Via Feministe, via Sociological Images. As this commenter notes, where are Mulan, Pocahantas, Giselle and Lauren notes the absence of Tiana, first African American princess who were all also constructed as racist and sexist stereotypes. Disney doesn’t discriminate who they create sexist caricatures out of, that is for sure.
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I don’t think racist people ever think that they’re racist. If they did, then that would mean they thought their beliefs were incorrect, which is contradictory.
She gave up her voice for a chance at a man. How much more anti-feminist symbolism can you add?
Oh yes, she also gave up her friends, family and her entire way of life too. And she had no way of knowing if she’d ever get any of it back.
I always liked Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. True, she’s betrothed to a prince at birth to solidify a political position, but when she finds this out she isn’t happy about it at all– she would rather marry the guy she met in the woods who she actually likes and who she assumes is a commoner. The prince does the same thing– announces he’s going to marry the peasant girl he met in the woods who he likes, not the princess his father wants him to marry. Its the luck of fairy tales that they both end up being the prince and princess. But when they fall for each other, neither one of them knows that they are betrothed or that the other one is royalty. I also like that Prince Phillip actually has a personality, unlike the earlier princes in Cinderella or Snow White.
While I may be reiterating what was said before, I do think that this picture oversimplifies the Disney “princesses.” There are definitely elements in each Disney movie (except Mulan, which I admit I am completely in love with and will find no fault with.) that we can find sexist fault in- but there are also valuable elements in each, and if not valuable elements, teaching moments. When I watch Disney movies with kids I always ask them questions about anything that may be questionable- to see if they can draw their own conclusions about Disney’s sexism and/or racism in their movies!
Yes, he was.
The basic outline of the events that end in to Belle and the Beast falling for each other goes like this:
1) The Beast takes Belle’s father captive. Belle offers to take her father’s place as the Beast’s captive, and he agrees.
2) Beast wants to woo Belle, but, understandably, she’s afraid and wants nothing to do with him. He spends a segment of the movie being scary and abusive.
3) Eventually, Belle decides that it’s too dangerous to stay in the castle, and runs away.
4) Belle is attacked by wolves while fleeing through the forest. The Beast fights off the wolves, but is injured by them.
5) Belle and the Beast both return to the castle. Belle helps treat the Beast’s injuries, and is now willing to interact with him.
6) The Beast no longer acts scary and abusive. He and Belle begin to get along, and they start falling for each other.
In 1-4, Belle acts reasonably, and parts 5-6 are reasonable if you overlook the way the Beast acted before rescuing Belle from the wolves. On the other hand, part 4 doesn’t entirely justify Belle’s change of heart. In the real world, just because someone is willing to fight to protect you from something *else* doesn’t mean that he’s safe to be around. There are certainly many worse ways to move the characters from point A to point B, but the Unfortunate Implications are still there if you look for them.
Wait, is SHE the frog? In the original fairy tale it is the prince who has been turned into a frog
I’m the first to admit that there are problematic elements in most Disney movies, some moreso than others. But I don’t think they’re solely problematic, either, particularly the films from the past two decades or so. They might not always be succeffully feminist or anti-racist, but they are attempting to make an effort at addressing very complex sociotal problems and still make mass-market films.
One heroine I’m always somewhat surprised to see forgotten in these discussions is Megara from “Hercules”. It wasn’t the biggest hit and setting aside arguments of mythological authenticity, she was a big departure from Disney’s leading lady formula. She’s the closest to a femme fatale that they ever got. She was fast-talking, sarcastic, cynical, independent, strong-willed, intelligent, had a romantic life before meeting the protagonist, is comfortable with her body and sexuality, and is far from liked by just about everyone in the story except the hero because of these things. She doesn’t feel the need to change her personality because she isn’t well-liked, either.
I’m not saying the movies aren’t without problems, they certainly are, but not every character labeled a Princess is devoid of merit, either. It’s good that there are people looking critically at the films, though, since they’re very influential and far-reaching.
Well not because of their race but because of their ethnicity or religion.
And lets us not forget the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians captured plenty of whites who were of a different ethnicity or religion and held them as slaves after they conquered their land.
We tend to forget about the slave trade of ancient times because the slave trade of solely Africans is only 200 years old, while the former is thousands of years old. And we tend to lump people together by race now instead of separating by ethnicity like they did in ancient times.
Haha, of course everyone’s going to defend their childhood favorite (mine was Belle).
Really, the thing that really bothers me about “Beauty and the Beast” is the suggestion that you can “change” a domestic abuser. Whether or not you want to argue that the Beast was abusive, I think it’s an important thing to discuss when watching the film with a child.
The OP was supposed to be tongue in cheek. I doubt they were saying “These princesses suck and are absolutely positively anti-feminist and you’re a bad feminist if you like them.” They’re simply explaining that these portrayals can be problematic if you don’t take the time to think about and discuss them.
And yes, I am a Belle girl all the way! Her love of reading, as well as her brown hair and brown eyes (I often wished as a child that I had blond hair and blue eyes) captured my heart, even before I understood other great things about her, such as her love for adventure and shrewdness.
You know, I’ve been wondering about the “royalty” issue for awhile, since they use Depp all the way through the revamped PotC ride and as a character in the park.
These stories already had a history of being revised for kidlit; I really think these princesses have more in common with each other than with Disney’s other characters.
“What they do to Sebastian, the miniature black helper-crab, in the Little Mermaid (i.e., make a running gag of Haitian colonization?), is pretty disrespectful.”
Wasn’t Sebastian essentially King Triton’s right-hand man? And the “responsible guy” character, for that matter?
Also, I’m not sure a crab that’s actually crab-sized counts as “miniature”.
Are you kidding with that question? I think, the Irish could tell you some hair raising stories. You know, what with the 800 years of English oppression and all.
Of course, we Irish weren’t even considered “white” until the 1900s, so maybe we don’t count?
I agree that having a Black chambermaid is problematic, and that we need to be aware of issues of institutional racism in the US and around the world, but let’s not pretend that there aren’t white ethnic groups that haven’t seen their share of oppression.
Have you seen the trailer? When she meets the prince, he’s a frog. When she kisses the frog, instead of the frog turning into a prince, she turns into a frog too…
According to the Kingdom Hearts series, Alice from Alice in Wonderland is one of the Princesses, as is Kairi, a character created for the games. I suspect the Kingdom Hearts princesses don’t quite match up with the Disney Princess toy lines, though.
Maybe hanfu? Thought I’m not sure if Mulan’s clothing falls into that category, since I don’t know that much about any kind of traditional Chinese clothing…
I trawled through all the comments hoping that someone made this point: Disney’s portral of Mulan took great liberties with the plot of the original epic poem (“???”), which was very much a celebration of feminism IMHO.
In the original poem, Mulan was a loving daughter who enlisted as a man because her father was too old and unwell to be conscribed. She remained in the army for a long time and only revealed her gender after she returned home in victory and glory, I believe, having been rewarded for bravery. (Sorry, I read the poem as a young girl and haven’t brought a copy when my family migrated. A quick Google search didn’t find the original text.)
There wasn’t any of this BS about embarrassing herself in front a matchmaker, running away and finding the man of his life. That was sexist Disney trash added to create a “traditional” romantic storyline with an “exotic” touch. (OMG the Chinese run around in bathrobes!!!11!!)
If I remember correctly, the last line in the poem was “???????” (roughly translated: “who can tell if I’m male or female”, where the specific words for “male” and “female” are those used for animals, with “male” having strong connotations of “strong”, “majestic” and “brave”). My personal interpretation is that this proudly declares her worth beyond her gender, which IMHO is more feminist than any of the other Disney princess (including Pocahontas, though I do love her) has ever been.
Sorry about the long rant and the bad translations. I’d highly encourage everyone to read either the Chinese version or a good translation to see what I mean.
Darn, the Chinese characters are showing up as question marks.
The more I think about it, the more “Beauty and the Beast” seems like “Twilight”. Even down to the main character’s name… Belle/Bella!
I assume for the same reason that Esmeralda, Jane, Megara, and whoever from “Treasure Planet” aren’t featured – no one liked those movies*, so no one would buy the merchandise.
*Yeah, I’m sure someone did, but on the whole, those four are considered embarrassingly bad and are VERY unpopular compared to “The Little Mermaid” or “Beauty and the Beast.”
They don’t.
The Disney princesses are: Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Snow White, and Ariel. I think Tiana and Rapunzel will be added officially when their films come out.
http://i.imgur.com/6B1Ln.jpg
This was on Digg.com today, I just wondered what everyone else thought of it. I remember as a kid thinking that the prince was the same guy in every movie lol. Talk about generic.
Isn’t the woman in Hercules Megan not Mergara? Either way, she is amazing. The mythology is rubbish, I’ll admit, but Disney isn’t exactly famed for it’s accuracy. And it has incredible songs. That is probably my favourite Disney movie. Although that might be partly down to the Muse.
Really Disney could do with broadening it’s definition of “princesses” so it included all the heroines. Alice in Wonderland was one of my favourite films when I was little (along with Pocahantas and Mulan-I hadn’t discovered Hercules) and I liked the fact that she wasn’t the stereotypical “just do as your told” girl. Good on Disney for not totally remaking Lewis Carrol’s character.
Are they seriously making Rapunzel? I always thought that story was stupid-first not realizing that it wasn’t the woman who locked her up there, the use of hair as a rope, having enough sheets to make a rope to escape with. And didn’t someone get blinded in the original?
No, I hadn’t seen that trailer
Dude, I heart Ever After. Now I’m wishing I had it on DVD instead of just VHS ’cause I wanna watch it! D:
I would just like to say, that this quote from Ariel’s song in the beginning before she meets Prince Eric, “Part of Your World,” shows that she does not change her physical appearance merely to attract Prince Eric.
“Flippin’ your fins, you don’t get too far
Legs are required for jumping, dancing
Strolling along down a – what’s that word again?
Street
Up where they walk, up where they run
Up where they stay all day in the sun
Wanderin’ free – wish I could be
Part of that world
What would I give if I could live out of these waters?
What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?
Bet’cha on land they understand
That they don’t reprimand their daughters
Proper women sick of swimmin’
Ready to stand
And ready to know what the people know
Ask ‘em my questions and get some answers
What’s a fire and why does it – what’s the word?
Burn?
When’s it my turn?
Wouldn’t I love, love to explore that world up above?
Out of the sea
Wish I could be
Part of that world”
Her curiosity, desire for knowledge (about fire, etc), her desire to ‘stand’ and get somewhere as opposed to how far you can get in life just ‘flippin your fins,’ her desire to ask questions, and her desire to be free from reprimand by her father, all show that there is much more to her than someone who changes their physical appearance to get with a guy, and who has nothing of value to say. She is clearly driven to explore life and gain
Personally, I didn’t care for the princesses. But I LOVED Lilo and Stitch. Lilo has such a quirky personality and weird interests. She is awesome. Disney needs to make a princess like Lilo.
So racism, sexism and changing historical fact so its marketable to kids make it okay?
Every time I see stuff like this, I just think of MULAN. She was awesome, she even declines the man’s offer for love (the man whose life she saves twice by the way) at the end and just asks him to stay for dinner. Sweet!
I’m with you in that the Jasmine one seems a teensy-bit forced.
Aladdin falls in love with her brains, quick wittedness and her strength and her beauty comes into play only when he’s directly asked about it by the Genie.
Jasmine’s the one who sees through the classism in the system and would refuse to marry if it meant that she had to pick someone she didn’t like (Shaherazad as a Prince, I’m looking at you). It’s to the point where she says “fuck this” and strikes out on her own because the confining rules of her patriarchy are choking her. That’s when she meets Aladdin, outside of the confines of her patriarchy (symbolism is important in Disney films, here, there’s a reason she uses Raja’s head to get over the palace walls).
In the end, Jasmine chooses Aladdin, not the other way around. There’s no real explanation given for it, but it’s implied through juxtaposition that it’s his charity given his setting the Genie free — another link to the Patriarchy and subjugated people.
Yes, there are less-than-admirable parts of the movie, but if you’re going to take aim at Jasmine, at least explain where you’re coming from. Most of the anti-feminist statements and attitudes come from the villains or their unwitting accomplices.
Marrying a prince does make you a princess. That’s how Princess Diana became a princess. It’s the concept of marrying into the family.
It’s also how you become a prince, too. Prince Philip married into the family, as well, and became the Prince by marriage to the Crown Princess (maybe she was already queen? I don’t actually know) Elizabeth.
Marrying a prince does make you a princess. That’s how Princess Diana became a princess. It’s the concept of marrying into the family.
It’s also how you become a prince, too. Prince Philip married into the family, as well, and became the Prince by marriage to the Crown Princess (maybe she was already queen? I don’t actually know) Elizabeth.
I took the Little Mermaid as a story of how an older WOMAN, Ursula, tries to box a younger, vocal, non-conformist woman, a threat to the status quo, into being less than she is and trying to dupe a nice guy into marrying her. But Eric isn’t fooled because even with the matriarch – who is doing this in protection of her own number 2 role in society, with an eye on number one – forcing the young rebel not to speak, Ariel’s kookiness and feisty personality shine through. We see her make Eric laugh with her non-conformist, bold ways, combing her hair with a fork, driving the horses really fast and investigating the puppet show.
Also remember that ARIEL saves ERIC from dying before vice versa, and that is why he loves her, because he realises she is strong and a good dependable partner. He only repays the favor later. And you could even argue for a racial analogy when he finds out she is a mermaid and still loves her anyway (unlike her father who cannot tolerate humans and stereotypes them all as evil). I think the Ariel/Eric relationship is much more about how the wrong relationship is stifling but in the right one, you will be equals and have equal voices, a good relationship is liberating and must be based on truth.
Most importantly Ariel wants to be human BEFORE she sees Eric. She’s collected millions of bits and pieces of human stuff. She sings about being part of a world of invention and wonder instead of a hidebound world of tradition and her domineering father. She doesn’t want to be human FOR Eric but WITH him. She sings, “Betcha on land / they understand / and they don’t reprimand their daughters / bright young women / sick of swimmin’ / ready to stand”. If that isn’t a feminist manifesto, what is? Eric is secondary.
Also isn’t Belle’s whole thing about turning down safety with Gaston (who in the film version offers tradition and stability ) for a shot at ‘adventure in the great wide somewhere’. It’s a woman who will not be tied down and needs a man who can keep up. Also the Beast has to learn that he can’t get his way all the time. He doesn’t earn her love until he is kind and thoughtful and takes her needs into account (giving the library).
Also in the stage show the real moment they fall in love is when Belle teaches the Beast to read. I think that is hugely symbolic and very positive.
Major point nobody has made.
These movies mostly have a female lead – even Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella (who let’s face it are all bimbos). Giselle, Ariel, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Belle (non-bimbos) are all the main character and Jasmine gets a great deal of screen time for a love interest. Female agency matters to all the plots of the latter group; in Giselle’s case she turns down marriage to a gorgeous prince, saves her true love from a dragon and sets up her own business! If nothing else, in a world where only 1 in 4 movie roles is female (the same % as the number of female leads), it is telling little girls that they can be the main character and events in their lives can revolve around their needs and wants.
You misquote the lyric. It goes:
“Bright young women, sick of swimmin’
Ready to stand.”
In other words it’s even better; she dreams of a world in which young women like her are praised not derided for being intelligent. That’s a really good ideal for girls (and boys) watching the movie!