Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
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Unlicensed “Frozen” app gives Anna C-section, perfect body
It’s the strangest thing I’ve seen in some time: In a new, unlicensed Frozen app, players deliver Anna and Kristoff’s baby via a magical C-section, with tools including magic ice and a glowing orb. According to Buzzfeed, the app called “Anna Giving Birth” by developer Oleg Vinogorodov…
Read MoreCustomers: Stop abusing Disney Store clerks. It’s not their fault Frozen merch is sold out.
Disney’s film Frozen was released in theaters five months ago, but merchandise based on the film is still sold out at Disney Stores nationwide. It’s clear that Disney Consumer Products Division had no inkling that Frozen would become the most successful animated movie of…
Read MoreRole Models Reimagined as Disney Princesses: A Q&A with Artist David Trumble
In the midst of the “Sexy Merida” controversy back in May, cartoonist David Trumble posted a satirical set of cartoons to the Huffington Post. His cartoons imagined how Disney’s Consumer Product Division would redesign other female role models to fit…
Read MoreDisney’s Obamacare “inspiration” not as great as it sounds.
An article praising Disney World went viral on Facebook on Thursday. Brimming with excitement, the article reported that unlike companies that have cut part-time employees’ hours to avoid providing them with health insurance, Disney was “inspired”: Taking a “different approach,”…
Read MoreDisney responds to Merida petition, missing the point
Recently, Disney released a new, 2D image of Merida. This prompted outrage because the character’s design was altered, for no good reason. The new Merida has been “prettified”–made more conventionally attractive in a way that undercuts the character’s strengths, to the detriment of the children…
Read MoreDisney faces backlash over new “sexy” Merida; pulls new image from web site as a result
UPDATE, May 16, 2013: Disney has stated that 1. the 2D image was never on their official web site in the first place (though, oddly, it’s all over the official Australia/NZ version of the Disney Princess site–which may have been the source of any…
Read MoreSofia the Not-So-Latina-After-All
Months ago, Disney announced that a new Disney Channel cartoon, Sofia the First, would be released this year, targeting girls ages 2 to 7. With the title character a little girl, rather than a teenager, Disney promised that Sofia the First…
Read MoreDisney Princess Prom Gowns and Cradle-to-Grave Marketing
Just a few months ago, I wrote about how Disney Princess-styled extravagance among toddlers reflects the extraordinary extravagance of today’s proms, which now cost families an average of $1,000 to $2,000. But until Mouse on the Mind brought it to…
Read MoreReimagining Disney Princesses with racial diversity: From Tumblr to D-Tech
A couple of weeks ago, a young woman named Lauren reimagined the white Disney Princess characters as women of color, posting recolored images of them on her Tumblr blog. Her inspired designs quickly made their way around the blogosphere. Responses ranged…
Read MoreDisney-Pixar’s Brave: Critiquing the criticisms
I saw Brave the day it debuted in theaters, and I’m glad that Merida is a different kind of princess–one who can be read as a critique of both the trope that princesses are passive and the trend to tell…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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