Disney Princesses

From Fanpop

If you thought Miss Congeniality was an unlikely candidate for this blog, your jaw must be hitting the floor now, LOL.

In this unlikely blogpost I am going to argue that the Disney Princess has come a long way from her first incarnation: Snow White ("If you let me stay, I'll keep house for you. I'll wash and sew and sweep and cook.") Disney Princesses are one of the earliest means by which children come to an understanding of romance and adult relationships. It might be helpful to think back and consider if your attitudes to sex and love today were influenced by those entrancing films.

Plus, the films are beautiful. One of the bonuses of having a piglet is that I get to buy all the classic Disney films on BluRay. (Although I want to add that piglet maintenance is unfortunately not all about slobbing on the sofa with some jelly and icecream and Beauty and the Beast, so you should wear a condom until you are really sure you want to spend your life kneedeep in shitty nappies).

Disney's Princesses went from the childish high voice and domesticated Snow White (1937) to Cinderella (1950) and Aurora (1959). Another long break was followed by more feisty coming of age stories, in which Ariel (1989), Belle (1991), Jasmine (1992) and Pocohontas (1995) find love and demonstrate that they are grown up partly through defying their fathers. Classic Freudian stuff, gals! with an underlying message that it's through sexuality and an adult romantic relationship that you come of age, rather than through getting to go out socialising with your girlfriends or going away to college or getting a job, etc etc. With Esmerelda and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) it was all starting to be a bit different. (TBH, I have never managed to see that one, in spite of efforts to persuade Piglet to stop watching educational nature programmes and give it a go.) I suspect that was the last Princess film in which cultural values came through the medium of the script without the writers being conscious of the way the story sells us certain ways for girls (in particular) to be. After that one, writers began to think consciously about representing role models for future generations of women.

Article from MIT

From pinterest

The arrival of Mulan (1998) seemed to signal that the Disney studios had finally realised we were fast approaching the 21st century. Mulan defies her father, not to find love but to go off to war. Of course she finds love there too, gosh, we were still in the 20th century after all!  

Mulan was a break with tradition in a number of ways, utilising culturally appropriate drawing techniques unlike the orientalist (although still delightful) Aladdin, and combining comedy with exquisite painting. Mulan not only found love, she had a set of battle comrades including her dragon, cricket and horse, and three unlikely fellow warriors willing to drag up in a good cause.

Send kick-ass Princesses as an e-card!

In 2001, animated romance was turned upside down by the postmodern Shrek. In Shrek traditional forms of story-telling and film-making are turned on their heads. There are obvious joking references to cultural icons like the three little pigs or the gingerbread man. Many of these references are used to undermine traditional gender politics, e.g. the big bad wolf wearing a dress. Contemporary and golden oldie pop music is utilised in knowing ways, rather than simpering songs being composed especially for the film. (Donkey sings to Dragon: I Like Big Butts, and Disco Inferno - "Burn, baby, burn"). At the end of the film, Fiona selects not the 'charming' prince she was destined for - who turns up in Shrek 2 (2004), hilariously voiced by Rupert Everett - but an ogre. In doing so, she accepts her own inner ogre.

What this fable says to us, is that we are not airbrushed corsetted Disney Princesses; to be human can sometimes mean being a little ogre-ish rather than perfect. We should accept that and have fun, not tortured hairdos. For feminists, Shrek was a joy, with the ass-kicking Princess and the Dragon who has feelings too.

Favourite Disney kiss for this blogger

Disney wobbled along with their next two Princesses, making small adjustments to the traditional format: Tiana, (2009) hardworking and first African American princess (falls in love); Rapunzel (2010 - she was another lovely classic Disney Princess).

From DisneyWiki

Then Pixar stepped into the frame, and we got Merida (2012), the first Disney Princess not to fall in love, and first to cross swords (almost literally!) with her mother rather than her father. Merida refuses all three of her suitors to fight for her own hand in the tournament. Her tempestuous relationship with her traditionally minded mother initially brings tragedy but then greater understanding, love and freedom for both mother and daughter.

Most recently, we had Frozen. You might consider that a classic Disney Princess film, with Princess Anna having to realise that one bloke is not as good as he looks, and that a more humble lad is her chosen beau. But whose little outfit and little Disney Princess doll and jewellery set plus wig is most popular? Queen Elsa, who never has a sniff of a love interest. The story revolves around Elsa's extraordinary powers. Her ability to cause all around her to freeze is at first seen as a curse. Rather than the curse being lifted through true love, however, her powers comes to be seen as a benefit. Elsa empowers herself through her gift, stepping up to rule the kingdom as the sole monarch.

Recently I popped into the Disney shop (ugh ugh! ours even has a glittering floor, ugh!) for something horrid as a gift for my niece. The song from Frozen (you know the one) came up on the screens. I saw another mum standing in the middle of the shop, looking up at the screen and softly singing along:"Let it go, let it go, ... the cold never bothered me anyway." I don't know if or what troubles she might have had in her life. That song spoke to women of all ages who have felt we are struggling through life instead of skating figures on its surface, who have amazing powers which are viewed as a curse, who want to make a difference.

 

I would really love to leave my blogpost there, with this feminist fairy tale about a Queen who gets to realise that her 'curse' is a power that she can use for good in the world. However, let's go back to the Disney shop and have a look at the Brave items for sale there. Little bow and arrow, well yeah, but I can tell you they have not been designed for budding archers to practice with. Stuffed horse, OK. Plastic figures. Several long dresses prettily decorated with celtic symbols, of the kind Merida ripped off herself in order to compete in the tournament. Merida handbag. Merida plastic jewellery set. Merida make-up kit. 

The Disney shop is driven by demand. The films are written by a few people who might bend the story in order to influence young minds, in the way that AussieScribbler and I agree in his guest blogpost is an acceptable way to bend writing. However what is available in the shop, is there only because the larger mass of people are buying it for our children. Until our daughters start insisting on having the Merida DIY build your own target kit instead of a make-up kit, until we bring them up to expect something like that, beautifying herself will continue to be the main way a young woman demonstrates that she is a competent adult. 

Fighting bears? Arguing with mummy? Oooh, I don't know. I won't risk ripping my lovely long Merida frock, will I?