We all might have seen, at least once, the films of this famous movie making company – “Disney”. One of the most famous themes of Disney is the “Princess Collection”. To name some of the princesses, there is ; Snow White - <Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, (1937)>, Cinderella - <Cinderella, (1950)>, Aurora - <The Sleeping Beauty, (1959)>, Ariel - <The Little Mermaid, (1989)>, and Belle - <Beauty and the Beast, (1992)>. The princesses all have different circumstances. However, they all share this feature in common ; “waiting” for the “prince” to save her life.
The princess series of Disney was explosively popular, which means that Disney began to have tremendous affects on both growing kids and the public in general. Since the princess series was targeted at “girls”, every growing girl began to hope to be the princesses in film. They wanted to get dressed like Cinderella, have red lips and white skin like Snow White, have long beautiful hair like Ariel, be kissed by the prince like Aurora, and dance with the prince like Belle. This simply looks cute, just like watching this happen to my dear cousin or nephew. However, having every girl dream to become a “passive” princess does not send any positive signals. This type of thinking makes girls just wait in their tiny room, brushed and combed, waiting forever for their “charming” prince. Unfortunately, just waiting never causes anything to change.
As time has passed, and with some thanks to Disney, the characters’ characteristics have also begun to change. The main characters were no longer “princesses”. Girls cut their hair in order to participate in a war or to fight, and the races of characters also have become more varied with Asian and, African roles, along with others, and so on. These changing
characters tell the girls to speak up, and to move on for their own good. The appearances of the characters also began to change. There were no longer beautiful, gorgeous, barbie-like princesses. The girl could have freckles, tattoos, speak boldly, or she just could do
whatever she wished to do. Girls watching Disney could now dream a larger dream.
The overall flow changed positively. However, there are still some problems remaining. One of these is the “deformation” of every female character. The exact starting point is not obvious, but ever since, the appearance of Disney’s female characters have begun to seem the same. If you cannot understand this statement, think of the character Judy Hopps of <Zootopia, (2016)>. Then, try to remember the face of Rapunzel <Tangled, (2010)>, then Elsa, and Anna of <Frozen 2, (2019)>. Now you may notice some strange things. Even though they all have different parents, they all look alike. Large eyes, pointed nose, small lips, and skinny body. Growing kids get influenced easily, especially by the social media they watch, so the appearances of the character can indeed affect every kid who enjoys watching Disney. Since Disney is also a “business”, I do know the need to make “products” that sell. However, Disney must find the way to, let children know the difference and uniqueness of every human being. Disney’s female characters have changed meaningfully.
However, they must not be content with it and they must keep moving forward.