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THE 2021 FESTIVAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
RUNNING 1-30 NOVEMBER 2021
FoSS and ESRC logos

Imagining Princesses: Exploring Princess Culture with Young Children

What’s on offer?

What does being a princess mean and what does a princess look like to your child?...

Princess culture shapes the lives and identities of girls and women, therefore the images we see are the only ones we can interpret. Understanding how children interpret these images is integral for creating change.

Dr Robyn Muir, from the Department of Sociology invites young children and their parents to reflect on representations of princesses in popular culture through an interactive activity online and explore important debates that arise from them. Themes could range from identity to body image and appearance.

This will empower parents with their children to start to critically engage with the Disney Princess Phenomenon, along with wider media sources. Learning media literacy will allow children to de-trivialise the trivial and build critical thinking skills. It will also provide parents with a platform to critically engage with the content their children consume, together as a family.

What’s it about?

This event explores what it means to be a princess. An icon in girl culture and wider childhood, princesses and their stories are a central part of development for children. With parents and children, Dr Robyn Muir from the Department of Sociology will invite participants to discuss what being a princess means, the qualities of a princess, and what that means for us as a society. Themes explored could be anything from identity to body image, encouraging the building of media literacy skills. The event will be held online on a Sunday to make it easier for families to attend along with a free gift posted to every child!

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Robyn Muir is a Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Surrey. Her research focuses on the images of femininity within the Disney Princess Phenomenon, focusing on how femininity has been constructed in film, merchandise, marketing, and consumer experiences. Her book, The Princess is the Political, is forthcoming with Bristol University Press and includes an in-depth feminist analysis of Disney Princess films, merchandise and consumer experiences. An avid Disney fan herself, Robyn uses her research as a platform to discuss important societal issues and encourage media literacy to empower consumers to demand change and diversity in the media industry.

Open to

Children aged 3-8 and their families

Of particular interest to

Parents and children (aged 3-8) and those who are interested in the Disney Princesses and general princess culture

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