Touchy Topic Tuesday- Disney Princesses and all the Controversy they Entail

Touchy Topic Tuesday: Disney Princesses and All the Controversy They Entail

(Unless otherwise specified, all pictures are taken from Google images)

Just for fun:
"twisted princess" pics
Slightly Dirty Disney Princes. (Peter Pan is my FAVE, for the record.)


As long as there are girls, parents are going to want to blame something else for their self esteem/image/weight issues.

Now, I have to apologize, because the article I am writing about is long lost. I read it back in December, maybe November, just before The Princess and the Frog came out. It was before I even STARTED my blog, or I would have saved it for sure. I have googled and searched and I cannot find the exact one. However, there is no shortage, whatsoever, of controversial Princess articles. Just google it and click on one. It will suffice.

The article I remember had many points of controversy:

*The new Princess Tiana of Princess and the Frog should be heavier. (Apparently it is not culturally or racially correct for a black girl to be thin.)

*Prince Naveen is not black. He is a mixture of many races including Indian and Cuban. But not black. (I don't really understand why this is controversial...but apparently it is.)

* All the Disney Princesses are apparently too skinny.

*All the Disney Princesses are white, and mostly blond haired with blue eyes- with the exception of Tiana, that is. The writer believed that this was racist on the part of Disney. (I remember this statement specifically because it kind of ticked me off. No, the majority of the princesses are not blond with blue eyes...but I'll get there.)

*All of the princesses are under-age. If it says an age at all, it says they're 16 years old. No 16 year old girl should be running off to marry some guy she is only in love with because he's handsome.

*It's terrible that our little girls are subject to the anti-feminism of being taught that their happiness is completely reliant upon their having a man.

I took my children to see The Princess and the Frog back at the beginning of January, and we all thought it was lovely. The princess is a beautiful, down to earth girl, while Prince Naveen is a slacker, though he learns, with Tiana's help, to be self sufficient. It's cute.

Now, I don't really have any arguments for the first statement. But I wouldn't have any argument if they were saying that racially and culturally a white girl shouldn't be so skinny. ( As highlighted in the second topic.) I'm an American. I see extremely huge black AND white women every day. Yes, the princesses are skinny. But they're cartoons, and a princess, by definition is IDEAL. Each princess, based on the time period is portrayed as the perfect woman. I do not believe that this is to sexualize her, but she is supposed to be a beautiful woman.

The unfortunate thing is that many would call this a case of "the Disappearing Waistline."
Please click here to see the article and where the pictures were taken from.

In My opinion, starting with Pocahontas in 1995, they start to get more realistic. She is neither a slip of a girl, nor is she hefty. And she has hips. Mulan, well, she's slight. She SHOULD be. She's Asian. How many husky Asian girls have you seen walking around China? Looks to me like, in that picture, at least, Tiana has at least some semblance of a booty. The point is, it doesn't matter. If they had MADE her curvier, people would have complained because it was a 'stereotype' or a 'stigma' that black women were heavy.

Anyway, is it really really wrong for our girls to have thin, in shape role models? Every day we battle a failing war against obesity. YES! Our girls should feel comfortable in their skin! But they should NOT feel comfortable with obesity. It's a health risk. It's a silent killer.

All I have to say about Prince Naveen not being black is "So effing what." ~eye roll~ Really, considering the movie's location: New Orleans, Naveen is, by time period definition: Creole. Is it really such a controversial subject? Really? Because in the '20's, when the movie takes place, yeah, most people who lived in New Orleans WERE Creole.

As for the majority of the princesses being blond and blue eyed, well, Aurora and Cinderella are the only two (out of 9- and that's not including the heroines who aren't princesses) who are blond and blue eyed. And it suits. Disney, while they have not stayed true to many of the stories (as many of them have unhappy endings) they HAVE stayed true to the culture the stories first came from:

Snow White: Germany. Hitler prefered blond blue eyed youth. But not all of them were so. NOT TO MENTION- the story is CALLED Snow White because her fair, pale skin and her blood red lips and her pitch black hair are a distinct part of the story.

Cinderella: Vaguely Scandanavian, but suspected to be from Sweden, Cinderella's blond hair and blue eyes are accurate, as is her pale skin.

Aurora, AKA Sleeping Beauty: Medieval England. Again, Blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin suits.

Ariel: Denmark. Red hair and blue eyes are once again accurate. (I know. I'm part Danish. That's where I get my serious red highlights.)

Belle: France. Okay...look at her and TRY to tell me she does not look French.

Jasmine: Again, this one is obvious. She LOOKS like she's from Arabia. Anyway, the story is Aladdin's, not just hers.

Pocahontas: Pocahontas is the first story that is based on history instead of a fantasy. She is Native American, and yes, I do believe she resembles her heritage.

Mulan: Well...Mulan's not really a princess, but her story is also based on historical fact. She is Asian (Chinese) and looks rightly so.

Tiana- Our first black princess, though, the story is originally German. I love the story, and I love Tiana (she may be my FAVORITE!) but she is the first to deviate from the accuracy that Disney has so far followed in the originality of their Princess's physicalities and localities.

When it comes down to it, it's not a racial thing. It's a cultural thing for the most part.

Now, something that is very important to remember, and will include a lot of the topics above because they are, in essence, all part-and-parcel. What people who criticise these stories are not taking into account is that they are very very verrrrrrry old stories. These stories were told to girls back when getting married at 16 years old was normal, if you weren't married earlier. They were told to girls who would never find a Prince, and they knew it. They would never find a lover, even. And the most they could hope for was that he would be gentle. (Think of the song "Matchmaker" from Fiddler On The Roof.)

Many people think it's sexist because the Princesses seem to fall in love with a Prince at first sight. Really, that's exactly what they were hoping for because they did not usually know the man they married, or even see him until their wedding day.

I DO, however, agree whole heartedly that a little girl should never think that her happiness depends on a man. Though, I have to say that I do not feel that MY daughters are achieving this kind of complex by watching the Princesses. (Lilly has every single dress up gown, except for Jasmine's and Tianas, just because we haven't gotten to them yet.) Though I think that probably has more to do with the way her mother allows her father treat her than it has to do with her watching a princess movie, and feeling the hope that she might someday find the ONE she belongs with.

Likewise with the body image and self worth. It relies more on her mother than it ever will on an animated princess.

The way I see it is, every little girl, whether she is a feminist, or submissive, or passive aggressive, is going to grow up and find a man. Wouldn't you rather her be looking for a man who treats her like a princess than a man who ignores her because they are both so independent that they don't have time for each other? My husband is not stifling or controlling in any way. And he DOES treat me like a princess. (I guess the movies ruined me.)

I suggest parents stop worrying about the subtle, negative subliminal messages your daughter might contrive in watching a prince swoop in to the rescue, and think about the look on your daughter's face when she sees "true love's" perfect first kiss.

Honestly, the subtle things about the Disney Princess movies that DO bother me are things like:

*Why are all the mothers dead? (perhaps because this was also a norm in the times the stories were told originally. MANY more women died in childbirth then than they do today.)

*Why are all step-mothers evil? (Possibly because 1.a step mother was a relationship they could identify with, knowing my possible answer from the above topic, or 2. To easily create a villain without making the girl's own mother the one to hurt her.)

THESE are things that my children have actually asked me about. Never have I seen my daughter behave in such a way that I fear that she will be submissive (on the contrary, she is stubborn and bull headed to no end.) to a man, and daily, we talk about how beautiful, smart and kind she is.

Speaking of kindness, all of the princesses are famous for their kindness. And princesses such as Belle, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Tiana, are obviously very intelligent girls. I don't feel that this, in any way, can be considered a kind of setback.

All in all, I think that when my daughters COULD be into Bratz dolls, they ARE into Princesses. There are a lot of worse things out there than childhood love stories.

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Now let us know what YOU think! Do you think Disney Princesses are a bad influence? Do you think they're a good influence? How about issues such as race, age and weight? I'd love to know!

REMEMBER: PLAY NICE! We all want to respect each other around here!!