Maybe most didn't have the chance to witness in person, but the euphoria after the D23 Expo 2016 was felt by fans wherever they were, including me. As a Disney devotee, spoiler sof the project for the next three years and the release of trailers of upcoming films will lead to gasp for joy. It is no secret that Disney has had a significant influence on global pop culture. Whether it is the characters, the movies, the theme park, and the knick-knacks, Disney is everywhere, and everyone loves it! One of the main target markets for Disney is young girls, as evidenced by the many princess characters who play the leading role in the story. Over time, Disney seems to be aware of the influence they have and take responsibility for presenting the ideal female role model—which quite a stark contrast to the majority of Indonesian media.
Living as a woman in Indonesia means living in a patriarchy. Patriarchy is born from the bias between the reproductive function of sex and gender roles, which often creates debate and conflict in society. It should be noted, many experts have agreed that gender (female and male) talks about the biological domain and chemical composition that results in different reproductive functions. Meanwhile, gender is a cultural concept that used to distinguish the roles, behaviors, mentality, and emotional characteristics of men and women that develop in society. While women are almost always identified as physically gentle and caged within the domestic area, men are expected to be strong, suppress their emotions, and act as the bread maker. Anything contrary to that was considered an abnormality. Gender roles, which should be autonomous from one's physical status, generally contain societal expectations of a biological division of the roles of men and women. In Indonesia, this distinction is accentuated by mainstream media.
Patriarchy is a manifestation of identity politics because it automatically grants privileges to one side; in this case, men. This means that there will be groups of people who exploit the patriarchal culture to maintain the status quo as holders of these privileges, which creates a condition where there are superior and inferior parties. The superiority possessed by men has been rooted and accepted by society. Moreover, it is seen as something natural, both by men and women. We are familiar with the consequences: objectification of women's bodies, an unequal division of household roles, career restrictions on women, the perpetuation of beauty standards, marital rape, and also all the trivial details that follow such as the mediocre belief that women's space is only limited to macak, manak, masak (groom, bear children, and cook).
Disney seems to have realized that and slowly evolved from the typical passive, one-dimensional princess who depends their happy ever after on white horse princes like Aurora, Snow White, and Ariel, to tough female characters. Just look at how Merida in the film Brave defies mainstream beauty standards with her red curly hair, freckles, and fantastic archery skills. Disney also understands the importance of representation of various ethnic groups in the media. The latest Disney-Marvel film, Spiderman: Homecoming is hailed as one of the films with the most diverse cast, with Asian, Latin, and African-American actors with a reasonably even portion of the roles. The announcement of the plan to make a live-action Aladdin also denied accusations that the Hollywood film industry had a habit of whitewashing (the selection of a Caucasian actor to portray a POC character) by choosing Mena Massoud, an actor of Egyptian blood, as the main character.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the media still plays a significant role in determining beauty standards through the depiction of female figures in films, advertisements, soap operas, and other content. Ronald Kasali in Advertising That Sells reveals that women have become the most potential market and become an easy target for capitalism. Curly hair, dark skin, or a thick body labelled "ugly" solely for the sake of selling skin whitening products, slimming pills, shampoos, conditioners, vitamins or hair masks, and others that are selling well and are loved by women to be "beautiful". However, the psychological impact on Indonesian women is very pronounced.
In Frozen, we watched two sisters using their strength to save the entire country from danger. We saw a male supporting character who did not determine the course of its plotline. At the same time, Indonesian corporates stick with the exploitation of the female body to emphasize male's (toxic) masculinity as seen in 'manly' product commercials such as cigarette, fragrant, or car wash soap. As expected, advertisements for household products such as cooking spices, laundry soap, and children products, always portray women as housewives which reinforces the view that women's roles are limited to the domestic area, especially once they enter the world of marriage.
Disney has Moana, the daughter of a Polynesian tribe chief, who struggles to risk her life across the oceans to defend the lives of its citizens. Disney has Jyn Erso, one of the greatest warriors and plays central figure in the plot of one of the most prominent franchises, Star Wars! In Indonesia, women are often warned not to pursue higher education as it could scare the men away. That the qualities possessed by women such as intelligence, creativity, or even a strong mentality are useless if they do not fulfil their 'destiny' as a wife and mother. That no matter how much her achievement is, it is useless because she will return to… the kitchen.
It is a shame that the potential of Indonesian women who should be cared for in order to bring about massive progressive changes and become the economic and social pillars of the nation is in vain because narrow, inferior thoughts like this 'deliberately' extinguish them.
Written for Jawa Pos Opinion column in 2016.