Issues: Disney. - Comments

@ Usako
And thats perfectly fine. Thank you for sharing your opinion, you did bring up a few things I overlooked.

While I agree with the Disney shows on the Disney Channel, I honestly agree with Usako. If you hadn't noticed, the girls may have been beautiful (the Disney Princesses I mean), but they all had lessons to learn and their songs are what symbolized it all. Snow White teaches about never giving up on love. Cinderella teaches about forgiveness towards those who have done you wrong. Belle learned not to judge others by their appearances. Jasmine's little moral was that she can fall in love with anyone regardless of their wealth and social status as long as she follows her heart. Rapunzel wanted to go out and have some kind of fun (as Usako said, she wanted to seize the day). Mulan wanted to people to know the real her instead of trying to be the perfect bride or what everyone else tells her to do. The Princess and the Frog has Tiana dealing with the struggles of being two minorities in one (a woman and being black). Ariel manages to bridge the gap between both humans and merpeople (though it didn't officially happen until the movie sequel, Return to the Sea). And Jane from Tarzan learns about following your heart and she raises the issues of poaching (which Tarzan did by itself) but still.

It's unfair to say that the Disney Princesses don't have any definition to them. I, personally think that Jane was more plain looking than all the others and she was more bold and outgoing than all the others mainly because she wanted to show Tarzan her world and be apart of his world. She also fought against Poachers as well. So, although the Princesses were all beautiful and had handsome men wooing them, they each had their own little quirks, especially when faced with their own villains and problems.

Aurora = Maleficent. Jasmine = Jafar (she stood up to him repeatedly). Snow White and Cinderella = Stepmothers. Ariel = Ursula. Mulan = Shan Yu and the Huns. Tiana = The Shadowman. Gazelle = The Stepmother in Enchanted. Rapunzel = her foster mother.

If you actually think about it, a lot of these Disney movies follow these kinds of formulas but they all have different lessons and morals.

While I can't really defend the Disney Channel anymore because it has gone downhill, I think you are being very unfair to the Disney Princesses.

Let's begin with Snow White. Snow White's father dies, and afterwards, her stepmother forces her to step down from her position as princess to reduce her to nothing more than a scullery maid. The Stepmother despises her over something as petty youth and beauty, and in the end, even tries to kill her for it. However, Snow White doesn't become bitter, cynical, or depressed from her adventure, she continues to trust people, contain her innocence, and be kind to those around her. I think that is really strong of her character to do that. So what if her dream was to fall in love and find a prince? After years of mental abuse and being told you are nothing, wouldn't you want to find some love? During the Prince's "One Song" performance, she literally swoons and runaways because she has never been treated like that before. (Moral, for me anyways: Love is a powerful thing and can cure horrors. I kind of lump Sleeping Beauty in here too)

Cinderella is in a similar situation, but not only has to deal with a stepmother as well as two other degrading stepsisters. Almost everything she had from her previous life with her biological father and mother is taken away, and she is abused mentally and physically each day. However, she dreams that she can escape the place, and fulfill her other dreams, whatever those maybe. She doesn't grumble and cry, and become hateful towards her step family. No, she remains kind even to them, even after the rip the only remaining possession she had of her mother (the pink dress). The main moral of that story is work hard to achieve your dreams, never give up on them, and eventually they will come true.

I think the biggest rebuttals to your view of the Disney Princesses is Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Jasmine from Aladdin. She literally rejects the "hot and charming" guy for somebody who will understand and appreciate her "quirky" personality. She can see through Gaston's charisma and his beauty and that it really hides how sexist he is. Belle even calls him out on it. In the end, she finds somebody who appreciates her for who she is, and who she can appreciate for who he is. She falls in love with a BEAST, and only later finds out that he was a cursed prince. Moral of the story is "Do not judge a book by it's cover."

Jasmine on the other hand falls for a peasant man, or he's probably even thrown below that. She is willing to risk being disowned by her father, losing all her riches and goods, to be with the street rat Aladdin. Needless to say, she went through all these so called princes, and she wasn't impressed by their good looks and charisma. You can tell in her intro scene she thinks they are all arrogant and snotty. She appreciates Aladdin, not for what he can give her or the stability he can bring, but for who he is as a person.

And to add it in there, Mulan, Tiana, Ariel, Pocahontas, and Rapunzel's dreams weren't about finding love either. Mulan wanted to fight and protect her family, bringing honor to them. Tiana wanted to start her own business, and as a black woman in Louisiana 1920s that is a dream: she has to face not only racism, but sexism as well. Pocahontas leaves her "love" John Smith so that she can stay with her people and help them. Rapunzel's dream was that she wanted to leave her prison of a tower to see the lights, basically, just wanting to live and seize the day. Finally, Ariel just wanted to explore the human world and learn about a new culture; she was fascinated with the human world long before Eric even came into the picture.

Sorry for the long rant, but I have an extremely different view than you.

I don't think they do this on purpose, you know, to try and promote these ridiculous ideals about love. OR since the writers are most likely adults, they tend to underestimate kids and seem to portray them in this shallow way. But yeah, I agree for the most parts. If I over think it, I'm just as cynical. So I'll just over look that and laugh at the jokes for the fun of it. But it is sad how kids do fall for these ideals shown on TV.