Response to Amanda Putnam

Amanda Putnam's article on Mean Ladies:transgendered Villains in Disney Films adopts a stereotypical stance that certain qualities are masculine and certain one are feminine; however, given the stereotypes, Putnam makes a very valid argument that the villains in Disney films are transgendered and given qualities of the opposite sex. I never really thought of female characters portraying male characteristics and vice versa until I read Amanda Putnam's Mean Ladies:transgendered Villains in Disney Films. One point that I do not agree with Amanda's article is the fact there a division between what qualities is masculine and what qualities are feminine. There are girls who are tom boys, play sports, athletic, and do not look like a typical female, which does not mean that they are any less of a female. Defining certain qualities of a female is impossible to do because each female is unique in their own way. Same argument with males applies. Men can take jobs within domestic work and be happy, like interacting with animals, and finish school. I find in general the whole principal of Putnam's argument to based on false ground and adhering to the stereotypes that we find in society. However, if we discuss this issue within the stereotypes, Putnam makes an excellent argument that the villains in the Disney exhibit qualities of the other gender. Disney portrays these villains as such to illustrate a stark difference what Disney defines to be the stereotypical male and the stereotypical female. One such example that Putnam uses to illustrate how the villains exhibit transgendered qualities is with Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Ursula, the female villain in the movie, is the typical transgendered villain in Disney because "Ursula's overweight body and tentacles, her deep voice, and the excessive sexualized shimmies are reminiscent of a drag queen on stage, overly made up and singing deeply, appearing both female and male simultaneously" (Putnam 155). Ursula depicts the typical drag queen, where males dress up as females, make up, clothes, and everything, and perform for an audience. Putnam illustrates here that Disney purposefully makes the villains as transgendered to depict to their audiences that these individuals are not the typical males nor females that the audiences should aspire to be. Because they are the villains in this case and exhibit these transgendered qualities, Disney illustrates that one should not cross boundaries in what qualities should be defined as male and female. Even with the males, these transgendered qualities are apparent.

However, Putnam does make stretches in her argument to try and prove that all Disney villains exhibit transgendered qualities. For example, she uses Jafar from Aladdin to try and prove that not having a romantic interest in someone proves her point that all Disney villain are transgendered. Putnam argues that "wish is not motivated by lust, but rather by his obsession for more power. Jafar's only incentive to pursue a heterosexual relationship is to humiliate Jasmine and anger Aladdin" (157). Putnam tries to argue that not wanting to be in a heterosexual relationship indicates a transgendered quality; however, Jafar's quest for power and dominance over the kingdom illustrates a strong male quality that he has. He wants to take over the Sultan position by any means possible and because he has no romantic interest in Jasmine does not indicate that is a transgendered individual. Maybe his thirst for power consumes everything inside of Jafar that he has no room for anything else for him to consider, especially love and relationships. Just because villains do not have spouses or fall in love does not indicate that they are transgendered, it just indicates that the greed and lust for power consumes all villains, so they do not have time for anything else.