Who's your favorite Disney princess?

[Bridget]

Afternoon everyone, hope your week has been decent so far. So it's been on my mind for a while to make this thread about one of Walt Disney's most treasured and beloved group of heroines; the Disney Princesses. I know it's more on the feminine side, but I really wanted some responses here. A lot of us are usually inspired by their make-up, clothing style, attitudes, and even some of us have a favorite. So I just wanted to know...

1) How do you feel about their movies? Do you have a favorite tale you can relate to?

2)Do you think that the princesses are good role models for little girls growing up?

3)Of course, which one is your favorite, and why?

Here are my answers....

1) My favorite Disney Princess tales would have to be The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. I love those kinds of stories where a person wants more their life, and they go on an adventure to find it!
2) I have a 7-year-old cousin who happens to be obsessed with Cinderella! She has all the merchandice, dresses, and everything. I like the fact that there's something she likes... but at the same time I don't nessacarily like the fact that she now thinks that in order to be special and "pretty", she has to be a Princess.
3) I have favorite(s)! My top three are Ariel, Mulan, and Belle. These are all women who are strong, faithful, and sometimes a bit disobedient!

 

[CensoredAlso]

Always Snow White, I love her voice, I love that period in Hollywood history, plus I'm bias because I played Grumpy in acting class as a kid, lol.

The older Disney princesses get a lot of flack nowadays but they were strong in their own way. They were oppressed and kept down by some bully (stemother, witch, etc.), but they always remained gentle, kind people. They don't become bitter, they don't lose hope. That is something we all can relate to and the inspiration we all need.

 

[DannyRWW]

But what about Princess Leia

 

[lady piggy]

I guess I can say that Pocahontas is my favorite Disney Princess even though technically I don't think she's a princess ,she's the chief's daughter so I'm not really sure. I really like how in the movie she starts out all care free wanting to live life. not thinking about wanting a Man to marry or save her ,but she thought of how nature is a big part of ower lives and how we should be thankful for it or else we wouldn't be here. Shes a very good role model for girls. I mean she doesn't just go on hoping somebody will save her, she knows what she has to do in order to keep her people safe . In the second movie she even went to England to talk to the king ,knowing that the people were very close minded about races .she's very strong and independent and doesn't just let bad things to continue happening .she stands up in what she believes in

 

[Drtooth]

I hate the brand. I hate how completely hypocritical it is that these girls have to be strong female role models and generic pink fashion doll tea party toys at the same time. You have these strong female characters who only end up with a man if they want to, and then they're plastered on all this woman's role dress up garbage.

Besides. I think Disney villains is a much stronger line. Too bad they can't agree to keep Yzma as part of the group (she appears on and off, which is a testament to how much Disney hates ENG, despite giving it a freaking TV series). And it's female villain heavy... and they really hate any TV characters popping up.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I hate the brand. I hate how completely hypocritical it is that these girls have to be strong female role models and generic pink fashion doll tea party toys at the same time.

I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but looking back on my own childhood, little girls do enjoy wearing dresses and pretending tea parties. It's not all just something forced on them. It's the same way boys enjoy playing cops and crooks. Girls can be independent and feminine all at the same time.

I think I said this elsewhere but I'm sick of the cliché phrase "strong female" because it's ended up limiting female characters rather than enhancing them. Male characters can be brave, funny, stupid, clever, etc. That's why people like them. But ask people why they like a Female character and people instantly go to "She's a strong female" and leave it at that, with little idea of what that even might mean. Yawn. That's not a character. That's a protest sign.

You still have no idea why the Male character would even like her because she has no personality beyond being "strong." The cliché "He likes her because she's a strong female" has become as limiting as "He likes her because she's pretty."

 

[Drtooth]

I always found it hypocritical that guy's cartoons had to have positive female role models when they didn't need it, and girl's cartoons could have characters that were vapid, personality devoid, and little more entertaining than the cardboard packaging the toys came in.

There are those cartoons that have a logical female character that isn't forced in. X-Men and Justice League for one... and every incarnation of April O'Neil. But then you get sloppy characters like Venus diMilo that are the fifth wheel and don't actually belong there. I hate that.

 

[CensoredAlso]

and every incarnation of April O'Neil.

Why do the turtles like April? She's a good reporter, she's witty, often with a dry humor, she's open to new ideas, she's bold and takes chances, she's generous to turtles who need a place to stay. And she's not all perfect, she can be a bit fool hardly and get herself in trouble. That is an actual character. We can't be so afraid to give women personality traits, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

Every April, from comic book to 2012 cartoon series was great. She bounce around from mother figure to hot babysitter figure to contemporary.

Then you look at Venus DiMilo... added in by the network, a less funny girl version of Omi from Xiaolin Showdown (even though that came later, I have no other real comparison)... I watched a couple live action episodes, and she was (for the most part) just there. Granted. It was the show makers' fault for not introducing April in the series sooner (they planned to... and then they were cancelled because the budget was too high).

As for the Disney Princesses. I totally get that littler girls like girly things. The older, classic Disney film princesses make more sense there. The newer ones, however, it seems completely out of character, as those were the things they outright hated in their respective movies... traditionalism and pageantry. It's like Big Bird being the spokesman for Butterball Turkeys. Conflict of interest. I completely agree that when they added Pixar's Merida to the list, it was hypocritical. While I know the movie has some detractors, the character does speak to a lot of people. And to market her in the very same dress she hated wearing... that's like Dug from Up proudly wearing the cone of Shame.

 

[CensoredAlso]

As for the Disney Princesses. I totally get that littler girls like girly things. The older, classic Disney film princesses make more sense there. The newer ones, however, it seems completely out of character, as those were the things they outright hated in their respective movies... traditionalism and pageantry.

It really depends on which Disney Princess we're talking about. Like with Belle, I'm sorry I just have so many problems with her, lol. Yeah maybe she didn't like traditionalism, but she's still the most beautiful girl in town and I didn't see her trying to seem otherwise. I mean I get it, it's Beauty & the Beast, lol. But by introducing the whole "I want more" cliché, they were trying to have it both ways. It's hard for me to empathize with poor Belle who "wants more" when she's the prettiest girl in town that the prettiest man in town is pining for, lol. If they had been daring and made her more of a book nerd or something, I'd be more impressed.

This really was a case of modern sensibilities clashing with a traditional story, lol.