The New Disney Princess Movies
Today’s Disney is totally different from the Disney I grew up watching. After seeing the movie Frozen this weekend, there’s a new Disney princess with a new message for girls.
Early in the movie, Princess Anna sees a prince in her town. They meet, dance, laugh, fall in love, and get engaged—all within the same evening! In Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, this sequence of events would be completely fine. In Frozen, the speed of the romance leads to criticism; the princess is accused of being crazy and questioned about whether anyone ever explained “stranger danger” when she was younger.
Later in the movie, the princess’s heart gets frozen. The only thing that can save her from dying is “an act of true love.” The princess rushes back to her fiancé for a “true loves kiss” that will thaw her heart, just as it awoke Snow White from her poisoned slumber, turned Belle’s beast into a beautiful man, and gave Ariel her voice back. But, with the princess at the brink of death, her beloved fiancé finally admits that he does not love her. He feigned love in order to find the quickest route to the crown. Princess Anna was “so desperate for love” that she made the pursuit easy.
Frozen’s Message To Girls
With one prince down, the princess turns to another man she met during her travels, the overlooked friend-zoned companion, who, now clearly, is the one who loved her all along. As she awaits her REAL true love, as he heroically gallops in on his reindeer through a freezing winter storm, something else happens. Queen Elsa, the princess’s sister, with whom she had been feuding, gives her a hug. This hug, the reconciliation of two sisters, is what thaws Anna’s heart, and saves the kingdom from eternal winter.
Who would have thought? The day can be saved without a man or a fix-all kiss. When I was a little girl there was no such Disney plot solved by a female, let alone two, without the help of a single man. Clearly those writing these new Disney princess movies think it’s time to give some power to the sisters. In the end, Princess Anna does get her kiss from the courageous voyager who traveled through ice and snow to find her. He stole her heart, but after Anna got to know him. Prince Charming still exists, but he doesn’t swoop in and save the day before they live happily ever after.
