Dismantling Disney. Post-feminism in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019)

Abstract

[eng] The post-feminist movement began more or less simultaneously with the globalization of the media. Although these two events do not seem to be related at all, they are actually closely connected, since it is considered that the discourse projected by the media plays a crucial role in the representation and development of this fresh feminism (Adriaens 2009, 1). For this reason, some franchises in the sector – as it is the case of the Disney Channel Company – have intended to use their influence among adolescents to distribute the post-feminist discourse through their programs. However, are the Disney Company characters as post-feminist and revolutionary as they want their viewers to believe? This dissertation argues that, despite their attempts to present themselves as post-feminist, the characters of the programs and series of the channel continue to behave in a traditional and non-feminist way. To argue this, an analysis of Kourtney, one of the characters in one of their most recent original series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019), will be carried out. This will include the presentation of various aspects of post-feminism, such as the consideration of fashion and the body as tools for empowerment, as well as deliberate misbehaviour, and the notions of agency and individualism, respectively. All these areas are introduced to analyse Kourtney in relation to them, with the final intention to prove that this Disney character is not as post-feminist as it seems.