Official URL: https://doi.org/10.17265/2159-5836/2015.02.004

Walt Disney animated films are considered synonymous with wholesome family entertainment despite the inherent negative messages of gender, age, and power hierarchies behind them. This paper proposes to explore the aspect of age as intersecting with gender through the villainesses in six of Disney’s popular animated films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989), Tangled (2010), and Frozen (2013). How Disney alters the actions of major and minor characters, and the construction of aging female characters and the key characteristics they exhibit during their fight for eternal youth, beauty, and social and political power will be analyzed, attempting to show how Disney is not a harmless substitute for a babysitter for children.