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AmethystFae
Portland Princess
Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 837
Location: Portland, OR
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 Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:44 pm Post subject: My Disney Princess Paper That I Wrote |
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Here is the paper I wrote for my English class last semester:
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Disney Princesses – A Critical Analysis
All my life, I have loved stories about princesses. Like most girls, I was introduced to the Disney Princesses at an early age. And while some girls lost interest, I am still, to this day, a Disney Princess fanatic.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about each of the Disney Princesses and their movies more critically. For years, I have favored Princess Jasmine from “Aladdin,” Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” and Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” I always saw them as stronger and more independent than Snow White, Princess Aurora, or Cinderella. Then, recently, in the midst of a conversation I was having with a friend, it occurred to us that the time periods in which these movies were produced may have played an important part in the outcome.
I have often described Snow White as a “cream puff” and “the weakest of the Disney Princesses.” Snow White was the first of the six princesses, and her movie was made in 1938. Although women had the vote by then, a “liberated” woman was still a new concept. Snow White was very submissive, and the only time she came close to arguing was when the Evil Queen came in disguise to give her the poisoned apple. Furthermore, Snow White knew very little about her prince when they were married at the end. The only time we saw him before he awakened her was when Snow White was singing by the wishing well. He had heard her song and fell in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her. However, his name was never given, nor do we know anything about him other than the fact that he’s Snow White’s Prince.
I also noticed that Snow White is the only Princess with short hair. This is significant because short hairstyles for women were still a new thing. In fact, some have compared Snow White’s hair style to that of Shirley Temple, who was very popular during this time.
Sleeping Beauty, the next movie to be made about a Disney Princess was made in the late 1940s. Princess Aurora’s character seemed stronger than that of Snow White’s. She was a well-behaved child, but not quite as submissive as Snow White. When talking with the animals of the forest, she expresses her feelings about how protective her guardians are. She says that she is treated like a child, and isn’t allowed to meet anybody. “But you know something? I’ve fooled them. I have met someone,” she tells her animal friends. Later, after returning from her outing, there is further proof that she has opinions of her own. She reminds the three Fairies that she is sixteen, implying that the fact that she had fallen in love shouldn’t be such a shock.
Although we don’t see Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip getting to know each other onscreen, there is footage during “Once Upon A Dream” that suggests they spent some time together in the woods. Also, the two were betrothed to one-another from the day Princess Aurora was born. Furthermore, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty took place during the fourteenth century—a time when marriage was a business arrangement, rather than a thing of love. By the 1900s, it was more common to marry the one that you loved – a concept often played up in many films, especially the ones produced by Disney.
The next princess to be given the “Disney Makeover” was Cinderella, who is often criticized for various aspects of the story. However, I have noticed that although she is servant to her step-family, fell in love after one night of dancing, and got married because the glass slipper fit, Disney did put some depth into her character. Although she does follow the orders of her stepmother and stepsisters, she doesn’t “kiss their feet.” When they call for her, she says things like, “Oh, now what do they want?” or “Alright! I’m coming!” before taking care of their needs. Throughout the movie, she seems to keep the house running smoothly while her stepmother and stepsisters do nothing. I know that’s the whole point of the story, but Disney does a good job of making it look as though the house would fall apart without her there.
Cinderella does fall in love after one night of dancing, but if you watch the footage during “So This Is Love,” Cinderella and Prince Charming aren’t just dancing the entire time, but are walking together as well, implying that the two had time to talk about many things, with the exception of the exchange of their names.
I also noticed that Cinderella and Princess Aurora both had blonde hair. According to the music and television of that time, which was post World War II, blonde hair was very fashionable in the United States.
For the next thirty years, Disney didn’t produce any movies that centered around princesses. However, in the winter of 1989, The Little Mermaid came to theatres with a style only Disney could create. Not only did Disney change the story’s original tragic ending to one of happiness, but they also made Ariel a free, fun-loving type of girl with red hair to match. Ariel’s favorite pastime is to explore sunken ships and search for things used by humans. She never even implies that she wants to marry a “Prince Charming.” Instead, her dream is to dwell among the humans and see the world in which they live. She only dreams of a prince when she discovers Prince Eric.
One might assume she fell in love with Eric when she first laid eyes on him, but Ariel also overheard the conversation that took place when Eric and his advisor, Sir Grimsby, were discussing marriage and finding the right girl. It can be just as easily assumed that she fell in love with his personality.
In the movie, Ariel and Eric have three days to get to know each other. We see scenes of them driving through Eric’s Kingdom, dancing, and canoeing. Even though Ariel doesn’t have her voice in these three days, we can see that Eric is starting to become attracted to her.
Ariel also shows backbone when Ursula tries to destroy Prince Eric. To keep her beloved from being killed, Ariel pushes the sea witch, directing the blast to the two eels, Flotsom and Jetsom. Ariel is the first Disney Princess to stand up to the villain in that way.
Next, Disney released Beauty and the Beast. In this movie, Belle (French for “beautiful”) is considered, by the people of her town, to be an odd sort of creature because she spends most of her time reading. When Gaston takes the book from her and wonders how she can read without pictures, she tells him, “Some people use their imagination.”
At first, Belle and the Beast can’t stand each other. The Beast makes a remark about how difficult Belle is, and Belle tells the Armoir that she doesn’t want anything to do with the Beast. It isn’t until an argument ending with Belle telling the Beast that he should learn to control his temper, that the two begin a relationship that blossoms from being friends to falling in love.
Disney gave Belle the look that most intelligent beauties are given. Belle was beautiful, but her features were more subtle than the other Disney Princesses. Her hair was brown, and usually worn in a ponytail. This is often how people described as smart and pretty are most often portrayed in movies and TV.
Finally, Aladdin, the last of the Disney Princess movies, was introduced in 1993. In it, we first see Princess Jasmine after she has rejected another prince. We learn that Jasmine is fed up with the typical prince of that time period. The law says she must be married to a prince by her next birthday, but Jasmine is interested in marrying for love.
One interesting thing I have noted has to do with the conversation between Jasmine and the Sultan. In the movie, the Sultan says, “The law says you must be married to a prince by your next birthday.” However, in an early script of the movie, the Sultan says, “The law says you must be married to a prince by your sixteenth birthday.” In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora was sixteen when she married Prince Phillip. It is likely that by 1993, Disney didn’t want their young audience to think they should get married at sixteen years of age.
Additionally, Princess Jasmine is the first Disney Princess to reveal her midriff, which was a controversial issue back during the production of Aladdin. Another issue was the ethnicity. I think had Aladdin been produced fifty years prior, we might have seen an all-white cast or we’d never have movies like Pocahontas or Mulan. Both movies came after Aladdin, so it might be said that Princess Jasmine paved the way for heroines of different ethnicities to have their own movies.
No matter what Disney Princess we’re describing, all of them can be respected, given the time period in which each was created. When you compare Snow White to Princess Jasmine, you are literally comparing two different time periods. The standards set up for girls during each time period varied, even in the five years the last three Princesses were created.
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Spartan Girl
Agrabah Citizen
Joined: 01 May 2006
Posts: 68
Location: Lansing, MI
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| Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, that was really good! What did your teacher think?
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AmethystFae
Portland Princess
Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 837
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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She really liked it, I think. She even loved the idea of me writing such a paper.
I think I can give this board some credit, because some of y'all have helped me to see the older princesses in a different light (like I explained in the paper.)
~Hikaru
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Ariellen
Scourge of the Desert
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 708
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| Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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I liked how you addressed how the different Princesses reflected their time periods, Hikaru! While the characters have a 'timeless' sense, they definitely are also relevant to the audiences of those time periods, and I think it's great that you addressed that!
I did notice that some of your years are a bit off...Snow White was released in 1937, Cinderella was released before Sleeping Beauty (1950 vs. 1959), and Aladdin was released in 1993. Ariel showed midriff before Jasmine did, but I presume you were talking about human characters there. 
Still, I thought you made a lot of insightful comments about the characters, particularly how their personalities and appearances reflected the time of release. You must have had a great time writing it! Nice work; thank you for sharing! |
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Calluna
Genie of the Messageboard
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 3692
Location: Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:34 am Post subject: |
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No, Aladdin was in 1992. November, but it was still 1992. 
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AmethystFae
Portland Princess
Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 837
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:40 am Post subject: |
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Whew! I thought I was confused.
It was when I was in sixth grade at any rate.
~Hikaru
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Calluna
Genie of the Messageboard
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 3692
Location: Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:10 am Post subject: |
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| PrincessHikaru wrote: |
Whew! I thought I was confused.
It was when I was in sixth grade at any rate.
~Hikaru |
Really? In that case I'll have to add you to the short list of people here older than me.  (I was in 5th grade. )
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Ariellen
Scourge of the Desert
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 708
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:51 am Post subject: |
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*hides self* I'm sorry! I meant 1992, but was rereading the paper as I typed it, and....yeah. Wow, I've gone and undermined my credibility...
(It was November 11 in limited release and went wide on November 25! Honestly, I know this! '93 was the year Feature Animation HAD no release!)
I'm really beating myself up way too hard over this. |
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Janette Morgan
Jafar's Hourglass
Joined: 02 Aug 2005
Posts: 382
Location: Jafaria, Population: Hourglass.
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, don't feel too bad. Just because you're not good with numbers doesn't mean you can't be a literary mastermind.
I think it's really interesting to see how the Princesses have evolved with America's image of what women should be. I also find it interesting how, with each movie, the princesses had to go against larger odds and work harder to get what they wanted. (Except for Aladdin, where Jasmine didn't have to do anything but complain -- not that it wasn't a good movie, but it seemed to be a bit of a throwback.)
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Syera
Cynical Scribe
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 3441
Location: West Nenűvân
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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Gee... now that you mention it, Jasmine really didn't do much other than complain.
Ah, well... she got Awesome in the series, so I hear. 
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Ariellen
Scourge of the Desert
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 708
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| I think that running away is more than complaining...at least it was doing something about the things she was complaining about. Not in the most responsible of ways, but she had to meet Aladdin somehow. : |
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Syera
Cynical Scribe
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 3441
Location: West Nenűvân
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, pshaw. She only ran away so she could go complain to Aladdin. 
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Iago
Ghost Hunter
Joined: 12 Dec 2004
Posts: 7324
Location: Los Angeles, California,USA,Earth
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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Ghee, I really don't remember her complaining all that much 
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AladdinsGenie
Genie of the Messageboard
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 11856
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:48 am Post subject: |
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| Syera wrote: |
| Oh, pshaw. She only ran away so she could go complain to Aladdin. |
Yeah, because she called him up before hand and planned out that whole marketplace scene before she ran away. Then, if she escaped with her life, she could complain about it |
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Ariellen
Scourge of the Desert
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 708
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| Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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| "Father, if I do marry...I want it to be to have someone to b**** to! Maybe if I run away, I'll find the freedom...er...doormat that I've ALWAYS dreamed of!" |
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