about
it, he is singing an dancing his way through some major theft.
Desperate times may call for desperate measures but we aren�t sure that young children would
fully understand the intricate issues of class divisions and wealth distribution.
Hopefully, the upcoming live action version of Aladdin does a better job of showing him
as a balanced and complex character.
Ariel, The Little Mermaid (1989).
Ariel has long been described on the Internet as a bad influence on young girls.
The main explanation for this has usually been the issue of Ariel changing herself to
please Prince Eric, but the real nasty message comes in what she sacrificed.
She gave away her voice, the main thing she would need to communicate with Eric when she
did meet him.
Since communication is one of the most important part of any relationship, this isn't exactly
a recipe for healthy love.
And so, by the end of the movie, Ariel marries a man she knows absolutely nothing about,
despite having irreversibly changed herself for him.
This is definitely not a message that we should be sending to our youth, and here is hoping
the upcoming live action version of this Disney classic deals with the issue a little better!
Aurora, Sleeping Beauty (1959).
Right off the bat it is probably tought to consider Aurora a good role model for kids
simply because she is asleep for almost the entire movie.
In fact she only actually has about 18 minutes of screen time and her last line comes at
the 40 minutes mark.
But even in that short amount of time, she is able to demonstrate some less than desirable
character attributes.
Her entire personality seems to revolve around falling in love with a prince and that's about
it.
She's a bad role model by way of being a total non-entity.
In a time when the world is in need of strong female leaders, a character like Aurora really
sends the wrong message.
Perhaps it was a sign of the times in the 1950�s but we would like to think that if
the story was rewritten today, Aurora, who is supposed to be the star of the show, would
be given a more in depth and interesting personality.
As it stands, this is one movie that young girls don�t need to see.
Cinderella, Cinderella (1950).
It's hard to get too worked up about Cinderella because she was mostly trying to make the
best of a bad situation.
The girl went through a lot of hardship and still went on singing and smiling all along.
Unfortunately for Cinderella, there are other aspects of her life that make her less than
the ideal role model for young kids.
First off, she is happy marrying someone she barely knows � not a good message for young
girls.
Also, throughout the movie Cinderella really doesn't take an active role in her own story.
Whether it's the Fairy Godmother or her mice buddies, it's always the other characters
who put everything into motion for her while she just kind of waits for good things to
happen.
This message of complacency is not a good for young children who would be better off
seeing characters take control of their own destiny.
Nemo, Finding Nemo (2003) Finding Nemo is one of Disney�s biggest
animated hits of all time and it�s 2016 sequel, Finding Dory has only continued the
critical and commercial success.
The story of Finding Nemo is fun and inspiring but it may actually send a more negative message
to kids than we thought.
While Nemo�s father, Marlin, is an amazingly devoted parent and a great role model, Nemo
himself might be sending a less than ideal message to youngsters out there.
Nemo has a lot of attitude and his disobedience ends up putting him and his entire family
in serious danger.
Of course, there would be no story without his knack for getting into trouble but we
don�t think that many parents would be fond of the idea of their kids running (or swimming)
millions of miles away from home.
Nemo may be the titular character but it is Marlin who is the real hero and positive role
model.
Tinkerbell, Peter Pan (1953).
Tinkerbell may be tiny but her ability to have a negative influence of audience members
is huge.
She is very protective of Peter and has serious problems dealing with her jealousy.
After Peter brings Wendy Darling to Neverland, Tinkerbell tells the Lost Boys that she's
a terrible "Wendy Bird" and that they should shoot her down.
If not for Peter's intervention, it's strongly implied that Wendy would have fallen to her
death.
Essentially, Tinkerbell attempted to murder Wendy because she didn't like the attention
Peter was giving her.
This criminal act, on top of her sassy and negative attitude definitely makes it clear
that she is not a good role model for young Disney viewers.
Pinocchio, (1940) This one seems like an obvious choice as the
entire plot of the movie revolves around the main character�s addiction to lying.
Pinocchio, the quirky little wooden puppet is brought to life by a fairy and told that
he could become a real boy if he is brave, truthful and unselfish.
Those all sound like good attributes for kids to aspire to have, right?
Unfortunately, this proves to be difficult for Pinocchio, as he�s actually a compulsive
pathological liar.
As the story goes, his nose famously grows whenever he tells a lie and he just can�t
help himself and it keeps growing and growing.
Not even the less than subtle intervention from his �conscience�, Jiminy Cricket,
can help him tell the truth.
In the end, things somewhat workout for Pinocchio, sending the lasting message to kids that pathologically
lying is okay and things will work out in the end.
Elsa, Frozen (2013) Elsa is the main character in the hugely successful
Disney movie, Frozen.
She was born with the magical ability to produce and manipulate ice and snow and she is envy
of young girls worldwide.
However, she may not be the greatest role model for young girls.
In her youth, her inability to control her powers caused some serious problems and nearly
killed her own sister.
As she grew up, Elsa developed disorders like paranoia and agoraphobia.
The paranoia made her terrified of using her powers for fear of causing more incidents
like before, and the agoraphobia caused her to shut herself away from society in order
to ensure she didn�t hurt anybody else.
Frozen does end with Elsa coming out of her shell and concurring her issues, but so much
of the movie is spent focusing on her problems that we worry just what kids will take away
from Frozen.
Maui, Moana (2016) Moana looks like it is geared up to be Disney�s
last big animated hit of 2016.
While there has been a lot of praise for it�s diverse subject matter � it seems like one
of the characters might be more problematic..
While it is great that Moana is the star and it�s nice for kids to see a non-white female
character as the leading role in a movie.
It is disappointing that Maui, the character played by superstar Dwayne Johnson is a deeply
stereotyped version of the sacred Polynesian ancestors.
Maui is shown to be overweight and foolish, which have long been problematic stereotypes
of the Polynesian culture.
Disney had a chance to make a strong statement with Maui but instead just added to the already
problematic representations of the culture.
The character may be fun, but kids would likely be better off without Maui influencing their
understanding of Polynesian culture.
On top of all this, the marketing for Moana caused uproar around Halloween as the characters
joined the �We are a culture, not a costume� conversation.
So there�s our list of 10 Disney movie characters that kids probably shouldn�t aspire to be
like.
Do you agree with our list?
Were there any we missed?
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