Tuesday
Mar092010
All I think about is princesses...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 
My partner is a stay-at-home dad and he sometimes fills me in on the deep conversations he has during the day with our little girl. Ones like this:Emma: Daddy, what are you thinking about?
Daddy: I'm thinking about putting the tiles on the backsplash. What are you thinking about?
Emma: I'm always thinking about princesses.
Such is the life of an almost three year old girl.
As a thirty-something feminist, I don't expect to spend a lot of my time thinking about princesses. But these days, it does seem like I'm spending a lot of time thinking about them. From princess books, to princess movies, to princess birthday parties and princess pretend play, princesses are invading my home, my life and my thoughts. As if that wasn't enough, when I try to escape into the world of adult conversation and news, I find princesses, princesses, and lots more princesses.
I don't really like princesses. At least not the popular image of a princess. I don't like how focused they are on their looks. I don't like that their life's goal is to meet and marry a rich and handsome prince. I don't like their completely impractical clothing. I don't like the fact that every single girl in Julian's preschool class was a princess for Halloween. I don't like the entitlement attitude. I don't like the lavish lifestyle. I don't like the snobbery. I don't like the daintiness.
Since I'm not a huge princess fan, you would think I would welcome news from Disney that it is trying to make its next big animated movie less princess-focused. But I don't. At least not the way they are doing it. According to the Los Angeles Times article "Disney restyles 'Rapunzel' to appeal to boys":
After the less-than-fairy-tale results for its most recent animated release, "The Princess and the Frog," executives at the Burbank studio believe they know why the acclaimed movie came up short at the box office.
Brace yourself: Boys didn't want to see a movie with "princess" in the title.
This time, Disney is taking measures to ensure that doesn't happen again. The studio renamed its next animated film with the girl-centric name "Rapunzel" to the less gender-specific "Tangled."
But that isn't all. In addition to changing the name of the movie, they also introduced a new male character, an infamous bandit Flynn Rider just to appeal to boys. A character that isn't there in the original. The New York Review of Books A Girl in the Tower article on Rapunzel stories explains:
In the Grimms' tale of "Rapunzel" (though not in the Pentamerone), the prince is a fairly ineffective figure. After he climbs Rapunzel's hair into the tower and is confronted by the witch, he jumps from the window in despair and is blinded by thorns. Both he and his beloved then wander about alone in misery for several years, but at last they are reunited and when Rapunzel's tears fall on his eyes his sight is restored.
The NPR's blog on this topic, called "Dear Disney: Boys Aren't Stupid, But Renaming 'Rapunzel' Is" explains that other Disney princess movies like the Little Mermaid did fine at box offices [emphasis mine]:
There are princess characters who do just fine with boys, but I think the word "princess" now carries an implication of passivity and romantic fixation and therefore a lack of interest that Disney has created, not discovered.
The blog post goes on to explain that Alice in Wonderland is expected to do well despite not being called Hatter! and that Up would probably not have failed if Russell had been a girl instead of a boy.
I recognize that Disney's primary goal is profit and not ensuring an appropriate cultural education for my children, but I wish that instead of keeping the princess and adding a "cool guy" on top, that Disney would think about what role it can play in deconstructing gender stereotypes and showing girls that they don't have to be princesses and boys that they don't have to be charming machos. As a feminist, I don't object outright to girls wanting to pretend that they are princesses, but I do object to them being consistently brainwashed with the princess mentality. As a pacifist, I don't object outright to kids playing with swords and guns, but I do object to them being consistently brainwashed into thinking that violence and war is a way to solve problems. We need some balance. Balance that allows all kids to experiment, use their imagination, and have fun without being told "girls don't do this" and "boys don't do that".
My challenge to Disney: Instead of thinking about how to appeal to girls and appeal to boys, think about how you can create strong characters that help to break down the gender stereotypes you've invested so much money into building.
Image credit: Express Monorail on flickr
Reader Comments (60)
[...] is it with princesses? Is it the lovely pink hue of their dresses? Good breeding? Financial success and widespread [...]
As a kid I flip flopped between girlie phases and tom boy phases. I like to think that a woman such as myself can dress or do something girlie (I like to sew) while being a self actualized independent woman (I also own a compound miter saw. It's mine, not my husband's.) My princess liking niece thinks I'm THE authority on princesses because I used to be a historical reenactor and got to wear "a princess dress. I also "played swords" - I did stage combat. She considers me a "sword carrying self rescuing princess" and when we play princess that's the kind we play (minus the swords or any weapon.) When we talk about our favorite princesses I use it as an opportunity to steer her toward the great historical ones like Queen Elizabeth I and why. We also talk about how Disney messes with the original endings of the fairy tales they make into movies to make them "happier endings." For example, Disney's The Little Mermaid has a lot that is different from Hans Christain Andersen's original. Basically for us, as impractical as the clothing is (you can't slide down a slide very well in a hoop. I know from experience!) playing princess is about wearing something a little prettier than normal play clothes.
If Disney has to promote princesses I wish that they would include Mulan more. She protected her father, her country, and defied gender roles to do it!
[...] in March, Andrea responded to my post called All I think about is princesses. She wrote: I don’t know. I mean, I get that the Disney marketting is over the top. But is it [...]
Disney should make a movie on Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'arc)
Peggy Orenstein, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, examines how Disney has been aggressively marketing princess—to great success—in the past 10 years, in her new book, "Cinderella Ate My Daughter." To read more about the effects on girls and Peggy's advice to parents, the interview is here: http://www.makeitbetter.net/family/parenting/2423-is-disney-princess-culture-bad-for-our-daughters
-Liz Logan, Associate Editor
Make It Better Magazine
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twitter.com/makeitbetterNS
Mulan isn't a Princess which is why she isn't always seen in Princess lineups. She doesn't marry a Prince. She gets a medal from the Emperor and then marries Shang, whose only captain of the army.
[...] get lost in a fantasy world, but I also really dislike the over-commercialization of it all and the princess culture. My kids, however, love it all (which bothers me, but also creates opportunities for conversations [...]
This is waaay late, but have you SEEN Tangled? SPOILER ALERT: She can do stuff with her hair! Her goal in life is to discover who she is. And in the end, SHE saves Flynn Ryder (and becomes a sassy brunette). I'd say that's a win for a Princess movie.
I'm coming to this discussion years late, obviously, but one of your lines here taps into why I'm so discouraged with Disney in this era: "I recognize that Disney’s primary goal is profit." Their primary goal shouldn't be profit. I thought they were film makers. I thought film makers were artists. I thought they cared about putting forth something beautiful or entertaining. I'm sure that in the early days, Walt Disney and his animators cared very much about the art and the storytelling. That's why the backgrounds in Bambi are all done in water color. At some point, Disney stopped really being a film studio and became something much less appealing. They do care only about profit at this point, and the films are really just tools they use to sell crap.
[...] (via @phdinparenting)'"}};} The pink, the Barbies, the "Daddy's little" princess, the new LEGO Friends, the shopaholic, the American Girl dolls, the beauty queen and the the very [...]