Since its creation in 1923, Disney has brought 229 movies (including Disney Channel Originals) and thousands of characters right into our living rooms. Characters that move us, make us laugh, and whose stories change our lives. For Gen-Z, Disney classics have become a major part of our lives.

For many young people, Disney movies are a source of light and a window into discovering who they are or who they want to be.

“In the movies, they give you so much inspiration to find yourself or be a better person and I feel like after I watch certain movies it’s like “Okay I wanna be this” and I help people around me,” Shylah Dickerson, 10, said.

Disney not only inspires people to find themselves but also teaches the importance of being yourself. A lesson that tends to stick but can be difficult to use.

“Being yourself will be hard, especially dealing with your family and friends sometimes,” Shylah said.

Furthermore, Gen-Z looks to Disney to bring them more than inspiration to find themselves and to be themselves. They look to Disney to teach them important lessons and skills that will help them in the real world.

“I have gotten a lot from Disney like how to be kind and put other people before yourself,” Madison Manaugh-Campos, 9, said.

There are a wide variety of lessons one can learn through Disney. A lesson you can find in every Disney movie is the importance of kindness.

Madison explains the greatest lesson she has learned from Disney is “to treat everyone how you want to be treated and everyone is equal. No one is higher than another one so I have been taught by Disney to love everyone no matter what.”

Additionally, movies like Cinderella and Nemo teach us to never give up and movies like Brave and Mulan teach us to never give up and to keep trying even when things get hard.

“I think the biggest thing that I’ve gotten from movies, from Disney movies specifically, is that even when you’re tested, even when something doesn’t turn out how you want it to turn out, you can still learn from it,” Shylah said. “It can still be processed and learned from and instead of taking it as a bad thing, look on the bright side that when you came from that situation and to now you are able to become a better individual from that situation.”

Disney not only inspires self-discovery and teaches life lessons, but they also inspire viewers in so many other ways.

“It’s inspired me to keep accomplishing my goals and to continue being a strong female,” Shylah said.

Disney provides young women with important role models like Merida, Alex Russo, Moana, and even Teddy Duncan that they can look up to.

“Even though you are strong, your strength will be tested as a female. Especially being a female in the 21st century and I think movies like Moana or Brave, go against society or go against their community because of what they believe in so as I’m saying like your strength will be tested, their strength was tested and they still turned out to be strong individuals, strong females,” Shylah said.

With so many things to learn and discover, Disney continues to be a source of knowledge. Providing the kids of today with life lessons and skills through cartoons.