Meet the “Fairest of All” Snow White; she was the first princess that Disney introduced in the 1930’s. Her strongest quality was her beauty, an asset that was not earned. Snow White was always at the mercy of seven dwarfs, The Huntsman and the Prince to save her from disasters. She was naïve enough to eat the poisonous apple which exemplifies her weakness to give into the temptation of aesthetic beauty. Her only known talents were to go about her day singing and cleaning up the mess that the seven dwarfs made.
The “Struck at Midnight” Princess Cinderella; she is the most popular Disney character which children all over the world know about and want to be like. She adheres to the mythical norm of being polite, obedient, delicate, and beautiful. She never stood up for herself and tolerated constant abuse from her step mother and step sisters. She relied on her beauty,sponsored by her fairy Godmother, to win the prince over. The prince falls in love with her because he was under the assumption that Cinderella was part of royalty and not of the servant class.
The “Kissed to Life” Princess Aurora; here the girl is a princess by birth but yet once again she needs a Prince to come to her rescue and save her from her death. She also had a lovely singing voice. Her voice is what attractes Prince Phillip. He falls in love with her at first sight. The roles of women in movie just like many other Disney movies are extremely restrictive. In this film, there is a Queen who is desperate for a child, which plays into the expected maternal roles of women. A fairy that is powerful, wicked and egotistic. And of course the "damsel in distress" Princess Aurora. . In the end a kiss is required from the prince in order to wake her up from her comma.
The "blessed voice" Princess Ariel ; she is a mermaid who trades her voice for her love "Prince Eric". She also needs a kiss from her prince to remain as a human. When she is in trouble, she needs her father to resque her from an evil witch. She can not do anything by herself. The roles that women get to play are either the unbelievable beautiful Arial or wicked and cruel Ursula. Ariel's only goal in life is to find her prince and marry him.
The “Rags to Riches” Princess Belle; She dreams of adventure and romance. She shows a change in the disney princess. She does not rely on her father or the prince. She does not need a kiss from the prince. She becomes a prisoner of the beast to set her sick father free. She plays with humanized household items in the castle. Not like other princess, she does not see the appearances, but she sees the kind, gentle heart of the beast. She resques the castle and the beast from wicked spell by falling in love with the prince.
Source: http://scots.covenant.edu/faculty/davis/Disney%20Princesses/ariel.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Princess
2 comments:
I feel that you have a slight bias towards Belle. Are you forgetting that upon attempting to rescue her father she is imprisoned by a cruel and ruthless man/beast who locks her up in a dungeon, yells at her when she doesn't obey him, and commands his servants don't feed her? This is clearly abuse, yet at some point in the story he saves her life and becomes a dazzling prince. What does this teach young girls? Sit through the domestic abuse long enough and your boyfriend/husband will eventually save you from a pack of wolves, fall in love with you, and ask you to go ballroom dancing.
I feel that you have a slight bias towards Belle. Are you forgetting that upon attempting to rescue her father she is imprisoned by a cruel and ruthless man/beast who locks her up in a dungeon, yells at her when she doesn't obey him, and commands his servants don't feed her? This is clearly abuse, yet at some point in the story he saves her life and becomes a dazzling prince. What does this teach young girls? Sit through the domestic abuse long enough and your boyfriend/husband will eventually save you from a pack of wolves, fall in love with you, and ask you to go ballroom dancing.
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