As technology is advancing, children are more inclined to play computer games and watch countless movies on DVD's. Reading a book was once entertainment, but now it is more of a relaxation method or something you do for work. Still, children are reading books within school and at home to broaden their horizons and open up their imagination. These days, movies are an easier way to "read" a book, and it is more appealing and doesn't take up as much time. The content and preciseness of the story is usually skimmed over and there is no thought involved compared to reading.

If children especially are watching more movies instead of reading, will they appreciate structure, characters and effort that a book contains? Probably not. Role models for children these days usually stem from movies such as Spiderman and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and not from characters in books like The Little Princess or Rowan of Rin. Role models are examples of how to discover and realise your own unique talents and, inspiration to be more, to be authentic and original. Although some movies try to demonstrate this within their storylines, I find that children generally get more of an idea of what a role model is from reading through numerous pages of connected and meaningful text.

The Little Princess is a movie that is based upon Frances Hodgsonis Burnett's book of the same title. It is here within this movie that a young girl named Sara becomes an orphan after her father is supposedly killed at war. When she moves into the orphanage she becomes friends with a group of girls which she draws strength from and they find comfort and appreciation for themselves within her.

It isnt a movie about literally being a princess, it is more aimed at the strength of such a young girl and how she helps others to love themselves and appreciate others. The director has based this movie on a great novel for young readers and has done well to get his message across to all the viewers, especially children and more so girls. Being a princess doesn't have to involve a big castle, wealth and a handsome prince, it can be having an inner beauty greater than all of the material things in the worldand thats the basic storyline of 'The Little Princess'.

On the other side, we have the classic Disney version of Cinderella, an old time classic that just about every child would've seen in their lifetime. Although very musical and entertaining, there isn't much more to it. There is no great message that is sent out to kids compared to "The Little Princess" and I think that's one of the more important qualities that a film should have, especially if they're aimed at children. I also found that "Cinderella" stuck to the era in time where hedgemonic masculinity and femininity played a big role, the men were the providers and were seen as the powerful gender whereas the females dressed up every day to impress the males, obeyed every word that was spoken by a male and never went out on their own adventures. These types of movies can almost be seen as sexist, but that was the way of living when this movie was created, and it has proven to be extremely popular over all these years and will continue to be for the future to come. It is quite scary to think that a movie of this type which lacks adventure and a sense of self will be shown to millions of children across the world, is this why it is hard to find relative good role models in the world today? Is this why teenagers and adults have so many problems with their self esteem and confidence? No-one can really know but maybe, movies of this type which have been viewed for years and have become popular amongst children may be partly the cause of such problems amongst people. It is something we can quite easily overlook, movies that children watch having an effect on them when they're young and when they're older.