Figure 7.3 371 animated characters by language spoken
The universe displayed to young children in these films is one with a
clear division between the sexes in terms of life style and life choices.
Traditional views of the woman’s role in the family are strongly
underwritten, and in Disney films, from Snow White to Meet the
Robinsons, the female characters see, or come to accept, their first and
most important role in life as that of wife and mother. What does an
examination of language use have to add to this observation? What do
characters, male and female speak?
For the most part (43.1 percent) they speak something approximating
*SAE. Another 13.9 percent speak varieties of U.S. English which are
associated with particular geographic area, racial, ethnic or economic