And no, I don't mean fascinating characters. Because a lot of them, especially the early ones, aren't the least bit interesting. I mainly take interest in the princesses because you can see them evolve through time based on what man's definition of a perfect woman was in the time period.
Don't believe me? Let's take a look.
Snow White: This movie came out in the late 30's and it's no surprise that the woman portrayed was reserved, submissive, lived for house work and of course was beautiful. She just loved to help the seven little men in the cottage by doing all of their work. She was also innocent which was an attractive trait at the time because innocent women were relatively gullible and therefore didn't question men as much.
She also had the most grating and damn annoying voice every put on the big screen, rivaled perhaps, by Jar Jar Binks.
Cinderella: She's blonde and beautiful but most importantly: Hard working. This is particularly interesting because this movie came out in 1950. This was shortly after World War II in which woman had actually obtained a lot of power. They got real jobs while the men were over seas and practically helped run the country. But with the end of World War II, domestic work was once again the proper thing for a woman. This was heavily advertised even by the government. Women were empowered by World War II and it took a lot of propaganda to bring them back to house wife status and give the jobs back to the men.
Cinderella was a picture perfect example of this submissive housewife who was saved from poverty by a strong man. She was reworded for her domestic work and made a princess, so therefore all women should do domestic work and they will be rewarded.
Aurora: This is a princess largely based on the look of the "perfect girl" at the time. We're still in the fifties (1959) but this wasn't exactly a "look at this domestic woman" approach. This was a princess who didn't do much at all. But she looked like the perfect woman of the time. Long blonde hair, full red lips, blue eyes and of course, a waist the size of a tooth pick (Take a look at fifties dresses. You'll see what I'm talking about) She still relied on a man of course. And besides sing and dance and be unconscious she did nothing. But hey, men at the time liked that kind of thing. She was more of eye candy or an arm decoration than an actual character.
Ariel: Disney took a break from the classic Disney princess for awhile and The Little Mermaid didn't come out until 1989. It was a huge jump. By this time the heroins started actually doing something. Acting on their dreams for a man, taking matters into their own hands, selling their souls in order to have a chance at a man...
Wait what?
Ok, so Ariel still fell in love at first sight and made some pretty stupid decisions out of her desperation for one guy. But she made a little more effort. She was still beautiful of course. She had red hair and she showed her navel (Which showed that rules for women were looser at this time). I hate Ariel but I'll get into why in a later post.
Belle: Oh yeah. The first brunette princess. And I don't count Snow White because her hair was black and she was a doll, not a human being. Belle was the first princess to do the following: Be intelligent and love reading, have an imagination that extended beyond boys, not fall in love at first sight, stand up for herself and get angry with reason, be emotionally deep, have standards.
Yeah, I like Belle, and she really showed that women were starting be appreciated as people rather than eye candy or just creatures who needed a man to complete them.
I know a lot of people claim Beauty and the Beast was a tail of one poor girls Stockholm's Syndrome, but this is completely unfair, especially considering that she didn't warm up to the beast until he stopped being a dick and actually tried to impress her and be nice to her. He had to make the first step. Belle wasn't shallow and she was also genuinely kind and smart. The first really three dimensional woman character, I believe, in a Disney film. Though she unfortunately may have created the "I'm misunderstood but beautiful" cliche I see a lot of... (The Bella Swan rant is coming)
Jasmine and Pocahontas: I'm including these two together because they came out just a few years apart and accomplished about the same things. Just one better than the other. Both pandered to the growing popularity of "exotic beauties" which was growing in the 90s. And they were still women who did things other than think about men.
Jasmine actually rejected a lot of men and fell for Aladdin, not because he was dashing but because he seemed to understand her. They seemed to be friends before love interests. And even when someone came along who looked like Aladdin she pushed him away. This proves she actually was attracted to a personality. She still had to be saved by Aladdin, but he was the main character.
Pocahontas actually saved John Smith in the movies but she was a much less interesting character. Pocahontas wasn't a good movie either, and it she still fell in love at first sight which was a bit of a step back. But she still did stuff.
Mulan: I love this woman. She is my favorite by far, even though I don't even think she's a princess... were there princesses in China? I don't think so... but I digress. Mulan came out in a time that woman power was becoming popular. You had shows like the Power Puff Girls and other girl super heroes becoming popular and fighting with the guys. So Mulan joined the parade and single-handedly saved China. Go her! Plus her original motivation was to save her father, which I really like because I like observing family ties in stories. She falls in love with a man later but she does get to know him first. And she beats the Hun leader... 'nough said.
Tiana: It's too bad that this movie is underrated because I really like it. Tiana is an example of a woman who worked for a dream that didn't involve marriage. She wanted to own her own restaurant and make a name for herself. Reasonable dream. Much like Belle, she also doesn't take any of Prince Navin's crap until he starts to change. She never gives up her dream but she eventually adds Navin to it and I love her story arc. She worked for her dreams and was independent but not completely cut off from men.
Rapunzel: Last one I promise. Not only do I feel Rapunzel had reasonable motives and a very likable personality, but her relationship with Eugene was well developed, even if it only happened in like a day. They had nice conversations with each other and they didn't actually get married until later. Rapunzel is also strong without being Mulan tough, which I really like in a character because I don't believe a woman needs to be physically strong to be well developed.
We really see from the transition from Snow White to Rapunzel the transformation of the Disney princess based on societies standards and we can see that in books too. So I'll be observing some of these tropes in the next few days.
In other news: The query letter is sent! Now it is a waiting game. Take a deep breath...
-Authoress Anonymous
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