Not My Disney Princesses

https://feminainvicta.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/disneyprincesses.jpg

I saw this meme recently and I got a little miffed by its message. Granted, someone told me to lighten up, that it is just a “joke” and if the joke were based on its absurdism, I would be able to laugh along with everybody else. But it’s not. It’s a feminist meme and the “joke” it is trying to make is: Disney is anti-woman and anti-feminist. And we’re all supposed to nod our heads in chuckling agreement, “That’s so true.” But all of it is based on lies. Whoever made it either seems to have never actually watched the movies or they don’t understand the nuance of social relations.

Not a lot of people understand or know the history of Disney during its Renaissance period but the company itself, despite espousing family values and wholesome messages, has always been a company with a liberal agenda. In order to change the tide of public consciousness, things have to be introduced slowly, mixed in with the already accepted status quo and that is what Disney’s Renaissance (1989-1999) was doing. I have no idea why the left has turned on them now, since it has become very trendy to tear Disney down. I guess it really is true: progressives can see rape and oppression in literally everything, including things that are actually messages from their side. So, here is my analysis and argument against this anti-Disney meme.


Jasmine: As a woman, your political worth is reduced to your marriageability.

Actually, the film argues against this idea entirely. Is it presented as the cultural norm for Jasmine’s country? Yes. However, several times the male characters are shamed by Jasmine and each other for vying over her like she's property. Even the genie tries to convince Aladdin several times to just treat her like a person as the true avenue to winning her heart. When he doesn’t and tries to go the political route, he faces misfortune when his lies are exposed, including being rebuked and humbled by Jasmine when she finds out. The one guy who sticks to his guns and tries to turn her into a political chess piece is fooled into turning himself into a genie, defeated, and mocked.

Much like Ariel who came before her, Jasmine is presented as a rebel, although without the foolhardy teenager tone nor the love-sickness that the mermaid possesses. Jasmine is adventurous, has desires separate from those around her, and is incredibly stubborn without being spoiled. We’re never tricked into dismissing her even though she gets saved several times, she shows a willingness to participate in her own rescue and the cunning to do so successfully. The ultimate choice to marry Aladdin is made by Jasmine, her opinion asked by her father, finally respecting her as a person with autonomy.


Belle: Appearances don’t matter; what counts is what’s in your heart. Unless you’re the girl.

Actually, it does matter for Belle. She is the main character, the one we identify with and the one we share a perspective with. Right from the beginning, we get to see her as more than a farm girl and the importance of ideas and thoughts are established right away. Not just from her singing longingly and excitedly about books but also from the contrasts presented by the town around her. She rebuffs the advances of the arrogant jerk in town who not only presents himself as incredibly vapid and focused on looks(in a harshly negative light) but treats her as an object as well. We empathize with Belle because we know she’s so much more. She celebrates individuality as she goes against the norm, ignoring the entire town that sings about her because they think she’s weird. Even the women who desire Gaston are presented negatively, since all three look exactly the same and focus solely on his good looks.

Belle shows us heart and courage when she goes looking for her father. She shows love and sacrifice when she takes his place in the castle. By contrast, the Beast is arrogant, abrasive, and monstrous. He doesn’t have good insides when we and Belle meet him. The story is about transformation and Belle transforms him from the inside long before he physically changes. By setting an example and demanding better treatment from him, she is able to move him from his self-loathing and pity to find love and appreciation for someone other than himself. Belle is a person worth falling in love with, and the Beast, unmoved by a pretty face, gets to see that by getting to know her. It is unlikely that one of those vapid bimbos in town would have successfully broken the curse or won his heart if they were in her place.



Ariel: It’s okay to abandon your family, drastically change your body, and give up your strongest talent in order to get your man. Once he sees your pretty face, only a witch’s spell could draw his eyes away from you.

Who makes excuses or justifications for Ariel’s sacrifice? The story actually makes her sacrifice out to be a bad thing. We the viewers are let in on the manipulation and ulterior motives of Ursula before Ariel ever meets her, getting several scenes and a song about how much hate the sea witch has for Triton and his family. The story presents Ariel as a flighty, inexperienced teenager. We know she’s constantly getting herself into trouble by the decisions she makes; the story opens with a prime example! She ditches her concert to go into dangerous waters and almost gets eaten by a shark! Right off the bat we’re told not to trust her judgements because despite being adventurous and curious, it doesn’t seem like she always knows what is really the best thing for herself.

It isn't about her sacrifice winning her Eric because he's always looking past her. The only reason Ursula wins him over, other than the spell, is because she convinces him that she is the woman who saved him from the shipwreck(the enchantment is there to keep him from asking questions). So, he's not looking at petite little Ariel as "wow, she's silent and got legs and that hits my checklist.” It's a hard decision for him to throw away his fantasy of the singing lady on the beach to go ahead and go for the budding romance right in front of him.

There is the element of love being worth giving everything for…and it is. Love is great. Love is worth taking risks and taking chances on. We know Ariel gave too much because we know the corrupted nature of the woman she’s dealing with. But love is certainly worth fighting for and making sacrifices for. Ariel almost loses herself and her love by not making the right choices; the film is a cautionary tale about being aware of yourself and not letting love completely blind you or overwhelm your good judgement.


Cinderella: If you’re beautiful enough, you may be able to escape your terrible living conditions by getting a wealthy man to fall for you.

The story is a classist tale. Cinder(shortening it because I keep accidentally typing it alla instead of ella) is a servant, taking care of her stepmother and sisters and barely treated like a human being. They make ridiculous demands of her, presented as caricatures of selfishness and vanity, whereas Cinder is presented as beautiful and genuine. Her beauty is highlighted by the contrast as her optimism in her terrible circumstances is a ray of sunshine, and she actually cares about others rather than just herself. The story is about "her night", getting to feel worthwhile for once, which is often what a night of glamor and the saying "being treated like a princess" is all about. Owning the truth that she deserved to be seen beyond the superficial standards that these other women push onto her.

The plot presents a dues ex machina in exchange for the dire situation she falls in. Tremaine gets the invite to the ball and it says "every eligible maiden" so despite her sisters mocking her and making fun of her, Cinder presents her case for why she deserves to go. Because she fits the bare minimum of humanity presented to her by this flimsy piece of paper. Tremaine tells her that if she can find a dress and get all her chores done, then she can go, much to the sisters protest. When she's gone, Tremaine makes it clear to us, the audience, that she has no intentions of keeping her promise, using sly wording to put a loophole in there for herself. She tricked Cinder.

Not only that, the story makes it clear that the sisters load her up with chores, so that she has literally 0 time to work on the bare bones dress that she set out for herself. Her friends help her with that, so that she can go because friends often help each other achieve their goals. What happens when she goes downstairs, ready to leave with the other ladies? Tremaine points out that her dress is made up of things that the sisters threw away and didn't want and they accuse her of stealing, tearing her dress to shreds to humiliate and dehumanize her. She is stripped of her humanity in that scene, not even fitting the bare minimum of humanity in being a woman and ordered to go to this thing by the king himself.

The godmother is a fantasy, a moment of escapism, where we see wish fulfillment when at our lowest point and her optimism simply cannot be jumpstarted again, that someone out there will give us everything we desire because we know we deserve it. It's god-like and she is given this opportunity when in reality, it's not an actual solution to the problem. It's for one night, a dream fulfilled, simply to give her that precious moment of dignity and humanity, to be seen as something other than the mop and broom she carries. The prince chooses her out of everyone else because of those contrasts that were laid out before as the groundwork. Her step sisters and step mother are in the crowd and fail to "wow" him, almost like he can see their ugliness inside. We root for Cinder not because she's physically beautiful but because we know that her sisters are bad people. And the climax of the film is again Tremaine trying to control her life and destiny, to lie and steal from something that Cinder has basically earned. Whether you want to believe all she did was dance with the prince and he likes her for her looks, fine, but he's now HERS. HER prince because she's the one he wants. Not her stupid step sisters.

The caricature contrasts are highlighted again as they attempt to trick the advisor into accepting one of them as the deserving ones. The scene with them trying on the shoe is over the top and ridiculous in how pathetic and desperate they are. Cinder, although saved again by her dues ex machina friends, arrives as the slipper breaks, poised, collected, calm, finally owning who she is inside. It is the allegory of the royalty of every girl, no matter her station or what the girls around her think and say. The shoe fits so she wears it, figuratively and literally.


Sleeping Beauty: Pretty girls don’t even need to be alive to get some hot princely action.

the prince in this is a little more fleshed out and he does save the princess but he doesn't like her just because she's pretty and unmoving. Aurora meets him earlier, singing with him in the woods. The film is about her waking up as a person, both in an allegorical sense and literally. She is hidden away for her entire life, shielded from experiences because her guardians think they know what's best for her. And that whole evil fairy, thing. Done up in typical fantasy fashion, the story highlights both Aurora and Phillip as protagonists equally, dreamers amidst the pressure and coddling of the authority figures around them.

Snow White: At first it may seem terrible, being so beautiful that other women get jealous enough to try to kill you. But don’t worry, once your beauty attracts a man, he'll protect you.

I've watched this movie literally twice in my life because I dislike the artwork but I agree, Snow White does cling to the traditional view of women being vulnerable and needing protection.