By Disney Princesses, I mean the REAL ones, ones featured on the princess posters until the previous two years (so minus the Princess and the frog girl, and minus Rapunzel.)
Now, I reflect on stuff through most of the night, and one of those things happened to be the princesses Disney presents to us. Girls love them, and I'll admit, as I've gotten older, I've grown a bit more fond of them as well. I was always a Powerpuff girl...girl. My sister on the other hand had to have her princess Aurora dress pried from her fingers at the age of about eleven. So you might say we're fans. But is that even a good idea? Should children really imitate these people? Sure these princesses seem innocent enough, but when you look at what's really there, you'll be surprised what you might find.
1. Ariel (a.k.a The Little Mermaid)
Though she is called the "little" mermaid, Ariel quite swiftly into the story reveals to her father that she is quite grown up and is capable of making her own decisions. After all, she is sixteen years old. She deserves to have a later curfew, and her daddy must llearn to trust her. *Buzzer noise* Wrong. While that may be an acceptable argument, (my mom was very resonable when I turned sixteen and asked for and 8:30 pm curfew over my more recent 7 pm) this is not what little, sixteen year old Ariel desires. No, she has fallen in love with a human being, and daddy is all but reluctant to let that go on.
Though I do have to question Triton's parenting tecniques and resoning. Set aside that she's sixteen years old, she wants to marry into a different species, that alledgedly do bad things to them (never quite clear what.) I honestly know nothing of this *pours mermaid stew down garbage disposal* He also finds out that despite his yelling at her, which I think happens with a little less persuasion than is necessary, she is still secretly collecting human utensils. OH NO! Now they'll have perfectly and affectively combed hair! So he tears the place down and, you guessed it, yells at her (you'd think she's be used to it by now...)
Well...looks like she's kind of out of luck, after all, you can tell respecting her parent's wishes are her #1 Highest priority. Guess she'll just have to marry one of the perfect, model mermen. Nope! What she really figures is, "what better to do than sell my soul to a demon? I'm sure I'll get what I want this way!"
...Is this going quite how you would expect a story that little girls imitate to go? First thing rebellion. Of course she had her reasons. If I fell in love with a goat and my father told me that wasn't happening, what better thing to do than resort to what "my heart tells me."
Well, after she finds the prince (how old is he?), rescues him from the sea demon, and restores herself to normal, you'd expect her to go home and be locked up for a while. But no, daddy has other ideas. Now, I don't know whether it was being turned into seaweed that caused his mind to be a bit jumbled, or the fact that he was another species, but he somehow decided that "Hey, who cares if she almost caused the entire world to come into ruin for giving ultimate power to the devil? Look at the way she stalks that young man (seriously...like 30 years old?) she really does love him. You know what!? I have a great fatherly idea! I'll turn her into a human (we know how well that went last time) and she can be happy now!
Morals in this story: Rebellion, even though there will be some rough spots, will in the end, get you exactly what you want. Age is of no consequence when you are in love. Crabs can sing really great song numbers.
So what do you think? Is this acceptable for children to imitate? It's up to you, but don't let them wear those Ariel outfits for Halloween if you're not going to want them to take it the whole nine yards:P
Quick note: This was made entirely for jesting purposes, my sister turned out fine, and Sleeping Beauty was messed up too. If you want more, comment:) I can discuss them all:) I hope you liked this, and just an FYI, I looove these movies, so I bear no ill will
And you didn't even mention the part where she wears her bra everywhere, and at point ends up naked on a beach...
ReplyDeleteYeeeah;) a little fact there;) But I just figured eh, she was a different species...and technically Disney toned it down being that mermaids usually wear nothing in most stories etc;)
DeleteJust to stir the pot a bit, I would argue that the moral of the story wasn't so much that rebellion is an appropriate means to an end. Indeed, Ariel's acts of rebellion are uniformly met with consequences, dire in most cases, as you yourself pointed out. I would argue that the moral seems to be true love conquers all. Neither am I convinced that the writers purposed for little girls to imitate Ariel's flaws. Indeed, perhaps her flaws are meant to be viewed as warnings? If Ariel is meant to be any kind of role model at all, perhaps it is in the following respect. She dared to believe a bigger and brighter future for herself. Where others were inhibited by fears, she saw opportunities for hope. Well, that and the fact that mermaid stew is best enjoyed with a glass of wine and a side of lobster. :-)
ReplyDeleteI might agree with you, but I don't drink:P
DeleteAnd yes, by all means she should follow her heart! You know what!? I'm going to go marry a goat! I've always loved him, I'm Ariel's age, and she married into a different species. TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALL!:P
Ahhh....Grasshopper (and, yes, I know you're waaaay too young to catch that reference,) I never said that I believe (or disbelieve) that true love conquers all, only that that seemed to be the message of this particular movie as opposed to the promotion of rebellion which seemed to be your contention. Whether or not true love actually does conquer all is an entirely different question and one not likely to be answered any time soon even if you do marry a goat though I would strongly caution against it:-)
ReplyDeleteLove the Zelda reference btw:P
DeleteGlad you clarified, in case you couldn't tell, that just went over my head;)