We live in a world with an ever changing society. This society is constantly morphing with new ideals which shape our ideas of core values and concepts. These changes are constantly represented in media and are always adjusting to societies standards. One of the greatest examples of this can be seen within the realm of our dearly beloved Disney princesses, and how they have evolved from the “damsel in distress”, to “feminist on a mission”. The changes that are seen throughout the last 80 years of Disney films shows a true shift in their message. These changes also show how the oppressive early films have morphed into true feminist empowerment films. There are several different ways that the Disney Princess has been evolving over the years.
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These stories are inspired by well known tales and folk lore, many of Walt Disney’s early films follow a similar, anti-feminist pattern: young, beautiful girl feels trapped in her own life, often by an evil female figure intent on demise; girl dreams of true love with a handsome prince, who will surely save her from her circumstances; girl undergoes transformation which causes prince to love and save her (Manduke 2017). “Snow White”, Walt Disney’s first feature length animation film was released in 1937 (IMDB 2017), and tells the story of a young girl who was born as a princess, who is hidden away by her step mother, the Evil Queen, for fear that the Snow White may become the most beautiful woman in the village. As this fear becomes more relevant as Snow gets older, the Evil Queen hires a man to kill Snow White (Walt Disney Co 1937). The Evil Queen obviously fails in her venture because the young man sent to kill Snow actually falls in love with her. This is the first classic example of the Prince saving the damsel in distress princess. For the early years of Walt Disney Studios it was clear: beautiful, helpless girl being rescued by strong handsome prince equaled major sales in the box …show more content…
While Aurora is the protagonist and center of the cartoon, she speaks only eighteen lines throughout the films entirety, and does not speak after she has been awaken from a sleeping curse by Prince Philip (Susman 2014). Although Aurora’s three fairy godmothers do participate in more dialogue, they are portrayed as bumbling and emotional, and are not successful in keeping Aurora from harm. Ariel, who is a talented and passionate singer, gives up her voice to a wicked sea witch in exchange for a pair of legs in order to win over her true love, the human Prince Eric. When she questions the witch on how she will communicate with Eric, the witch replies “Don’t forget the importance of body language!” (IMDB 2017). She is effectively being told that beauty and sexuality are more important to a woman than intelligent communication through
These stories are inspired by well known tales and folk lore, many of Walt Disney’s early films follow a similar, anti-feminist pattern: young, beautiful girl feels trapped in her own life, often by an evil female figure intent on demise; girl dreams of true love with a handsome prince, who will surely save her from her circumstances; girl undergoes transformation which causes prince to love and save her (Manduke 2017). “Snow White”, Walt Disney’s first feature length animation film was released in 1937 (IMDB 2017), and tells the story of a young girl who was born as a princess, who is hidden away by her step mother, the Evil Queen, for fear that the Snow White may become the most beautiful woman in the village. As this fear becomes more relevant as Snow gets older, the Evil Queen hires a man to kill Snow White (Walt Disney Co 1937). The Evil Queen obviously fails in her venture because the young man sent to kill Snow actually falls in love with her. This is the first classic example of the Prince saving the damsel in distress princess. For the early years of Walt Disney Studios it was clear: beautiful, helpless girl being rescued by strong handsome prince equaled major sales in the box …show more content…
While Aurora is the protagonist and center of the cartoon, she speaks only eighteen lines throughout the films entirety, and does not speak after she has been awaken from a sleeping curse by Prince Philip (Susman 2014). Although Aurora’s three fairy godmothers do participate in more dialogue, they are portrayed as bumbling and emotional, and are not successful in keeping Aurora from harm. Ariel, who is a talented and passionate singer, gives up her voice to a wicked sea witch in exchange for a pair of legs in order to win over her true love, the human Prince Eric. When she questions the witch on how she will communicate with Eric, the witch replies “Don’t forget the importance of body language!” (IMDB 2017). She is effectively being told that beauty and sexuality are more important to a woman than intelligent communication through