What comes to mind when you hear “Disney Princess?” Its probably
something along the lines of pretty, wears a dress, animal sidekick of some
sort, good singer, and gets the guy in the end. That’s the old Disney.
Nowadays Disney has really stepped up in broadening their definition of
a Disney Princess. In 2007 Disney introduced its first black princess, Tiana in
The Princess and the Frog. Tiana,
however, still sticks with the traditional Disney Princess mold by marrying the
prince in the end. The only Disney
Princess who stays blissfully single is Merida from Brave.
Merida’s story is truly unique: her story
doesn’t revolve around her getting the guy, but rather getting away from the
three guys who her parents are pushing at her. At 15, Princess Merida (of an ancient Scottish clan) is
being forced to marry and that doesn’t sit too well with this archer
extraordinaire. Merida and her
mother (the Queen) constantly bicker over Merida’s general princessy-ness (or
lack of) and the princess decides to get a spell to change her mother’s mind on
her getting married. Instead of
changing her mind, Merida changes her mother into a bear. The movie focuses on Merida trying to
change her mother back into a human before her mother is stuck as a bear
forever. It’s when Merida realizes
she might not get her mom back when she realized how much she loves and
appreciates her mother and how badly she took her for granted. What really sticks out in this movie
isn’t Merida’s flaming curly hair (though it certainly is noticeable) but
rather the intimate mother-daughter relationship and how delicate it is. As a teenager watching this, I really could
relate as my mother and I fight all the time. It’s the mother-daughter relationship in this movie that makes
it the first in all of Disney’s 53 animated films really relatable to the
average kid. I can’t say that I’ve
ever been a mermaid or a girl with 50 feet of hair. In my opinion, this movie
can be more relatable to teenagers because as a teenager you go to battle with
your parents over everything and when you’re a kid you can’t really appreciate
your parents. After watching this
movie, I stopped fighting with my mom and I appreciated her more by telling her
I loved her and trying to be a better daughter to my mother.
Disney really stepped out of their box with this hit, however it got odd
criticism from the more conservative critics who said that by having Merida
reject being married at 15, that Disney was promoting lesbianism. Is it an odd idea that girls DON’T want
to be married at 15? I’m 16
(almost 17) and I don’t want to be married anytime soon. Does that mean I’m a lesbian? Wow, I had no idea.
Though most Disney Princesses have been married at relatively young ages
(or what seems young in today’s society), it’s refreshing that Merida can
choose to fall in love when she wants.
Some say that Merida needs a man’s protection, but if you’ve seen her
shoot her bow and arrow, you’d know that she’s perfectly capable of defending
herself, her archery skills comparable to those of Katniss Everdeen and
Robin Hood.
So for future reference Disney, if you feel like putting out another
movie about a badass-princess who don’t-need-no-man, my wallet will be open.
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteYour writing is always an enjoyment to read. Stereotypical traditional gender roles seems to be a recurrent theme among these blogs, which seems to indicate to me that this is a very noticeable in our society. Although everyone likes to say that women have equal opportunities and stature (which legally they do), there still seems to be many unfair social standards. These things you and I deem quite frankly ridiculous and primitive. Overall great job! Furthermore I appreciated the connection you made with your mother. I can assure you, we share similar experiences.