princesses

[mizkit]

There’s a “World of Princesses” at the Ambassador Theatre here in Dublin. I realize it’s probably ridiculous, but every time I see it I get pissed off. “For every girl who’s ever wanted to be a princess,” it says, and yes, okay, fair enough, I too wanted to be a princess at times. But it still just annoys the crap out of me, because every time I

Comments

[pers1stence]

There were even rumors, although they may have just been rumors, that she tried to leave the country but they took away her passport long enough to make her re-think....*erk*

[pers1stence]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlene,_Princess_of_Monaco#Marriage

Reports of the rumor were in the Daily Mail (UK) and Telegraph (UK) and Washington Post.

I also find it vaguely woeful on my own behalf that I actually know that, esp as I had zero interest in the wedding aside from looking at pictures of the clothes afterwards (she wore pants to the civil ceremony although she wore a dress to the religious portion of the event)

[autopope]

I like to define "princess" as the juvenile stage in the life cycle of the incubator of a parasitic hereditary despotism.

There's nothing like calling a spade a shovel of specific dimensions to expose its ugliness, is there?

(Also: "a bunch of flowers" is "a collection of reproductive organs amputated from hermaphrodites".)

[xpioti]

I like how you think! I usually refer to "a bouquet of flowers" as "compost", personally. :)

[pers1stence]

*gah* I'm with you on this one....so often the fictional tropes are pretty ugly, too, full of feminine passivity, damsels-in-distress, need-a-man-and-babies-to-be-complete ideas, pointless sacrificial notions.

[chrysoula]

Yes! I was thinking about the self-sacrifice encouraged by the princess motif, and trying to construct an animated film that explored that thoughtfully.

[chrysoula]

I think part of the problem is that everybody feels like it's important to make any cinematic girl hero a princess. I was trying to figure out if I went through a princess stage and realized I certainly went through a Princess Leia stage. I mean, Disney even lumps Mulan in with the Disney Princesses, possibly under the slogan 'every girl is a princess!' Which I guess translates to 'every girl is the star of her own life!' which is sweet and all but... does ignore the truth that a princess is basically very valuable state property. State property adorned with pretty dresses and lovely jewelry and indulged as long as they behave within acceptable standards. The ideal little girl!

[xpioti]

And this is why my daughter is only a princess when she's playing dressup. When she's gadding about in jeans, making me crazy with her insane antics (she's been to the ER twice), she's a queen.

[pers1stence]

at least Leia and Mulan actually have some active ownership of their lives. Arielle, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty are all passively waiting for their man to be charmed by their looks, in the most literal sense (only Cinderella even TALKS to her man first).

[ceosanna]

This is why I love jimhines' Princess series. It's a refreshing (rather kick-ass) take on these fairy tale princesses.

[gows]

I can't remember the artist right now, but I saw a series of pictures of "the other side" of various Disney princesses--Belle on the operating table, marked for plastic surgery; Snow White with a child on her hip and her prince watching TV; Cinderella as an alcoholic in a seedy bar. Very memorable.