Disney Princesses
Someone had posted a parody video of Mean Girls using Disney Princess clips on facebook today which gave me the sudden urge to watch The Little Mermaid again, a show for which I remember the songs intimately, but not the rest of the movie. I'd never actually realized it was released the year I was born - that's a mighty long time ago.
Watching it again, being a cynical young adult, I couldn't help but scoff at the idea of the love-in-three-days storyline, although I suppose I had no problems with it back as a 7-year-old. But while I have problems with the older Disney Princess movies, I also realized that I have absolutely nothing against the newer ones, which I suppose have evolved to deal with the changing role of women over the past few decades. The two latest animated features - The Princess and the Frog, and Tangled - in fact have the female protagonists occupying most of the action while the guy sort of tags along / is the useless sidekick. I wonder if guys ever have a problem the new movies, or whether the mere fact of a Disney Princess movie just turns them off.
Just to make things quite obvious, Disney Princess movies in order of release:
1937 - Snow White
1950 - Cinderella
1951 - Alice in Wonderland
1959 - Sleeping Beauty
(long break)
1989 - The Little Mermaid
1991 - Beauty and the Beast
1992 - Aladdin
1995 - Pocahontas
1996 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1997 - Hercules
1998 - Mulan
2001 - Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2009 - The Princess and the Frog
2010 - Tangled
It's funny how the damsel-in-distress notion was turned over only between 1992 and 1995 - Jasmine vs Pocahontas. In every subsequent movie, the 'princess' had her own job that wasn't just about being a princess. Pocahontas wanted adventure and cooperation between peoples, Esmeralda was a kick-ass gypsy, Meg was a cynical servant of Hades, Mulan was... Mulan, Kida wanted to free her people, Tia wanted to start a business and Rapunzel... was great with a frying pan, but not in the traditional way.
The other obvious gap was between Sleeping Beauty and her predecessors' "Some day my prince will come" attitude, and the "I can do something about my life right now, but I need to shake off daddy dearest" attitude from Little Mermaid onwards. But that one's completely understandable.
It's funny how even though the shows weren't necessarily set in more and more modern times, the attitude of the contemporary era was transplanted onto the character's time. Was there actually a change of attitude in the 90s? I don't know enough about the social landscape then to know.
If the kind of shows you watch in your childhood affect your outlook on life, I hope the changing style of well-loved shows like Disney continue to help the equalizing of the sexes. Right now, even though we're supposedly in the modern era of equality, there are undeniably still many girls my age and older with the tai-tai attitude. Wages in academia are still not equal because women are still less valued, whether due to perception of intrinsic value or perception of ability to commit to the job plus have a family life is debatable. I wonder if the girls who grow up after the mid 90s have a different attitude from us on average. I wonder if by the time they enter the job market, there'll be more equality, and stay-at-home dads will be as common as stay-at-home mums.
There was an article I read a while ago where the author talked about how whenever she met a little girl, she'd try to compliment her on her mind rather than her cuteness. On what books she read rather than what she wore. I wonder if some day, wanting to be a Disney Princess wouldn't just be about wearing glittery gowns and a tiara.
Watching it again, being a cynical young adult, I couldn't help but scoff at the idea of the love-in-three-days storyline, although I suppose I had no problems with it back as a 7-year-old. But while I have problems with the older Disney Princess movies, I also realized that I have absolutely nothing against the newer ones, which I suppose have evolved to deal with the changing role of women over the past few decades. The two latest animated features - The Princess and the Frog, and Tangled - in fact have the female protagonists occupying most of the action while the guy sort of tags along / is the useless sidekick. I wonder if guys ever have a problem the new movies, or whether the mere fact of a Disney Princess movie just turns them off.
Just to make things quite obvious, Disney Princess movies in order of release:
1937 - Snow White
1950 - Cinderella
1951 - Alice in Wonderland
1959 - Sleeping Beauty
(long break)
1989 - The Little Mermaid
1991 - Beauty and the Beast
1992 - Aladdin
1995 - Pocahontas
1996 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1997 - Hercules
1998 - Mulan
2001 - Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2009 - The Princess and the Frog
2010 - Tangled
It's funny how the damsel-in-distress notion was turned over only between 1992 and 1995 - Jasmine vs Pocahontas. In every subsequent movie, the 'princess' had her own job that wasn't just about being a princess. Pocahontas wanted adventure and cooperation between peoples, Esmeralda was a kick-ass gypsy, Meg was a cynical servant of Hades, Mulan was... Mulan, Kida wanted to free her people, Tia wanted to start a business and Rapunzel... was great with a frying pan, but not in the traditional way.
The other obvious gap was between Sleeping Beauty and her predecessors' "Some day my prince will come" attitude, and the "I can do something about my life right now, but I need to shake off daddy dearest" attitude from Little Mermaid onwards. But that one's completely understandable.
It's funny how even though the shows weren't necessarily set in more and more modern times, the attitude of the contemporary era was transplanted onto the character's time. Was there actually a change of attitude in the 90s? I don't know enough about the social landscape then to know.
If the kind of shows you watch in your childhood affect your outlook on life, I hope the changing style of well-loved shows like Disney continue to help the equalizing of the sexes. Right now, even though we're supposedly in the modern era of equality, there are undeniably still many girls my age and older with the tai-tai attitude. Wages in academia are still not equal because women are still less valued, whether due to perception of intrinsic value or perception of ability to commit to the job plus have a family life is debatable. I wonder if the girls who grow up after the mid 90s have a different attitude from us on average. I wonder if by the time they enter the job market, there'll be more equality, and stay-at-home dads will be as common as stay-at-home mums.
There was an article I read a while ago where the author talked about how whenever she met a little girl, she'd try to compliment her on her mind rather than her cuteness. On what books she read rather than what she wore. I wonder if some day, wanting to be a Disney Princess wouldn't just be about wearing glittery gowns and a tiara.