Disney Role-Models - Comments

@ atomika wave.
If Ariel had stayed home and listened, there would be no movie.
If Mulan had stayed home and listened, there would be no movie except her dad dying.
If Belle had listened to her father, she would be free but he would be the prisoner of the Beast who would have never been saved.
Jasmine refused to listen and because of it, her father overturned a sexist law and she got to marry someone she loved.
Pocahontas not listening is a historical account, but if she hadn't John Smith would have died and so would a lot of other people because of war.
If Rapunzel had listened, she would have stayed in that tower with an abusive kidnapper forever.
If Cinderella had listened, she would have continued to be abused and kept as a slave in her own home.

The reason they didn't listen were twofold: to make a movie and to not make them doormats. When something is wrong, you do what is right. Every princess I listed did the right thing in a situation that was wrong.

Snow White and Aurora should have listened. But they were created before the 50s so we need to cut them some slack.

I find this a really interesting article and incredibly well written, I love the way you rated the characters although I agree with eight letters late. it is a little over analyzed. I found one little mistake when reading though the Mulan part and that also Yao and Ling also dress as concubines. But that's simply because she's my favourite Disney princess ever.

@ MidgardMortal
Your brother is a genius!
- - -
In regards to the person who wrote this article though. I think Mulan might have deserved a higher rating. Yes, I am biased considering that she is and always will be my most favoured Disney lead character but think about it. The values she embodied were those of family, love and sacrifice. Yes, there was an inevitable romantic feel to the story but that wasn't the main idea of the entire film.

The article itself was quite interesting, and well written as some of the other users have mentioned. The topic of disney princesses though, is something that everyone seems to analyze over and over again. It's quite obvious that Disney didn't create these fictional characters (or base them off of legends, previously released stories etc) to make them role models for children. They're all just part of the film industry's drive to franchise almost every thing they can get their hands on.

I found this article to be interesting and very well-written. I like how you rated the characters on a role-model scale. The topic itself is interesting to me (if not a little over-analyzed). Personally, I think that looking up to a character in an animated movie is a bad idea no matter what the movie is. I think that the main Disney characters are awful examples for young girls and boys. But that's just me, at the old age of 20. When you're five years old I suppose you don't look at it in the same light and dressing up like Disney princesses with your friends is fine and dandy just as long as you don't try to wear those glass slippers forever.

I agree with the ratings for Snow White and Mulan, but I would have to give Ariel a 1. She gives up her most prized possession and leaves her family and friends for a boy. How desperate can you be? This in turn teaches girls that all you have to do it be pretty and boys will instantly fall in love with you. I don't care how brave she is in the end, it doesn't outweigh the fact that she gave up a part of herself for a guy.

From what you had pointed out here, I was utterly shocked and surprised with what you said. Although, if you had pointed out more than 3 disney role-models it would have been better and more interesting. Reading just the 3 examples that you've made, made me lose my breath.

I thoroughly enjoyed this article. Your points were well thought out and it is a very good topic to discuss. I do agree that it's not just about little girls and the Princesses, but at the same time the point of your article, with little girls and Disney Princesses, was made clear in your opening paragraph. Sure, there were mistakes, but everyone makes them. I really liked this; nice job. :)

This article is very well written, and really analyzes the princesses. I loved your introduction paragrapth! It really grabbed my attention with this piece. There were, however, a few small errors. Nothing a quick proofreading can't fix. :)

This is the thing, dear person who wrote this article with a very good idea in mind. I like the idea but it could have been expanded a little.

1. Every Disney Princess is flawed in some way or another. If they were perfect, we would dislike them and find them boring. They wouldn't have any problems at all and there would be no story.

2. Disney is not trying to provide role models for young girls in any way. They are making an entertaining movie to watch for children. Do you think that a five year old girl is going to tell you that a disney princess is her role model, using those exact words? No, they are not. It's a film and a character they like. My favourite film character when I was little was Edward Scissorhands. Do you think I went around massacring hedges and slashing tires? No, I did not.

3. Kids have great imaginations, but none of these are literal examples any way. Would a young girl join the army in hopes to save her father in the real modern day world? No. Would a young girl run away into the forest and live in a cottage with dwarves and talking animals? No. Because these things are impossible to achieve. No kid is going to think that these are the obvious solution and be able to actually complete them. These are works of fiction.

4. The views of the world are often reflected in the films. In the 1930's, would they have released a film such as The Princess and The Frog? No, because it didn't fit the views of the public in the 30's. As times change we recognise different views on what we should be, and as the movies were updated, it was realised that every one has flaws, every one is different on the inside and out, every one has different feelings toward different subjects. Characters are allowed to be flawed, they are allowed to mess up, because this makes them human and makes it possible for us to identify with them much better.

5. Also I'd like to bring up the subject of the plus-size princess. Notice how every princess is beautifully thin and skinny? Being a kid that was bigger than every one else when I was younger I can say for a fact that it was horrible seeing every one else on Princess Day wearing their disney clothes while I had a home made costume because none of the ones on sale would fit me. In a world where an increasing percentage of children are now over weight I think that just these images put horrible stress on young girls to be a typical princess. It's no wonder really that as I grew up I became less and less in love with the whole idea. Now the girls that were store bought disney princesses are the kind of people that I hate because of their quest to constantly look pretty, vulnerable and in need of a prince. Just an image can alter a child's view of themselves and make them feel really awful, never mind what the message is behind the character.

6. Have you ever considered what young boys think about Disney princesses? Upon asking my ten year old brother, he replied with this.

"I like Mulan because she's not afraid to fight against things that scare her. I don't like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty because they made the prince save them and they were scared of everything. I don't know why Sleeping Beauty should complain, Prince Phillip fought a dragon for her. Princes have problems too, no one cares about them."

Yep, you heard right.

Why is it all about the girls?

Princes have problems too.

Very nice article! I loved your use of in depth examples and everything seemed very well thought out. My only criticism would be that your only source was wikipedia. Which isn't all bad, but you should have had some other sources to go with it.

i feel as if disney princesses have certainly evolved with modern views on women's rights and female roles in society, but a thing that disney always seems to do in order to make a female 'empowered' is bring an air of disrespect to rules. i do agree that being empowered is good, but sometimes you just need to listen when your parents want you to stay home, ex: mulan. but i do like this article, just wish you had gone more in depth with more examples. :)

let's not censor art 'cause of shitty parenting though.

I don't really like the influence Disney has in a whole, but just to stay on topic...

I can't really say they're the best role models because although not all of them are perfect, most of them seem to follow that same story guideline of marrying their prince charming or whatnot and live happily ever after. However, it's not up to Disney to teach their children what's wrong from right. I always look down on parents that blame outside influences for influencing their children. However, because some of these parents do exist, it can make poorly influenced children.

i think children take different things from the films than adults do. i think that when disney princesses are balanced with a home life that doesn't encourage a child to literally grow up to be a princess and reenact the films as life, then the child will be okay. disney princesses shouldn't be role models anyway... they should be movie characters.

i was just glad you didn't say ariel was a spoiled brat and a stupid girl for 'changing herself for a man' 'cause it's such a weak argument that makes no sense.

Okay, so I had just logged off of Mibba when I saw this on the main page and had to red it. I found it very interesting!

I've always believed that we shouldn't teach little girls to grow up and be princesses, but that's just me. As I've gotten older, I've grown into a bit of a feminist so...

But I really liked your rating of each princess and I liked the ones you chose. I would have really loved to see ratings for each of the princesses. Maybe you could do like a "Part 2"? Still a great article, though!

I honestly think Mulan should have gotten like a 10 or something. Mulan was someone who every girl should at least look up to. She's strong, independent, brave and loyal all for her family. Her story didn't revolve around waiting for a Prince. It revolved around her protecting and fighting for her family.

I'm 19 years old and I still look up to princesses. I wish I had Merida's hair, seriously it's so beautiful

I kind of wish you would have gone over all of the princesses, because it would have been interesting to see how you would have evaluated all eleven princesses. The article could have gone a lot more in-depth than it did.

Snow White was a good role model.... For females in the 1930's but not she's not such a good role model for women in today's society. There weren't exactly a lot of women's rights back in the 1930's. I mean, I love Snow White too since I tend to love any princess of Disney's, but she can't really do much besides clean and sing. As much as I do love Snow White, I agree she's not a very good role model for females.

As for Mulan, I know she left her family but you have to take into consideration why she did it. She left to take her father's place in the army, to save his life. She hurt her family unintentionally of course but she was only trying to save her father. She had her heart in the right place but her actions may have been a bit misguided. I don't know, perhaps I'm a little biased since Mulan happens to be one of my favorite princesses. c:

Personally, I think some of the best role models out of Disney princesses are Merida, Mulan, Belle, Pocahontas, and Tiana. Every princess has their strengths and can teach kids something good, but I think those five make the best role models.

A cool idea for an article but I don't think you wrote it to its full potential. I found that when you used formal diction like "alas", "thus" and "one" it was a bit off-putting because it almost felt as if you were speaing down to the reader (at least that's my opinion), and I think you should replace "courageousness" with just "courage". Also edit in the Ariel paragraph that the crab is "named" Sebastian (you wrote "names"). Altogether I liked your concept and how you set out the ideas for each princess, but I think you could've gone into more depth without just retelling the plots.
Keep at it :)

Snow White is my favorite princess, so I will defend her as much as I can. I agree that she is passive, but it's kind of expected. Isn't she, like, fourteen? And who on Earth expects their primary caregiver to plot their murder? Kind of like most people's treatment of Cinderella. I'm sorry, but at no point in Cinderella did I see her just sit and do nothing. Snow, maybe, but she knew if she left that she would most likely be hunted down and killed and she wouldn't be able to defend herself. I wouldn't call her the best role model on the line-up (I'd say Mulan, but I haven't seen Tangled or Princess and the Frog), but she does have many admirable points. Nothing wrong with wanting a bunch of men to get their act together and act like somebody. Plus, she was a scullery maid. Cleaning was all she did.

Mulan is just awesome. She reminds me of Ariel in that I think they have the two most distinct personalities in the franchise. Yeah, jumping into something you have no preparation for is stupid, but noble. Not my favorite movie, but a good character.

Good article. :) I'm a sucker for anything Disney princess.