Culture
Princesses in Action From Brothers Grimm to Disney damsels, classic stories have changed with the times. By Janna Wolf
Art by Teresa Villalobos
Once upon a time, there was a little girl dreaming about being a princess. She was watching all her Disney movies and imagining how it would be to live in a castle and wear a crown. But suddenly a group of feminists appear protesting that those princesses are bad role models because they subordinate themselves under a man. The girl was puzzled. After all, she loved her princesses. Is being like them a bad thing? Let’s take a closer look at this, starting with the first Disney princess movie: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The little princess is either cleaning, cooking or singing about how she wants to find the love of her life. She does not necessarily show intelligence when she accepts the evil queen’s apple and literally sleeps until the prince saves her. One can call that passive behavior. The movie is based on a German fairy
But suddenly a group of feminists appear protesting that those princesses are bad role models because they subordinate themselves under a man. 12
tale by the Brothers Grimm from the 19th century — a time where women weren’t allowed to work, possess property or vote. How can we blame the Brothers Grimm for not portraying an independent woman? You can still blame Disney though. After all, the movie was published over 100 years after the original story. Just keep in mind that in 1937, the equal rights of women stopped right after their right to vote. It took the United States government 27 more years to pass bills that guarantee equal wages and ban sexual discrimination. During that time, Disney released two more princess movies that are based on fairy tales. “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty” don’t really convey a picture of a strong woman either. Princess Aurora, for example, sleeps while her Prince Phillip is fighting dragons for the better part of the film. The overall lesson of the first three Disney princesses seems to be that being beautiful is all that matters, because if you’re beautiful then you’ll be a princess, and that is all a girl should desire. That is not how I want to be, thought our little girl. Lucky for her, she doesn’t have to. She does not live in 1937 and therefore has more tempting prospects for her life. Lucky for all of us, Disney moved on and its next generation of princesses were strong-
