by Leah Stone
Okay, I’m going to tackle a massive childhood phase here, that most young girls go through at some point in their life.
Yes, I am talking about Disney Princesses and the role they play in people’s childhood.
Okay, I’m going to tackle a massive childhood phase here, that most young girls go through at some point in their life.
Yes, I am talking about Disney Princesses and the role they play in people’s childhood.
The Disney movie ever released was of course Snow White in 1937. And yet, nearly 80 years later, we still see miniature versions of her walking around our streets, little children besotted with the idea of being a princess like Snow White, Cinderella, Belle or Aurora, amongst others. But why have these young ladies become such iconic figures in our lives and, quite frankly, growing up process?
Disney films are accessible to almost anyone. We are inundated with princess merchandise, books, costumes, remakes, theme parks, albums and so much more, all stemming from this obsession with Disney princesses, and feeding the obsession further still. You can’t go a day without seeing a princess on a lunch box, on the telly or on a scooter. This is one of the reasons why people are still gripping onto Disney princess and the role they played over 75 years ago: because they are all around us. We visit foreign countries to meet adults dressed as our princess idols, have autograph books stashed away with memories of them.
Stating it in that way, it all does seem rather ridiculous. Why did we become obsessed?
For many girls, being a princess offers a very idyllic lifestyle. Extravagant home, nice clothes, and eventually you find that Prince Charming (though they seem to manage to skip past the evil step mothers or Wicked Witches.) Somehow in this mess of tiaras and ball gowns, we’ve got to thinking that princesses such as these should be our role models, that we should try and be as kind as caring as Snow White, as pretty as Cinderella, as joyous and imaginative as Ariel, combining the princesses together to become the perfect human being. We’ve lost sight of the purely entertainment that perhaps these films were first made for. Now, we use them as figureheads of society instead of just characters in a film. We have been fed so many fairytales and fantasies, that we have actually started believing that, in order to be happy, our life must be like a fairytale.
Disney films are accessible to almost anyone. We are inundated with princess merchandise, books, costumes, remakes, theme parks, albums and so much more, all stemming from this obsession with Disney princesses, and feeding the obsession further still. You can’t go a day without seeing a princess on a lunch box, on the telly or on a scooter. This is one of the reasons why people are still gripping onto Disney princess and the role they played over 75 years ago: because they are all around us. We visit foreign countries to meet adults dressed as our princess idols, have autograph books stashed away with memories of them.
Stating it in that way, it all does seem rather ridiculous. Why did we become obsessed?
For many girls, being a princess offers a very idyllic lifestyle. Extravagant home, nice clothes, and eventually you find that Prince Charming (though they seem to manage to skip past the evil step mothers or Wicked Witches.) Somehow in this mess of tiaras and ball gowns, we’ve got to thinking that princesses such as these should be our role models, that we should try and be as kind as caring as Snow White, as pretty as Cinderella, as joyous and imaginative as Ariel, combining the princesses together to become the perfect human being. We’ve lost sight of the purely entertainment that perhaps these films were first made for. Now, we use them as figureheads of society instead of just characters in a film. We have been fed so many fairytales and fantasies, that we have actually started believing that, in order to be happy, our life must be like a fairytale.
Some view princesses as a role model as a negative thing. That they put way too high expectations on little children, expectations impossible to reach (you cannot have a waist thinner than your head, it is biologically impossible) and it pressurises them to become that perfect, pristine princess image. The same negative argument is made for constantly seeing size zero models in the media, creating high expectations, so you can fully understand this argument.
However, a little princess never hurt anyone. Sometimes it’s nice to dress yourself up pretty, to imagine a life where everyone lives by your rules, where furniture comes to life and to let your imagination run wild. Of course, over-idolising impossible role-models is not a good thing. But sometimes, just a hint of magic, a hint of wonder, can do miracles to lift a child’s smile, just like most, if not all Disney films intend to do.
However, a little princess never hurt anyone. Sometimes it’s nice to dress yourself up pretty, to imagine a life where everyone lives by your rules, where furniture comes to life and to let your imagination run wild. Of course, over-idolising impossible role-models is not a good thing. But sometimes, just a hint of magic, a hint of wonder, can do miracles to lift a child’s smile, just like most, if not all Disney films intend to do.
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