The Disney Princess Opinion

With the release of a new Disney (teamed with Pixar) Princess film Brave I thought I would talk about the Disney Princess films. Over the decades there has been a lot of criticism thrown towards these films. These criticisms mainly concern the 'unrealistic' portrayal of love and relationships, and the representation of women. I explored part of this in my A Level Media Studies coursework and I found it to be a really interesting subject to delve into, especially as I watched and adored them when I was a little girl.  People tend to find that they form very strong opinions concerning these subjects and I thought I would point out the issues and put forward my opinion, so that you can form your own.

Disney's apparent 'unrealistic' portrayal of love and relationships has left parents questioning whether they should let their children watch the films.  Personally, I am in love with the idea of true love, soul mates, the happily-ever-after and I think it stems from my viewings of the Disney Princess films. They promote these ideas about relationships to little girls and in a way I think that these little girls (me included) always hope for it. Who wouldn't? The perfect relationship. However, I'm also a pessimist and I find it hard to believe that everyone will have a happily ever after and meet their true love. Your soul mate could have already found someone they're happy with and the divorce rates don't exactly help the idea of true love. But, that doesn't stop me hoping. I'm an optimistic pessimist. I know that some parents don't let their children watch the Disney princess films because they don't want them to have false expectations about love. I would happily let my children watch the films because I know that (as my mum did) you can educate them yourselves about relationships.

I will admit that women on a whole aren't represented very well in the Disney Princess films. They're always slim, beautiful and have no flaws. Up until Pocahontas the Princess were all white with blonde/brunette hair. Even when Disney diversified, the women were still unrealistically beautiful. It leaves the little girls aspiring to look like them. There are reasons for why women were represented in this way. First of which is they were originally constructed by men to appeal to men. This explains the low cut dresses and flawless beauty.  The animators had to base the images of the princesses on real people and they found the easiest people were ballerina's. This explains the original images of Snow White; Slim and elegant.
All of the princesses are vain. I think the majority of them look in the mirror to make sure they are presentable for the 'prince.' This implies that to the little girls that they need to look perfect to impress a man. The evil villains tend to want to stop/kill/imprison the princesses because of their beauty. The films are obsessed with the idea of beauty. There are only two instances that I can think of off the top of my head where Disney suggests that beauty isn't about image, but about what is on the inside. This can be seen in Cinderella II (Die-hard Disney fan here) with the ugly sisters and the Princess and the Frog. I think the Princess and the Frog is a great example because the prince falls in love with the frog version of Tiana rather than the beautiful human version.
All of the princesses are domesticated, even the most recent, Rapunzel (sorry I haven't seen Brave yet...out next week). They all clean and cook. You never see men doing the chores. If you take these films by when they were made, then it can be seen as a fair and realistic representation. But, Rapunzel was released in 2010 and this isn't a fair or realistic representation now. Women are more equal to men and men have started doing more chores. I know women who don't cook. Their husbands do it for them.
However, the Princess are changing. They have become more independent and less girly. The earlier princesses waited for their Prince Charming's to save them from their dreadful fates. Where as, Pocahontas refuses to marry her father's choice and Mulan runs away from home to join the army as a man to save her father. They have also become less interested in domestication and more interested in reading and playing chess.

Even after all of these points which are valid and they do disturb me slightly, I still love these films. They were the best films of my childhood. Every little girl wants to feel like a princess and these films make you feel like this.  You have to take these films with a pinch of salt and take into account when they were made. They are wonderful films and you can see that Disney are trying to change their representations of women. Brave looks really good, an independent, strong princess who can kick butt for little girls look up to (It's about time). I can't wait to see it and I hope it's everything they promised. Now I leave you to make your own verdict.