I've recently noticed a trend of links on facebook, etc. about the horrors of the Disney Princesses and how some people are adamant about not wanting their daughters to idolize them. As someone who grew up with Disney and the princesses (at least the old school ones) and as a mother of a three year old who is 100% obsessed with Rapunzel, I'm going to go ahead and say that they're not that bad. And before I even start, I'm going to give the disclaimer that I didn't see Brave or Frozen yet (although I heard that Frozen is fantastic and I'm super excited to see it...when it comes out on DVD...because I'm too cheap to see it in a theater), so I can not give a true opinion on those girls (I hear that they are all bad asses!).
Yes, I know that they all find their prince and fall in love, blah blah blah. Every princess story is a love story (or at least has a component of love story in it). But really, what's wrong with a love story as long as it's a strong woman who is falling in love?! And people can be strong in different ways. Trust me. I grew up surrounded by strong women. On both sides of my family and with most of our family friends, the women are in charge. Not that the men are push overs...it's good to have an intellectual argument...as long as you know, in the end, that I (being the woman) am going to win. They do it in different ways. Sometimes it's super obvious who is making all the decisions and other times (this is my favorite kind) it's done with a quiet sarcasm that you wouldn't even notice unless you were paying very close attention. Thanks to my mom and all of those other positive female influences, I grew up knowing the order of life (go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, put furniture in that house - and then you can have a baby) and I knew that if I felt that domestic life was not for me, it was OK because "I do not need a man to validate myself as a person!" I'm getting off track here. Back to the princesses. While, I admit that some of them are a little odd, each of them definitely have some kick ass skills (except for one, but I'll get to her later). So. From the beginning...
Snow White - OK, so these early princesses are a little bit demur for my liking. But if you think about it, Snow White does make it through the forest so she has to have some pretty decent survival skills. She can talk to animals, which is always a plus. I mean, I suppose anyone can talk to an animal. But in her case, the animals listen and obey. If I could get some deer and rabbits to help me clean my house, I'd be all about it. The birds can stay out. She lives with 7 men. At first you may think it's some weird reversed polygamy type of thing where the woman has multiple husbands. But then you realize that she may be all about helping out little people, which is an awesome little philanthropic effort she has going on. She can reach things on the top shelves so that Dopey doesn't have to sit on Happy's shoulders all the time. Really, her only downfall is that she ate an apple from a stranger. Really?! Who does that?!
Cinderella - Again, Cinderella is not my one of my favorites. She obviously has no toes which is why she can never keep shoes on her feet. I'm surprised that she can make it up all of those stairs to her room. But does she let a strange (probably genetic) deformity stop her? No. She pretty much runs the household because her lazy ass stepmother and stepsisters are worthless. And organization is a good quality to have. You can't get all of that work done without a system and you can't be a bad ass princess without being organized. She also has animals that do her bidding, which seems to be a common theme in these early princess movies. Her animals friends are mostly mice and birds, which is weird and creepy, but I guess beggars can't be choosers when it comes to free tailoring. She is smart enough to keep the one shoe that actually stays on her foot. And in the end, she pretty much gets to bitch slap her stepmother and stepsisters.
Aurora - Aurora has those typical early princess qualities of being an animal whisperer and knowing which berries in the forest won't kill you. She has an awesome singing voice which she uses to her advantage. (And there is nothing wrong with knowing your assets.) I think it's strange that she never thought it was weird that she lived in a little cottage with three middle aged women, but, I suppose if she never knew anything else, she wouldn't know to question it.
Ariel - OK. So I used to really like Ariel...until I started thinking about this post. I seriously can't think of a good, positive quality that Ariel possesses. First of all, she's way to young to be falling in love, running away from home and most importantly, getting married. Aurora was 16 too, but at least she didn't get married right away (right?). Anyways, back to Ariel. You could say that she's adventurous, which is true, but it sometimes comes off as defiant. She wants to do the right thing, even though it's not the status quo. And she saves a human from drowning, which I appreciate her being kind to a species that is not her own. (There. A good quality) But she gives up her greatest asset (her voice) without even being prepared. No sign language, no pen and paper, nothing. I do like that she's a red head and that she's ballsy enough to rock the sea shell bra.
Belle - One of my favorites!!! She's a reader, she sacrifices her own well being to free her father and she is not too entirely freaked out by inanimate objects talking to her. She totally stands up to the Beast and even yells at him from time to time. Plus, she falls in love with him despite his scary exterior. I want to be her. Minus the lifetime imprisonment.
Jasmine - I'm not gonna lie, I haven't seen Aladdin (or Pochahontas) in years. Jasmine really stepped up the whole animal friendship thing by having a pet tiger. I feel like that fact alone makes her a real bad-ass. And she doesn't even have any disfiguring tiger bite scars! She wears pants, which is cool. And, I'm pretty sure that even though the pants are billowy, she's got some hips. Just like Belle, she falls in love with someone who is not typical prince material. Except this time, instead of ugly and rich, she goes for cute and homeless. She seems pretty independent, so I'm assuming she made Aladdin sign a pre-nump (which obviously would give her all rights to any magic lamps, genies and flying carpets).
Pocahontas - I feel like if the princesses had a fitness competition, Pocahontas would win, hands down. When you row that much in a canoe, you have to be building up some major upper body strength. Pocahontas is cool because she can totally survive completely on her own. She wants to make her own decisions about who she should marry and what she should do with her life. I feel like if Disney were to remake the Pocahontas movie, it should be full of Beyonce songs. And Just Around the River Bend. You can't take that out.
Mulan - OK, Mulan. Weird, awkward and doesn't fit in. Already I like her. She cross-dresses and goes to war, which, I admit, the cross dressing is strange. But she gets to carry a sword and ends up proving herself to be one of the most bad-ass princesses there is. Bonus! She ends up getting the guy that is much hotter than any other guy in the movie and she does so by being her true bad-ass self!
Tiana - Tiana is all about working hard to get what you want, which is awesome because even as a princess, things are not just handed to you. Yes, she spends some time as a frog but it helps her to find a prince, so I guess it's worth it. Also, in addition to being a great cook, she's a decent business woman. No complaints.
Rapunzel - Oh Rapunzel. Locked up in a tower for 18 years and instead of sitting on her ass, she reads, paints, plays guitar, knits, cooks, does puzzles, plays darts, bakes, does paper mache, ballet, chess, pottery, ventriloquy, makes candles, stretches, climbs, and sews dresses (can you tell I've seen this movie a couple thousand times?). She's essentially the biggest overachiever I've seen. She's super creative and I love that her weapon of choice is a frying pan. She stands up to the bitch that kidnapped her and ends up trying to sacrifice herself for someone she loves. It looks like Flynn is saving her, but she is most definitely saving him. Talk about independence. Plus, she can totally pull off both the blonde and brunette looks...very hard to do.
So, essentially, if Alexa and Kate want to be like the Disney princesses, I'm all about it!
