Death of the Disney Princess.

So I read an article recently stating that 'Tangled' is set to be Disney's last fairytale for the foreseeable future. A spokesperson for Disney says, 'Films and genres do run a course...'

But do they?

As a child ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Peter Pan’ were my three favourite films, like, ever. As a young adult, I own all three on DVD and regularly listen to the soundtracks on my iPod; warbling away to 'Kiss the Girl' and 'Be our Guest' is one of my favourite ways to pass a long car journey. In fact I have two friends at University who are in a band called 'Disney Rascal', needless to say the focus of their set is a re-vamped acoustic/reggae rendition of all the classics. The first time I saw them play I couldn't believe my ears, hit by a wave by nostalgia I couldn’t help but love what they were doing. Having attended a number of their gigs since I have to say the reaction, for the most part, is the same from anyone in the crowd seeing them for the first time.

I understand the feminist debate surrounding Disney Princesses. Is it healthy to present a young child with images of these flawlessly beautiful, skinny girls who always end up with the rich and handsome guy at the end?

Well for a start, Beauty and the Beast’s Belle is so much more than that. I have strong memories of myself strolling round the garden; arms flung wide, singing “there must be more than this Provincial life!” at the top of my voice and clutching a book to my chest. Her character is an outsider, described as odd, and a ‘funny girl’ for her passion with reading and her active imagination. I didn’t care about the Prince at the end of it all. I wanted to feel the rush of excitement that Belle’s character experiences when she walks into a library. Surely this isn’t a negative outcome from watching this?

So why are Disney cutting this storyline from their upcoming films? Because it no longer sells. Why doesn’t it sell? Little girls these days are given far too many real-life alternatives to the perfectly animated examples of my childhood. Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens……The list is endless. Are these girls better role models? Sure, they are real. They go to High School, sing songs and get the flawless boyfriend. They even seem to struggle a little on the way to this happy ending.

Real, they may be, but they are almost less realistic than their cartoon predecessors. These girls are among the richest and most spoilt teen stars in the world. They want for nothing. Their franchise ranges from TV programmes, to Movies, to cosmetics and clothing. You can get your hands on ANYTHING with the High School Musical branding on it these days. The characters these teens play are loved and admired by every little girl who watches them and buys their products.  

Herein lies another problem with presenting children with living role models: these role models grow up. They become rebellious, like any other girl in her late-teens would if they had been as overindulged and spoilt as they are- attending parties, smoking, tattoos, you name it. This would never happen to our fictional Princesses!

Belle, Ariel and Wendy are better role models by far. At least with them, you can be sure that they aren’t going to be sent to rehab for a drug addiction, be arrested for drink driving, or release a sex tape on the internet…

Disney I beg you, from one who has grown up with every one of your original animated Princesses and considers herself to be relatively unscarred by their anti-feminist messages, don’t kill these characters off. 

I would like to close this by telling you that I am the shoemaker. And I think I live with elves. Every morning when I come downstairs, they have left me a little pile of washing up to do. How kind of them.