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Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters got makeovers for Barney’s holiday campaign. What’s the big deal? | Source: Barneys.com
A lot of Disney characters are undergoing makeovers, some with better results than others. You probably remember a few months ago when one of our favorite Disney villains, Ursula, was given a makeover so dramatic that she was pretty much unrecognizable in her new doll form. That ticked a lot of people off, because she looked totally different–one of Ursula’s trademarks was her fuller figure and tentacles, and they were gone.
Now, Minnie Mouse is the latest female Disney character to get a makeover, and it’s pissing a lot of people off. In part of their holiday campaign, Barney’s, the haute couture New York City staple (the kind of place most of us will never be able to afford to shop in) dressed Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck in Lanvin dresses. And they also made Minnie and Daisy tall and skinny.
A petition entitled “Leave Minnie Mouse Alone!” hit change.org, saying that making Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck conform to 5’11″ and size 0 sends the wrong message and promotes poor body image in women and girls.
We agree that women and girls are inundated with images every day that make them feel pressure to conform to a certain shape, size, and look. It’s infuriating and scary to know that elementary school girls feel pressured to lose weight, and their childhood heroes likely play a big role in that.
But here’s the problem with this petition: Minnie Mouse is a cartoon mouse. As in, a mouse. That’s a cartoon. No guy is looking at Goofy and being like, “You know what I need to do? Get huge gauges in my ears so they hang like Goofy’s.” Similarly, most girls, at least girls with parents who pay a modicum of attention to them, aren’t looking at Minnie Mouse and being like, “I need to dye my ears black and put them on the top of my head.”
If Ursula, who was at least partly human, gets lipo, that’s something we can kind of pause for a minute about. If Mulan got eyelid surgery, if Tiana underwent skin bleaching, if Belle got Botox, if Ariel got implants–these would all be considered problematic, especially considering these characters are considered an impossible human ideal to begin with.
But if you’re getting your body image ideal from a mouse with four fingers on each forever-gloved hand, bizarrely circular feet, and three lashes on each eye, you probably have a lot bigger problems than just your body image. Like the fact that you want to be an animated animal. That’s a pretty big problem.
Do you think Minnie Mouse promotes body image issues for girls? Do you think girls look to Minnie Mouse or to Disney princesses as rolemodels? Do you think Barney’s was out of line in giving Minnie Mouse a slimmed down makeover? Tell us in the comments!
Why is this Disney princess making people so mad before we even see her in action?
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the way i see it minnie and disney is aimed to kids they cant afford anything at barneys so why not leave the kids alone and let them grow how they should seems to me is this store is trying to piss people off and im a big disney lo er but im also old enough to know that tall and skinny doesnt really matter my 5 and 2 year old dont this is just brain washing our kids how do you explain to a child that yes they can dress up as minnie or sleeping beauty but they can never trully e them when what they really want is the wrold there i let kids be kids and leave their role modles alone
sorry for spelling using a phone to comment
I see your point, but they are *anthropomorphic* animated animals. It may not be logical to admire figures of animated things let alone animated animals, but they are completely human figures. Just cover up their heads. If you didn’t know already, would you even be able to tell that the head would be anything other than a human head? So my story of this is that they are promoting body images whether that is their main purpose or not. To me, it shows that the Disney characters are now really cool and fashionable and beautiful, and the body image they relate to that is super skinny. And also, just because something is animated or a toy doesn’t mean it can’t promote body images. Disney princesses, Barbie, Jessica Rabbit, Babs Bunny in Space Jam (lol a bit old but these are the ones that come to mind), they are seem to be examples of ideal body images.
I take back the “beautiful” in “cool and fashionable and beautiful” because I don’t feel that way! I got into the message and forgot about the actual characters that I was talking about.
Honestly, all the changes that Disney is making to their characters is a joke. As much as I love the different take on the clothes the dolls wear, they’re changing something that has become a part of lots of children (and adults) lives. Have you seen the new, revamped Disney princesses? It’s a freaking joke! I understand they need to keep things “fresh,” but now it’s just a joke. As for Barney’s did you really expect anything less from an overrated, overprice designer store? Come on, they make money telling girls that you need to be a skeleton or you’re not pretty. Believe me, I’ve spend most of my life as the ugly, fat, Jabba the Hut.
Technically, this is absolutely ridiculous, sure they might JUST be animated, but they still spread influence on everyone everywhere. The whole Disney series an their ever growing character list is well known almost world-wide.
Its like Barbie and her new sketty outfits, like seriously, every kid I’ve known from part-timing at schools is they want clothes just as crappy as her. Especially with how popular her ‘fashion’ has become.
Well, the main thing I’m trying to get at is that, even though they may be just figurines, pictures and animateds, changes like this,is just random, uncalled for and wrong – even so since i’ve been in love with the Disney for ever! I mean, its just unesserily promoting the unattinable and gullability to those who even try!!
(Not trying to be mean or anything… :s )
Umm just point out Ariel DID sell her voice to the devil for legs for 3 days..
She is animated come on!!