Disney Princesses from a feminist perspective
So I am a feminist and I am the mother of a little girl. The mother part means I am familiar with all of the Disney princesses and the feminist part means I judge whether the princesses are worthy or not of my daughter's idealization. In general though most of the Disney princesses teach you that kings make great rulers and that princesses have to be singing beauties. Oh other thing they teach is, if you can't get what you want run away. Come on! Feel free to tell me where I am wrong but I have put some hard thought into this.
Decent Role Models by Disney Standards
Princess Tiana: Disney's New Princess 2009
Disney is adding more diversity which is great. I saw this movie with my daughter this year and she is a great princess. I actually have no complaints about Tiana at all.
My daughter enjoyed the movie too. Great new villain.
The ‘official’ site for the new Disney Princess movie -‘The Princess and the Frog’
Belle - The Best Princess by far!
Belle likes to read and she takes care of her father. She gets rid of that nasty Gaston fella and saves her father.
I don’t really have anything bad to say about Belle she was brave and stood up for what she believed in.
One complaint, Belle is super pretty – so Disney manages to get the always important message out there that it is important for girls to be pretty.
Mulan - she ran away, BAD, but she did it save her father
Ok so she is not a princess but still a female role model. I like Mulan. She shows women that they can become what they want and they are not forced to one thing.
My daughter does not like to watch this one as much she still wants to watch Sleeping Beauty, bah. I found out she likes sleeping beauty because of her pink dress. I can’t fault her for that I like pink too.
Another Run Away – but hers is the most noble cause, to save her father. I still don’t like the running away story line but it is not a petty reason.
Jasmine - Used what she had to get what she wanted
I don’t like the way she dresses and I found her kind of whiny sometimes but she wanted to break of the mold her father created for her which isn’t bad. Also at the end she tried to aid in her own rescue using the resources she had.
Another Run Away. Running away is a bad idea and there are a number of Princesses that like to run away, argh.
Pocahontas - On the fence
I haven’t watched this movie over and over again so I don’t really know what kind of princess she is. She did jump off a really big cliff though which is cool.
Is she a princess?
Alice
I forgot Alice thanks @ubreewyattsmith
I need to think about Alice still but my first instinct is good but I’m going to keep her as indifferent. This probably has nothing to do with Alice herself I just dont’ really like this movie.
I don’t get how someone gets obsessed with a white rabbit. I do have to give Alice credit though – she is completely fearless. I guess you could also say her pursuit of the white rabbit regardless of what crazy things you see or encounter is a sign of mental issues. I would like to think my daughter would have turned back before she crawled in that nasty little cave.
Aurora - the most worthless Princess
BTW Sleeping Beauty’s name is Aurora – I wonder how many people knew that.
Aurora does nothing except fall asleep and cry over finding out she is a princess. She has hardly says a word in this movie, really like 100 words at most.
She didn’t get her beauty and singing voice naturally those were given to her by fairies.
And And what is with them giving her those gifts!!! The two most important qualities in a princess are beauty and a singing voice!? Come on, what about diplomacy, or economics, or war strategy? Argh, I don’t get Disney sometimes!
Ariel - 16 is WAY to young to get married
Another Run Away- yikes and she is 16 and thinks she knows what is best for her, no way darlin’ that would still be your parents.
She made a deal with the witch which was an extremely bad idea! This teaches my daughter to make deals with bad people if it gets her what she wants.
Ariel’s one good thing in this movie is that she saved the prince and in the end she took part in killing the evil witch.
Cinderella - Fought for what she wanted
A singing beauty again – come on.
So, judging her by today standards I think I would have stood up to her step mother but I do not think that would have been a real choice for Cinderella.
Cinderella wanted more and she fought to go to the ball. She followed her dreams but the fact that her major dream was to go to a ball stinks. A better dream would be to become a wealthy merchant that could gain her independence from her Step Mother
Snow White - Typical Femine model and there is nothing wrong with that
Singing and Pretty – those are the main things that stand out about Snow White.
She also likes to cook and clean and take care of people which is the typical feminine stereotype but those things are important and if that is what she wants to do then go for it.
Snow White turns out to be a trusting idiot when she eats the apple given to her by the crazy old lady. We need to teach our girls to be rude when they feel uncomfortable not just go along with something because they want to be nice. Snow White was noticeably uncomfortable with the witch but she ate the apple anyways – FAIL.
Of course you have to experience the Disney princesses first hand. You can walk through the castle here but it is pretty.
Of course you have to experience the Disney princesses first hand. You can walk through the castle here but it is pretty.
You can walk through this castle and you can eat breakfast or lunch in the castle. If you want to eat in the castle make sure to make reservations as soon as you can. You can’t just walk up and get a table.
You can walk through this castle and you can eat breakfast or lunch in the castle. If you want to eat in the castle make sure to make reservations as soon as you can. You can’t just walk up and get a table.
Where you can find all the princess junk you want.
Where you can find all the princess junk you want.
A quote from the article
“The princess theme is also one of the classic narratives of social mobility. The notion that women rise in the social stakes by virtue of the man they attach themselves to is hardly politically correct or progressive, but in many ways it still holds credence.
There is still an attitude – a very princess attitude – among some girls and young women, that marrying well, especially financially, is desirable, so they can easily live the life of a princess. But there’s an obvious conflict between this dream and contemporary female aspirations. The princess has a fundamentally passive role: she is waiting to be picked. Sleeping Beauty is probably the extreme example – to become the princess who lives happily ever after with her prince, she does nothing."
She totally agrees with me about Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty.
Other Interested Guides on Females
Female Icons
Barbie – as you can imagine I"m not a fan of Barbie but this is a cute guide.
Youth Beauty Pagents This has to be sure fire way to mess up your daughter and really teach her how to be like Sleeping Beauty.
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Denver, Co
A quote from my favorite movie:
"My parents wanted to move me into high school out of the sixth grade, but we decided to chuck the idea because I'd have trouble making friends, blah, blah, blah. Now blah, blah, blah is all I ever do. I use my grand IQ to decide what color lip gloss to wear in ...
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