From Snow White to Ebony Black: the Evolution of a Disney Princess

What makes a Disney princess? Is it the gorgeous hair? Is it the tiny waist? Is is the cute little animals she always seems to befriend? Is it the stunning singing voice? Is it the kind, good-hearted nature? Is it the weakness for handsome princes and other masculine yet noble men? Is it the mysterious ability to attract evil forces to distress her life? Is it the fool-proof guarantee for happy endings?

More or less, it is about all of these. Maybe more about the good heart and less about the tiny waist. Or the other way around, I don't know. Anyway, the concept of a 'Disney Princess' means something, at least for me, and it should for generations of little girls before and after me. While boys had superheroes and ninja turtles and jedi knights, we had Disney princesses to look up to and model ourselves after. (I wish I could say that I was one of those cool, modern girls you pretended to be Donatello in their little make-believe games, but sadly, no.)

When it comes to Disney heroines, some things never change. You can find a few good examples of such qualities above. But some things have changed, parallelling the changing of the world. There's no way there could have been a Mulan or an Esmeralda starring the first Disney feature films, and on the other hand, in this day and age they would not raise a character like Snow White as a protagonist anymore.

I guess I ended up having a bit more feminist point of view to this post than I was originally supposed to, but never mind. Also, it slowly grew to be monstrously lengthy.

Warning: There is a chance your childhood idol gets bashed a little. But don't worry, most of MY childhood idols are quite safe!

Disney Marathon: a princess trible + a mytholocigal hero

The day before yesterday I sat down with my sister and we watched some Disney movies. Because we kind of like Disney movies. Here they are, in short.

 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

(Here's my earlier post about the film.) I'm very close to proclaiming Beauty and the Beast my favourite Disney animation. But I don't dare! However, I dare say that it is one heck of a movie and I just love it. We watched the old VHS version (which still worked surprisingly well!), and awww. I'd almost forgotten how great the Finnish voices are! Belle must be my favourite Disney princess (that I just dare to say) and Beast could very possibly be the best Disney prince. He's got some personality, unlike, say, Snow White's prince (no offence, your majesty, but what do do? Sing a song and kiss the girl, that's it).

"Well, there's the usual things: flowers... chocolates... promises you don't intend to keep..."

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

Snow White was Disney's first full-lenght animation, which shows, if in nothing else, then in the princess. She's the archetype of all the Disney princesses to come: breathtakingly beautiful, clear-voiced, innocent, kind-hearted, charming, never giving up her dreams and always making friends with various little animals. And a bit boring, dare I say? I mean, there have certainly been more interesting personalities after Snow White. But, not to sound more harsh I mean to, Snow White is the mother of all Disney movies, the fairytale of fairytales, a truly wonderful story, a classic in the deepest sense of the word. And of course, it gave us Grumpy.

"Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!"

Cinderella (1950)

Cinderella was my favourite princess growing up - it was her I would pretend to be in my little imaginary games, and yeah, she's great, isn't she? Despite some annoying animal friends (I'm not pointing at anyone in particular... but the mice, the talking mice), she's sweet, she has some amazing nerves, and optimism, too, and that ball dress, oh man, it's gorgeous. Except that the glass slippers can't be very comfy, can they? I love Cinderella, but the king is just disturbing. Man, he's got some problems. How about some anger management?

"You are the only ladies of the household, I hope, er, I presume?"

 Hercules (1997)

This is not quite comparable to the three classic princess tales, but there's something hugely hilarious about Hercules. The songs are groovy, the dialogue is wonderfully fast and witty, Greek mythology is fascinating and Hades is a great great Baddie, Herc is wonderfully awkward and sweet and Meg has that personality Snow White lacked. And here, let me present to you two of my favourite lines:

"We know everything - past, present and future. Indoor plumbing, it's gonna be big." (The Fates)

"Um... guys? Olympus would be that way." (Hades to the Titans, going to DESTROY ZEUS, FREEZE ZEUS, MELT ZEUS, CRUSH HIM.)

PS. I promise I'll watch a non-Disney, non-animated film, soon. Cross my heart. 'Soon' is relative concept, but anyway...