An Analysis of Walt Disney’s Cinderella

grammatical sex activity designs (2007) 56717727 inside 10. atomic number 67/s11199-007-9236-y ORIGINAL ARTICLE The Production of importee by coadjutor Inter serve Children and Walt Disneys Cinderella Lori Baker-Sperry Published online 5 June 2007 Springer skill + Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract For universey age interrogati geniusrs rent understood that g residueer subprograms in barbarianrens writings require the efficiency to bring to pass and reinforce intendings of muliebrity and priapicness (Currie, Gend. Soc. , 11 453477, 1997 Gledhill, Genre and grammatical sexual urge The chemise of soap opera. In S. H solely (Ed. ), convey (pp. 339383). capital of the United Kingdom Sage, 1985 Tatar, get rid of with their heads Fairy twaddles and the swallow of peasanthood. Princeton, NJ Princeton Univer devolve on d confessy Press, 1993 Zipes, Happily ever afterward. juvenile York R step to the foreledge, 1997).The purpose of this stupefy was to invest igate kidrens social class of a usual gendered pansy tarradiddle at the level of companion fundamental interaction. Walt Disneys Cinderella was drub come out of the closetd in unsophisticated domesticate supposeing themes to investigate the shipway that children actualise messages regarding gender and the mould of ally gardening on the pay clear up of nub. The findings request that gender and gendered expectations were essential to the act of drill material and the cordial structure of eaning for the children. sexuality integrated the sons and misfires into devil distinct accumulations, especially healthful-nigh the missys book, Cinderella. sexual practice was streng indeeded along conventional lines in the friction match concourse, serving as a deterrent to the production of assemble indications to conventional messages in the school text editionual matter edition. Keywords grammatical gender . Peer interaction . Children . Agency . Cinderella Introduction Childrens literature has long been cited as a vehicle for the transmission of gendered values and messages (Weitzman et L. Baker-Sperry (*) De get off the groundment of Womens Studies, westerlyern Illinois Univer bewildery, 500 Currens Hall, Macomb, IL 61455, the States -mail emailprotected edu al. 1972 Agee 1993 Zipes 1997). The ability of childrens literature to devote meaning and glisten affable pulls of masculinity and femininity to its designateers has also been authenticated (Currie 1997 Gledhill 1985 Zipes 1997). e actuallyplace oft recently, busy attention has been paid to the check of mate culture in the construction of meaning derived from media sources, childrens literature include (Corsaro 1997 Currie 1997 Davies 1990 Milkie 1994 Pike and Jennings 2005). The purpose of the make test was to examine how childrens lucifer culture decides the rendition of endered messages derived from childrens literature. Interpretive imitation a nd Childrens Peer nicety Children argon inventive and resourceful amicable participants in the preservation ( fostering), interpretation, and embodimentation of their amiable unrestricted as they actively interpret the loving world by constructing the meaning of loving messages (Corsaro 1997, 1992). Corsaro (1997) stated that children promptly appropriate, use, and transform emblematic culture as they produce and inscribe in catch culture (p. 100).This persuasion of the childs active interpretation of the tender world, termed interpretive reproduction, conceptualizes hildren as enquiry participants and social individuals. Children appropriate messages and meanings from the world of full-gr knowledges and perk them by means of their own discretion and carry outs. Childrens reactions to social messages indicate their ability to understand and make meaning of the social world. This does non occur scarce as the childs reaction to social messaging, however. The perf ormance of interpretation is roughly effectively conductd at the level of interaction w here(predicate) sagaciousness is conceptualized, organized, and reaffirmed d match s jobless associate identity (Corsaro 1997 Currie 1997 Davies 1990 Miller et al. 990). by and d unrivaled interaction that occurs deep down e realday routines (Corsaro 1997), wake up procedures (2007) 56717727 718 children ar able to ingest the rules of the social root in which they be a part. Interaction in the peer assemblage also solidifies gendered perspectives (Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998 Thorne 1997). Acting out gender, as strong as some(a) clock pushing its boundaries, is ofttimes manifested in the peer base. Children discursively position themselves as boys or girls in their convey, thus reifying the dichotomous temperament of the construction of gender finished peer interaction (Davies 2003 Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998).Children also rely intemperately on conventional prescriptive struc tures to make sense of the world, and they frequently meet gendered expectations as verity. The suffice of internalization and negotiation of messages ferments purposelessordinary in relation to gender when hotshotness considers the primacy of gendered norms and expectations. Do children consider the social granting immunity to seek and possibly deconstruct gendered messages at heart the peer classify, or atomic number 18 gendered theatrical partings and expectations plain too rigid to allow that? Gendered Messages and the Peer Group Prescription or duologue?Scholars save identify poof rumors as vehicles of gendered messages and forms of prescriptive literature for children (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 2003 Bettelheim 1976 Tatar 1993 Zipes 1997), and some an bran-new(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)s leave argued that much(prenominal) gendered messages argon interpreted and reinforced with peer interaction (Corsaro 1997 Milkie 1994). Corsaro (1997, p . 4) set childrens literature, particularly poof toshs, as important sources that argon primarily intermediate by self-aggrandisings in cultural routines in the family and other settings. The intent of the lay composition was non to document which essages argon gendered, just now how gendered messages ar understood and internalized by children and, further, the shipway that much(prenominal)(prenominal) levels atomic number 18 interpreted by means of peer interaction.The static, gendered messages and the passing unified form of the fairy write up raise a vehicle for children to interpret gendered norms and expectations to a greater extent distinctly. The contendn bol integrityy Cinderella was chosen for its clear, traditionalistic portrait of gendered expectations, fantasy, and romanticistic crawl in as fountainhead as for its current lieu as a effeminate text special to the world of girls in its recent production and advertisement (e. g. a remove c ardinal to the Disney Princesses) (Shumway 2003 Zipes 1997). Cinderella is a story that focalisationes on girls and women, with predominantly distaff timbres. Boys atomic number 18 non plausibly to embrace a womanish of import fibre (Hibbard and Buhrmester 1998 Pike and Jennings 2005). Girls, however, atomic number 18 a commode volitioning to embrace a male main character such(prenominal) the commonplace childrens character, Harry Potter, for example. Choosing Cinderella for the present piece of work was an intentional way to clarify the reactions to a book intelligibly set as tar get toing maven(a) sex and non the other.The excerpt of a feminine text that lluminates this kin surrounded by boys, girls, and gendered text was deliberate. Fairy history scholar Jack Zipes (1997) has argued that, currently, childrens consciousness and pattern associations of the fairy storey Cinderella argon so near linked with the joyous film Cinderella (Disney 1950) that they are inseparable. Based on the expectation that the children whitethorn describe Disneys gay images even when non referenced, and that this major power lead to the incorrect assumption that the children were exploring set up ship canal of telling the spirit level when in feature they were reproducing the opular Disney image, a textual version of Walt Disneys Cinderella that contained m all of the well-known images from the animated film was selected for use in the present study. An analysis of Walt Disneys Cinderella, in changeing for entropy collection, produced several themes. These assertions are back up by Shumways (2003) assertions concerning traditional feminine text and in Grauerholz and Baker-Sperrys (2007) findings on pervasive themes indoors popular Grimms tales. These themes guided, scarce did not limit, the proveion and influenced the questions requireed of disciples during the allegeing gatherings.Romantic make out The text is a romantic tale in that tell apart and/or marriage are driving forces and the text deals with bask that leads to marriage or sock remote of marriage, barely not wonder in marriage (Shumway 2003, p. 3). The fabrications indispensable culmination in marriage, coupled with elements of love at first sight and the coincident ambition among women for the prince, is pivotal to the overall action of the tommyrot Cinderella. The search for a able marriage partner for the prince is the reason for the formal. Gendered procedure Expectations in Disneys Cinderella Although the step aim and stepsisters do not engage in raditional domestic pass away, Cinderella is necessary to do so. completely women in the text are concerned with physical carriage of self or other and clearly understand this to befuddle direct jounce on the ability to procure a suitable mate. Men in the tale fill traditionally masculine status roles king, prince, and ambassador. The men own unmistakable social power the wom en struggle to attain or swear status on their own. faulting Cinderella is transform from a dutiful and instrumental girl imprisoned in a domestic world to a sightly and enviable newborn woman slug into the reality and both(prenominal) desired and seek by the prince.Transformation may be passing provoke component parts (2007) 56717727 spellbinding to youth girls, inclined the tendency to link femininity with cup of tea, desirability, and marriage suitability. Boys may or may not be used to experiencing the promotion of a male character or the development of masculinity in such a way. Rescuer and Rescued Although the mans role is de-emphasized in this tale, the Cinderella taradiddle is one of trial, rescue, and redemption (re wrestle to rightful place). The prince, who maintains Cinderella an ladder from her dire circumstances, is the true rescuer. This construct serves to realize traditional notions or so asculinity and femininity. Importance of somatic Beauty Cinderella is determine as sincere and industrious, barely she is also actually beautiful. It is her beauty that first attracts the prince, as well as her mystery, and it is her beauty (symbolic in the form of a splendid foot en boldnessd in glass) that confirms her place as rightful bride. house servant sla really also hid her physical beauty.The drop of a Pivotal Male Role This is really a report nigh girls and women, and the preadolescent prince does not renovate a central action role. The king and his advisor, although both male and powerful by their status, re relatively asexual and are juvenilized in the portrayal of their antics. The pro smidgenonist is female (Cinderella), and the mention supporting characters are also female the wicked stepmother, unattractive stepsisters, and the fairy godmother. The decentralization of male character further instantiates this tale as a feminine love story (Shumway 2003). These themes situate the text, Cinderella, as a highly gendered and traditionally prescriptive story through which an analysis of interpretations as negotiated in peer assemblages may occur.In the present study I explored the avocation research questions al approximately the ways that gendered messages re understood, appropriated, or reinvented through interaction How does the peer comp all influence the production of meaning concerning gendered messages? Do boys and girls channel to the production of meaning in the peer assemblages in connatural ways? To what intent do boys and girls reject or accept the tale as well-nigh them? To what design do the children accept the traditional gender representations without question? Do they produce interpretations that end traditional stereotypes and gendered expectations? Analysis of these questions, through the electron lens of symbolic interaction and the sociology of childhood, serves to lluminate the human relationship amidst gendered text and the perfunctory world of the chil d. 719 regularity Setting and Participants To collect the entropy for this project, I participated in informal, intensive, preliminary observation of 148 scholars in eight first-grade schoolrooms. In six of the eight classrooms, a total of 50 students participated in version concourses. apiece rendering group contained amongst nine and nine children, object for one group of 11 participants. Walt Disneys version of Cinderella (Disney 1986) was the subject matter for for distri thatively one reading group. All students involved were both 6 or 7 years old and were in the first grade.All data were collected in a public elementary naturalize serving a midwestern rural region (population 21,659). The childrens socioeconomic backgrounds ranged from uppermiddle class (parents lots university employed with high educational attainment) to children with unemployed heads of households (the country experienced cardinal factory closings instantaneously preceding to data co llection). The participants were otherwise relatively homogenous. The majority of children had bunking parents and either single, two-parent, or blended families. Eighty-nine percent of the children in the study were European American, 8% were AfricanAmerican, and 3% were Asian American. These numbers are example of the wallopingr population for the area (U. S. authorisition of the Census 2000). At all affirmable times, reading groups were conducted when Children of Color were present (e. g. , schedule around sick days). The reading groups were formed by classroom, and consisted solitary(prenominal) of children who met the criteria first-grade status, a willingness to participate, and a consent form signed by a parent or guardian. As a section of the university community, I was tending(p) admission in the classroom by the principal and then by to each one individual teacher.The local university houses a fortunate elementary education program, and the number of university a ssociates at the school at all(prenominal)(prenominal) prone time is quite large. Student teachers, researchers, facilitators, and assessors are present throughout the regular school year. The students and teachers were really friendly and right away became given up to my presence. Procedure Preliminary Observation The use of interpretive ethnographic methods (Corsaro 1997 Eder and Corsaro 1999) has become much prominent since researchers began to explore the meaning of social emergencees from the perspective of those studied (Corsaro 997, p. 75). To become well-known(prenominal) with how children actively busy in group snip, as opposed to progress to arouse Roles (2007) 56717727 720 one by one or as a larger class, I act in preliminary observation of eight first-grade classrooms over a 3 calendar month period for approximately 4 h/week.Observation occurred during the childrens classroom reading time, plan time to work in groups, and/or time usually scheduled for extra activities, such as cinemas. This time washed-out in the elementary school was an first show to the nature of these normal routines and to the research participants. I then ngaged in the primary data collection by conducting reading groups with the children. read Groups Data collection occurred in structured reading groups to explore the ways that children negotiate peer relationships in a small group around the highly traditional and gendered fairy tale, Cinderella. The reading groups were chosen as the primary method of data collection because they were naturally occurring and provided a flexible, yet invariable routine in the childrens school day, one where intentional learning was conducted piece children were encouraged to esteem and work in groups.The style and format of the reading groups closely resembled the usual in-class format. For this study, I invited the children to come sit on the floor and hear me read the tale Cinderella (Disney 1986) as was their us ual way. All children chose to participate, although they were given the option to decline. I allowed the children to discuss the illustrations and make interjections throughout the tale, though they were wonted(a) to a pattern of listening slice the story was read and of asking any questions afterward. Overall, the atmosphere of the reading group was in truth relaxed. Control over the attention of the group was fairly asy to maintain, due in large part to the childrens acquainted(predicate)ity with the reading group structure and with being read to by larges other than the teacher (e. g. , parents a lot did this). Each reading group was recorded victimization a video camera on a tripod in a landmark of the classroom. As the classrooms were small, I was able to get down the reading group interaction, albeit from only one angle. The students did not to respond to the camera as I had anticipated. later the sign set-up occurred, they neglected the camera. I later transcribed all tapes and typed my observation steps myself. I am place in the transcripts as LBS.All students label were deepend. Results To become familiar with the environment, I a good dealtimes asked the children questions, meshed in their play, and physically conjugated them as they learned (e. g. , I sometimes sat with the group on the floor). Initially, the students questioned my role in their classrooms and wondered why I did not actively participate in the regular work in a normative pornographic way as a student teacher or librarian cogency. Quickly, the children became wedded to my presence, and I was soon the object of friendly and playful competitor. Students would a great deal ask to sit by me during an activity r ask me to come out and play tag with us while lining up for recess. In conjunction with what Davies (2003) tack together, by not behaving in an authoritative way, I was quickly welcomed into the childrens activities.The children did not forget that I was an adult, as evidenced in the following excerpt from field notes, notwithstanding frequently used my age to situational advantage The children contend knock from the chair today during uninvolved time. I was invited to play and agreed to sit on the chair while one team of children tried to knock me off. curtly thither were cries of no fair, she is too solid to knock off immediately followed by a discussion rough how to reconfigure the teams so that I was on theirs Before we stubborn membership, the game was halted by the teaching coadjutor for roughness (observation notes, October 1999). at that place were also times when my adult status was obvious and irrevocable. For example, one day a boy reprehensible backwards in his chair and despatch his head on the floor.Immediately, I stepped outdoor(a) of my role of observer and confidante and assumed adult status. thither were times when the children became rather much than than than formal in their interactions with me, s uch as when I became a reader, a role a good deal filled by eacher, parent, or other adult. I also consider that the reading groups, although they occurred only once with each group of children, underscored my adult status. This meant that, at times, the children and I interacted to a greater extent formally, whereas at other times I was easily invited into the game or activity. The interactions below are representative of what occurred during the reading groups, and are infused with a familiarity between myself and the children, yet are also ruminative of the structured routine of the reading group and and so are more reserved in nature than other forms of interaction that occurred.Gendered Role Expectations The children were very familiar with the Disney version of the fairy tale, Cinderella. They knew the story well enough to finish my sentences as I read. When I read On Cinderella s feet were tiny. , umteen immediately responded with glass slippers. Similarly, legion(pr edicate) of the students joined in at the end of the tale with happily every after In fact, the students knew the story so well (particularly demonstrate by the girls), and were at times finish Roles (2007) 56717727 so caught up in the tale, that they jumped ahead in their excitement, finishing the story long before the end. some students also knew the names of Cinderellas animal friends, an element alone(predicate) to the Disney version. In the reading groups, stereotypical views of traditional gender expectations were reproduced in the childrens accounts of the tale. When asked slightly Cinderellas physical appearance prior to the reading of the tale, the children responded with a characterization of Cinderella that is coherent of Disneys well-known image. The childrens verbal description of Cinderellas ad hominemity was also static and highly traditional, in keeping with the text. Cinderella was place as beautiful, nice, deserving of riends, and as skilful in domestic ta sks. These are highly emphasized elements within the tale and were systematically linked to one some other by the children in the reading groups. The students did not problematize this imagery. The students characterized the stepsisters as ugly, mean, and inept in feminine skills.Therefore, they determine them in ways that were, for the virtually part, legitimate with the text. The stepmother was described in ways that reflect her characterization in the story, both in text and in catchs. For example, Cinderellas let, at the beginning of the tale, is shown as a young man, possibly in his late 20s, ppropriate for the father of a young girl. Concurrently, the stepmother is embellishd as gray, older, and very matronly. The students indicated that they noticed some of the inconsistency. Linda Her hair is gray. warble She is old. LBS ripe, she is older. Ben She is 100 years old. Those are her grandchildren. LBS She is 100 years old? precisely those are her daughters. Laughter and exclamations of No from the students. The students, particularly the girls, were aware of the stepmother s lack of beauty. Her appearance, age, and the fact that she is mean were often discussed.She was not defended as a mother or as a person. No child do a supportive statement just approximately the stepmother or her behavior. The prince was characterized positively by the girls, who saw him as a romantic character. The girls described the prince as handsome, although the text did not. There is no mention of good tints in the tale Cinderella (BakerSperry and Grauerholz 2003). LBS What does the prince look bid? Brooke Handsome Jill Charming. Gary Whats that mean? glycerol trimargarate That is his name. LBS What does bonny mean? Marge Thats his name Jill He is beautiful, handsome. Brooke He is ideatey. 721Although the text does not identify the Prince as handsome, charming, or envisagey, these names were often linked to this character by the girls, particularly when asked (specifically and repeatedly) about his appearance. The students did not once, however, reply that they did not know what the prince looks equal or that the book does not provide that information textually, nor did they make reference to the images offered in the books illustrations. Nor did they indicate that he was not attractive or deterrent at the question. The text does offer much insight as to the princes personality, and the students did not elaborate.In the previous excerpt, the prince was also identified as charming, a car parkly used epithet for numerous fairy tale princes, but Marge could not define charming except to speculate that is his name. Davies (2003), in her work with children and womens liberationist fairy tales, assemble that the picture that the primary male or female character will be attractive supersedes textual portrayals. This is the case here, possibly because magnet is more in keeping with the romantic nature of the tale. The children di d not question the raw material gendered assumptions embodied in many images and characterizations in the text, nor did they explore alternatives.For example, no child commented that the stepmother is not motherly toward Cinderella, that she does not look motherly, or that her personality does not fit with what one talent associate with mothering, although her physical appearance is inconsistent with popular images of mothers, which was mentioned (see above). No child questioned Cinderellas desire to marry the prince. much(prenominal) consistency across responses indicates that this group of children accepts many of the normative gendered images within the text without overtly questioning them, yet questioned those that do not fit expectations (as the stepmother s ppearance). Corsaro (1997, p. 20) argued that confusions are address but not resolved in routines, but these reading groups served as routines where staple gendered assumptions were negotiated and interpreted, but not n ecessarily problematized or resisted. The Girls in the Group Cinderella as a Site of Femininity Retelling the Tale A Form of well-disposed Power The girls in the present study often found social power or bankers word sense in the retelling of the tale. For the girls, at that place was more at stake in telling the story as it was read, than in changing the story to reflect less traditional roles and behaviors.This was documented in numerous ways for example, one girl was quickly admonished by another for suggesting that maybe Cinderella did not same(p) her image ball dress. In keeping with westmost and Zimmermans (1987) theory of gender work and performance, the girls requireed to 722 be perceived as feminine and, so, to prove their femininity through sharing components of the tale within the peer group. By retelling and defending the tale as it was read, they reinforced their positions as girls and as informal of the feminine world. Assertion of femininity was most influe ntial with other girls, but the oys did not problematize the girls engross (as they did with other boys). These examples lead to questions about the extent to which doing gender (West and Zimmerman 1987) influences the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning within the peer group. If active negotiation is about sometimes resisting dominant messages in favor of working out meaning within the peer group, but doing gender is about affirming gendered stereotypes within the same group, the two ways of understanding and making sense of the world are at odds. Girls Filtering Fantasy through ExperienceFantasy and the dream world informed the ways the girls discussed the tale. They often combined the fantasy world with their everyday lived experience to create a quadriceps for their own storytelling and/or interaction with the text. Many of the children discussed the text in terms of how their lives did or did not parallel the fairy tale, but the girls repeatedly assiduo us in fantasizing about their futures as we read. Sometimes the girls would decide that the political orientation of the fairy tale world and their personal expectations for the future conflicted. Bridget I am personnel casualty to get married to a prince. He is oing to meet me at the ball. gets up and dances around in a small circle Karen I dont think they devour balls anymore. Bridget I am vent to sire one when I turn 6 Kristi 6? You are 6, dummy. Right? Lana I wouldnt want to go to a ball if that is what happens. marriage Bridget I mean 16. Lana I dont want to get married until I am 23. Bridget Well, I can do what I want. academic session down When the content of the fairy tale touch children as related to or broody of their own lives, personal desires, or experiences, it was obvious that their matter to in the tale was elevated.This process of identifying with the text seemed to blur reality with fantasy. It was when the text did not strike the children as brooding of their lives that the processes of interpretation and group interaction were most clear. At these times, the children worked to create an image that was more reflective of their lived experience. The girls connected with the story, labeled it as about them, and identified more with the protagonist. There were also times, however, when they acknowledged identification with the less positively identified characters (e. g. , those agitate Roles (2007) 56717727 haracterized as bad or ugly, such as the stepsisters). When they discussed the stepsisters behavior toward Cinderella, the children spoke in terms of their own punishment for similar misdeeds.Bridget They are very, very, very, very selfish. Karen They should get a swat. Kristi Swats her own bottom. I have had a swat. Bridget On the bottom Many of the girls discussed the tale in terms of what they had done or would similar to do, who they are or would desire to be. The girls sometimes seemed envious of Cinderella. For example, one girl asked, with a voice full of anxiousness, ow Cinderella got to be so beautiful, and stated that she wanted to be as beautiful as Cinderella. notwithstanding at age 6, a girl knows that beauty is rewarded in our society. LBS What does Cinderella look alike? Isabel Very, very, very beautiful. Shelly She probably looks very sensibly with blond hair touches her brown hair and unappeasable eyes. touching near her own brown eyes Isabel I have blond hair touching her hair and fat eyes Shelly swats Isabel This passage illustrates how children identify with a story, discussing it in terms of how the characters are like them and how the situations parallel their experiences.Furthermore, the girls were interested in what might be in store for them as adults by assuming that what happens in the tale might happen in their lives as well. Currie (1997) argued that the adolescent girls in her study gave the messages in teen magazines ontological status, that they saw them as true and reflective of their own lives. Similarly, although the participants in the present study also identified the tale as a dream world, the girls viewed Cinderellas experience as one that might someday happen to them. In so doing, they embraced the ideological messages about emininity, yet, at the same time, negotiated, added to, and subtracted from the tale as they perked the messages through their own experiences, hopes, and desires. For example, they were particularly interested in Cinderellas new married life. Kristi Does Cinderella have babies after she gets married? LBS The book does not say what do you think? Kristi She should have babies, and she will change diapers, right? LBS If they have babies, do you think the prince will change diapers? Chorus No The girls offered interpretations that existed within the traditional framework of the text.Corsaro (1997) asserted hat children engage in interpretive reproduction, and, in so doing, they borrow from adult culture and renegocia te the messages in a reflexive process of defining and (re) Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 producing what is real. But that they borrow from their own lived experience is clearly evident in many of their discussions and reactions to the text. The girls whim that Cinderella (and they themselves) could marry and experience this traditional love story, at the same time as they realize that parts of the tale simply are not possible (such as the fairy godmother who turns a pumpkin into a coach), or re not hard-nosed for them (marriage at a very young age), speaks to this process. They are taking the reality of their own experiences and blending it, through their discussion, with their understanding of what they are and what they might hope to experience in the future. Delight and Damage Girls Peer grow and Expectations of the Feminine During the reading groups, most girls were excited, often interjecting comments, such as I have Cinderella Barbie, and running ahead in the story. one and o nly(a) girl asked to have the story read again. Many girls in the reading groups in use(p) in spontaneous role play.Role play does not usually happen after a story is read in the everyday classroom. As I did not discourage eager comments or the beginnings of role play when they first occurred in each group, they may well have simply taken my cue. One example of particularly exuberant role play occurred after a short debate over Cinderellas age. trillion She was not much older than me in the book. I think she was my age. Carla She was old enough to get married. Meg She grew up in the book. Like this. stands up and twirls around When she got her dress. Do you like my dress? I am going to the ball.Carla No, this is how Cinderella danced. stands and begins dancing Rachel I will be Cinderella when she tries on the shoe. LBS How many Cinderellas are there, anyway? laughing Tess We are all Cinderella others get up to dance As in this example, the girls often worked to allow everyone to b e involved. This is not to say that competition for the status-filled position of Cinderella did not occur. It did. But, most often, the girls worked together to make meaning of the tale. Role play did not happen routinely with the boys, and they usually stayed seated when the girls were acting out the tale.In the only example of role play in which the boys were actively involved, the prince and his friend leftfield the group to chase dragons before the ball began, about midway through the tale. There were examples of less affiliative interaction between the girls. In one role play example, a particular girl was singled out as not Cinderella because of her physical appearance. It was difficult to control the 723 interaction when a girl verbalize you cant be Cinderella, but you could be the ugly stepsister. The competition inhering in the story was painful when witnessed in children in the real world.As I stood to repoint the end of the reading group, another inadequate girl verbalise to the first shamt listen to her she just doesnt have a nice heart. The gender work in the childrens groups was, in many ways, reflective of the expectations and pressures of the larger adult world. The Boys in the Group Peer Culture of Resistance It should come as no surprise that the boys generally defined Cinderella as a girls book, and, although often they actively listened or commented, they made it clear from the beginning that this is not the book they would have chosen. This was an expected response based upon the hosen text. Even though there were many loud guffaws at the launching of the text, it was fairly clear that the boys were as familiar with the tale as the girls were. The boys did answer questions and offer comments, but as often as not it was to steer the discussion off track.This tactic was noticeably common among the boys, and they engaged in some friendly competition as to who might be the most successful, complementing each other on a job well don e. The boys also rivaled one another for the attention of the group and for my attention. As we had spent time in other orms of classroom interaction, our relationships were often friendly and familiar. But, when it came to flattery from the group or my approval, the boys usually desire approval from the group. This was often manifested in raucous storytelling. Their stories or comments interested the group because of their (sometimes sexually suggestive) shock value. LBS On Cinderellas feet were..? mike Shoes. Larry Glass shoes. Chorus Glass slippers Larry It looks like a glass dress I wish it were a glass dress Larry Ha It would be funny if it was mike And then we could see LBS All right.Her slippers are the only clothing item made of glass. One should note here that the student might not have acquire my approval, but the comment did receive my attention. Teachers often told me that sometimes students would seek notice irrespective of the consequences. Although I actively fos tered a relationship where the children were less likely to view me as an chest figure, I was, regardless, an adult. Some of the tag on responses may simply be attributed to the boys unwillingness to embrace the more romantic images in the tale (and their nifty 724 awareness of the repercussions if they did).At one point, a boy broke out in margin call flavourless singing Happily Ever After and candy kiss my hand LBS I have a couple of quick questions for you, do you mind answering? No comment LBS What is the Prince like? Matt Stupid. Ben Dumb. Brian A dummy. Jeremy He got in a coach crash. LBS wherefore? Matt Because he does not even love her. LBS Why? Matt in a gruff voice Because she is dirty to the core LBS What is Cinderella like? Chorus Dumb. LBS sensitive or mean? Ben She is a make clean lady. Matt She loves me. LBS I did not know she had ever met you. Boys laugh The satirical nature of these responses is evident.Not only did the boys challenge the structure of the reading group and my authority as a researcher, but they also pushed the boundaries in terms of what is considered by adults in the school system to be an acceptable reference to sex and sexuality. In stopping the conversation, my status as an adult was emphasized, which hindered my inclusion to their world. The boys did not elaborate on the tale in ways that identified with the prince, the king, or with Cinderella. Furthermore, the boys did not experience any social rewards from other boys for knowing the story. In fact, ost of the boys adamantly argued that they did not mission for the story at all and reacted negatively toward any boy who showed any sign of interest in the tale. The only boy who took an interest in the prince used a diametrical characterization than what was offered in the tale, although his description clearly encounters with masculine culture and expectations of male sexuality. ground level I think the prince has a lot of dances. Joe What? Dances? grunge He dances and dances and dances because he likes to kiss lots of girls Joe Oh, yeah, well he does not dance if he doesnt have to. shrugs Mark He does have to so he does.Joe Yeah, I would dance if I had to. Mark What? This conversation illustrates the tension between the social expectations that the boys sensed from one another and the larger adult world, as well as the conflicted nature Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 of the traditional stories of heterosexual love and masculinity. Examples such as this, when juxtaposed with the preceding examples of some of the girls responses, demonstrate the reproduction of larger social norms concerning sexuality and desire, as well as acceptable roles and displays for men and women. The boys were not incessantly willing to offer a response, resumably for tending of disapproval from the other boys in the group. In one group, for example, I could not resurrect a verbal response from any of the boys unless I asked them a direct question, and then I w ould receive a very short reply. One shrugged his shoulders at a general question aimed at the group the others shifted sidelong glances at each other. They did not seem to feel the need to presume enthusiasm for the book.A girl in the group stated that the boys did not like it because it is a girls book, even though there are men in it. In that particular case, one girl in the group attempted to xplain the boys attitudes toward the tale. The anxiety that the boys silence produced in the girls was acute, as was evidenced by binary responses, both apologetic comments stated to me and admonitions to the boys. The girls wanted to discuss the tale, and they desired my approval, in part so that I would keep reading. They were broken by the boys lack of enthusiasm, and indicated that they were worried that it might hurt my feelings or cause me to end the reading group. The boys seemed to sense the power of their own silence, even to revel in it, but the girls did not enjoy the silenc e at all.In each of the groups, most of the boys began to disengage within the first 10 min. Inevitably, one or two boys began quietly to discuss something other than the story, and the other boys quickly tuned in to what it was that they were doing or saying. In fact, if a boy in the group did not become engaged in these other interests, he was often solicited by a boy sitting next to him, or the other boys would look at each other and manoeuvre about him. For example, one boy who seemed to be shunned by the group as a whole engaged neither in conversation about the text nor in the boys swap conversations.Most boys ignored him, although one said Mark likes Cinderella in a uncomplimentary way, to identify Mark as not one of us. Another boy, clearly interested in the tale, quickly realized that the other boys disapproved after he made an initial comment, and he spent the rest of the reading group attempting to regain his position as one of us by stating that Cinderella stinks. T hese findings illustrate how gendered behavior is expected of and by boys and girls. Whether Mark had earlier shown an interest in girls lug or was alienated from the boys as an unpopular student, his gender was suspect and became a means of torment.The second boy is an example of the work commonly done to regulate Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 masculine behavior. Most students were very in-tune with the groups expectations for gendered behavior and quickly accommodated. Davies (2003) argued that teasing and alienation serve to maintain the categorical boundaries between the constructions of femininity and masculinity. This regular, everyday maintenance work was evidenced here in the boys discussion of the group member who deviated from the expected response. Only one boy who spoke positively about the tale was not chastised by the other boys.This vitrine was also one of the rare make when a child offered an alternate image from a media source more reflective of lived experience or identity. Recently there have been a number of attempts to create films of fairy tales that include challenges to traditional messages, such as Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella (1997), starring Brandy, a young African American woman, as Cinderella. Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella was also produced by Disney Studios. LBS How many of you liked that story? Derrick I have the movie, but Cinderella is Black. LBS Do you have the movie with Brandy in it?Derrick Yes. This student, an African American, referenced the images from this alternate source. No one in his group, however, seemed to be familiar with this version, and only two other children in other reading groups mentioned the alternate Disney version of the tale. Discussion As has been antecedently argued, and is evidenced by the data in the present study, there are very few children who have not been uncovered to Walt Disneys Cinderella. The assertion that the media serve as vehicles of womens subordination is a common ele ment among theories of gender and gender socialization. The fact that children onsume stories like Cinderella on an everyday basis, and that stories often reify highly gendered constructions of behavior and roles, encourages us to look closely at the messages within the media to which children are exposed (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 2003). It is important to explore the extent to which children take these well-known messages and filter them through their lived experiences, altering them and sometimes producing new readings of gender, but it is also necessary to note that, if the text is about them, then the children are more likely to contribute ontological status, or truth status, to the text.This is further unified by conflict between groups, as in this case between the boys and girls responses to the text. The boys did not find themselves reflected in the text therefore they did not elevate the text to truth status. There are other stories that resonate more soundly with the con struct of masculinity. 725 The very act of defining the text as a girls book authenticates the assumptions of gender divergency for the boys and girls. The childrens behavior within the reading groups was highly influenced by group interaction. This is in keeping with Corsaros (1992) assertion that most socialization ccurs at the level of interaction, be it in the family, among peers, or elsewhere. The nods and sounds of approval from group members encouraged both bridal of the media messages and interaction and interpretation of those messages, depending upon the perspective of the group. An uncomfortable group atmosphere was often evident in conjunction with doing gender. The girls and boys were highly influenced by the group, and acceptance or rejection of the text was enhanced by whether or not the children identified with the story, whether they legal opinion that it was or was not about them.This is no doubt one of the reasons that the boys in the present study did not enj oy the tale, or did not openly admit to doing so. Cinderella is a text that resonates with social messages aimed toward girls (e. g. , social rewards for goodness, kindness, and care as well as an tenseness on feminine beauty) and does not problematize a beauty perfect, romantic love, or competition among women for a the attention of men. The messages routinely found in books for boys, such as an vehemence on strength, the ability to protect others, and the demurrer of emotions (Seiter 1993), are not prevalent in Cinderella.The girls embraced the story, identified with the female characters, and actively engaged in filtering the text through their lived experience and expectations of the future. They clearly took pleasure, for the most part, in reenacting the fairy tale, taking particular delight in the transformation of a young, downtrodden girl into a beautiful princess. The tale was well known, and well loved, by most of the girls. There were instances, however, when a girl w as admonished for wanting to be Cinderella because she was seen by the others as not attractive enough, when the girls discussed ways that their experiences sometimes more closely atched the stepsisters, or occasions when the anxiety produced by the normative expectations of femininity became evident (How does Cinderella get to be so beautiful? ). But, for the most part, the acceptance was unanimous and excited. Through the girls discussion of the story, traditional expectations for femininity were identified, reified, and reinforced. The strong identification with the tale, as evidenced by the girls, is an indication of the social importance of traditional expectations of femininity. In light of previous research that has identified girls as active negotiators in the construction of meaning (Corsaro 1997Currie 1997), the unquestioning response to the traditional elements of the tale signifies the importance of gendered Sex Roles (2007) 56717727 726 expectations and the solidness o f gendered boundaries. The girls responded with a clear reaction Cinderella is about us Such a reaction, from any single girl, evidenced and affirmed her femininity. Cinderella was not, however, about or for the boys. As a feminine tale, any association might be seen as feminizing for them. This supports a traditional ideology associated with heterosexual masculinity. Furthermore, it might be xpected that a boy would respond differently, possibly more positively, outside of the group setting (e. g. , at home reading with a parent, or reading on his own) if the expectations to do gender were less (Thorne 1997 West and Zimmerman 1987). Through group displays, the boys demonstrated resistance to the messages in the tale and reinforced group acceptance of normative masculinity.The textual association with romantic love, messages traditionally directed toward women and girls (e. g. , domestic work, competition for men, stress on beauty), and the packaging of the text (i. e. , colourise of pink and purple with cute animals) infixed in Cinderella simply do not mesh with boys experiences in learning about masculinity or the cultural expectations of them. These conflicts are reinforced through interaction in the peer group, and the peer group often regulated interpretation. The boys also actively go the story to a place that was more about them. In this way, they de-centered the central character and instead turned to other components of popular fairy tales that are more fire to them, such as chasing dragons and amiable in adventurous sword play. They also shifted the focus from the story in general to hallenging my authority as its reader. This is particularly interesting given the friendly and affiliative behavior I previously had experienced when interacting with the boys during in-class observation, when they were either doing assigned work or engaging in more routine (and less gendered) everyday activities.This is in keeping with their quick and decisive tr eatment of each other when gender boundaries were crossed. Davies (2003) identified similar responses in the preschool children she observed. Corsaros assertions concerning the influence of the peer group on the interpretation and production of meaning were evident in he reading groups conducted for the present study. The children actively participated in peer socialization through the use of encouragement, enticement, pleading, and, sometimes, ridicule. The children dealt with the messages and images together, often building on one another s sentences and gesticulate in agreement at the final product. At other times, their disagreement contributed to an understanding of the complexities of the questions raised. The boys and girls produced and affirmed meanings consistent with their gender, and actively worked to stop these processes.These findings indicate that the work of doing gender West and Zimmerman 1987) plays an essential role in the process of interpretation for children . Aydt and Corsaro (2003) argued that this is particularly the case for middleclass, American children. The highly formalized classroom may reify the gendered categories boys and girls, thereby constraining group interaction and the ability to engage freely in the negotiation process. 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