Our Fixation With the "Princess" Genre



At 28 years old, I can say I grew up with Disney princesses. We were first in line to see Jasmine, Ariel, and Belle, and I of course I wanted to be just like them. I was even elated when Disney had it's first African-American princess Tiana.

The Disney Princesses have come under a lot of scrutiny for being lovely but helpless (with the exception of who?? Mulan maybe?) lasses waiting for princes in shiny armor to free them from some form of oppression showing how these women can only become who they're destined to be with the help of a man. This Princess culture is so dominant that the bridal boutique Alfred Angelo even has a line of Disney wedding gowns for those wishing for their special day to really look like a fairytale.

With Disney slowly bowing out of the prince-saving-the-princess-while-singing-a-great-song-genre, enter Pixar with it's amazing visuals and story lines with the likes of Toy Story and Cars.

Seventeen years in the game and Pixar finally has a female protagonist and her name is Merida from the movie Brave.

The film's overall theme is Changing Your Fate, that's true enough and stated pretty much throughout the film, but Merida also learns how to accept responsibility and the consequences her actions as an underlying theme to the story...which I'm all in favor of! I love that Brave shows that a girl's value is not in her femininity and having a man "save" her, but in the choices she makes for herself. Young girls need a role model that shows they don't have to live with the cards that are dealt by someone else and can make a positive change in their lives by their own actions, something little boys have grown to see on TV quite often.

Being the first, the movie has opened itself up to a slew of feminist stances. Why??? Because it's still a princess-y genre.  Set in medieval Scotland, where Merida has just come of age and her mother is preparing to marry her off to any of three candidates from the other clans, this movie is not a fairy tale romance. The story is about the tradition intended to keep the peace among clans with a history of warfare, and therefore making it’s Merida’s duty to marry, which she outright objects. Although this is the first movie to acknowledge the political ramifications of marriage...this is also the part I'm not too crazy about.

Are we failing girls by continuing to make heroines princesses?? Even though many would think, it's just a cartoon movie for children, it's obviously so much more. Looking back at Pixar's track record of heroes we have a cowboy (Toy Story), a rat (Ratatouille), a green ogre (Shrek), and a fish (Finding Nemo). With Brave being the first movie to have a female lead just shows us that movie makers are still struggling to tell a story about a girl without making her a princess....and a human at that.

Please don't think I'm hating. I don't think the movie is a failure at female empowerment...I LOVE the movie and what it stands for with its constructive message of leading your own journey. With positive female role models in the media being hard to come by, this film is a step in the right direction to leveling the gender disparity in the media. I just want to see more Mulans and Meridas in cartoons going forward without them being princesses from far away lands.

How Brave measures up against Disney princess culture...I'll let you decide if these are good or bad traits:

1. Merida has both parents in her life. So many Disney princess only have one.
2. Unlike many Disney princesses, Merida struggles with the relationship with her Mother, instead of her Father as is the case with Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Jasmin (Aladdin), and Mulan (Mulan).
3. The character of Merida is already confident, brave, and sure of herself. So instead of spending the movie "finding" herself and coming to the realization of how amazing she is, she spends the movie working to convince others of this, not herself.
4. Like Mulan, Merida is an "action princess"...sword wielding, cliff jumping, arrow throwing, you get my point.
5. Like many fairy tales, Brave also has an evil witch character that the protagonist makes a deal with. Unlike Ariel (The Little Mermaid), who makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula for her own soul, Merida makes the deal with her Mother's soul, changing her into a grizzly bear. Shaking off responsibility much???

What's your take on this?? And where do you see the future of cartoon heroines going??
P.S. I'm so glad that some pageant systems like Miss International and Miss Black USA are doing their part to showcase women with brains AND beauty...I think this is also a step in the right direction!