This, was my response:
"I never quite got why a woman had to be some sort of overwhelming heroine simply to be recognized as noteworthy in male society. A woman should be able to be as much a Princess as Cinderella, or as much a goof-like Ariel, and still be regarded as kick-ass like Mulan. Women come in all shapes and sizes, determinations, wants, and goals, to say that a woman has to save a country, or change an entire region's weather patterns to unfreeze a small kingdom; simply to measure up to their male counterparts, is awful, and backwards. I honestly don't think Disney has made much progress at all in the area of equality for women. If anything, because it's only just now allowing their heroines the CAPABILITY of being amazing; however it insists that they have to work five times as hard-in comparison to their male counterparts-to do it."
My friends and I continued to argue back and forth, which has lead me to here. For I must know, NS; do Disney movies empower young girls, as my friends suggest? Or are they simply sublte suggestions of supposed female inferiority?
To offer a view farther into my reasoning; let's take a look at contemporary Disney movies;
"Beauty and the Beast": Belle, a bookworm seeking adventures, struggles in a provincial town until she meets the Beast. It is only when she meets him that her adventures begin, and really she is powerless throughout the movie, since she is his prisoner. Of course, all ends happily when he turns into a gorgeous Prince — Would she have stayed with him if he had remained the Beast? And could she have had adventures that did not include men?
"The Little Mermaid": Ariel is a beautiful mermaid who seeks adventures and explores the ocean against her protective father’s will. She is a collector of human objects because she wants to be human, but her true adventure doesn’t begin until she sees Eric. It is only when she sees him that she wants to truly be human. In the end, he saves her from the sea witch and despite her free spirit and adventurous soul, she settles down with a Prince just to live a domestic life as a Princess.
"The Princess and the Frog": Here we have our very first black Princess, who is not really a Princess; she is the complete opposite: poor and disadvantaged. Tiana works hard to save enough money so that she can buy and run her own restaurant — which was also her father’s dream. She is not looking for love, or a Prince to save her, but her adventure only begins when the frog — a lazy and good-for-nothing Prince comes along for a kiss that will make them both rich and royal. She works too hard and doesn’t have any fun — he is too lazy and has too much fun — and together they fall in love and balance one another out — but why is working too hard and being single-sighted and ambitious such a bad thing for Tiana? Is it because she’s a girl? If she were the Prince, there would be no story to tell — ambition and single-minded hunger for success are innate, supposedly.
"Tangled": Disney’s new and contemporary version of Rapunzel, she is feisty and beautiful, but she has lived in her tower all her life until fun-loving bandit Flyn Rider comes along. Again, her adventures don’t begin until a man finds refuge in her prison tower, and it is not until she falls in love with him that she endeavors to escape her prison walls, discover adventure and herself, and fulfill her dreams.
So, unlike the old-fashioned models of the soft-spoken, docile, and patient Princesses like Cinderella, Snow white, and Sleeping Beauty, today’s princesses are similarly beautiful — but they are also strong, intelligent, and confident. However, their adventures are dependent on the men that “save” them. Being independent and empowered is not enough in the minds of those who continue to make these movies and revamp old stories of young girls — Like Sleeping Beauty, they are all asleep, trapped within the confines of society’s norms and limited definitions for femininity and girlhood — They may be smart, educated, and capable of taking care of themselves, but they still need a man, a prince, to awaken them. Men bring them the adventures they desire to have for themselves in order to grow and develop into women, which is unachievable without the presence of a strong and fun-loving male – whether he is a Prince, a bandit, or a lazy leech. The Princess dares not become Queen without a King to guide her towards womanhood — and this is the subtle messages these Princesses and their Princes send to our little girls. Little girls who grow up to be women, women who are thus engrained, and must live with that inferiority complex-forever.
What do you think NS? Am I off the wall cynical, or is Disney as evilly nuanced as I allege?
