Disney has had its vast array of princesses in its prime and they’re still continuing to create more that unsurprisingly influence the girls in our society. Each princess of Disney’s undoubtedly came along with their own distinct personalities, however all of them portrayed some similar characteristics that correlated with the same intentions of being a princess if not already one. However, each story that goes along with these infamous princesses is how masculinity and femininity are depicted in the movies that Disney has created and continues to create.
It often allows the viewers to consider who exactly is the “good” woman or the “bad” woman and who is the “good” man or the “bad” man. Nonetheless, it’s almost always obvious who the “good” guy is, usually the charming prince, and the “good” woman, which is always the female lead of the story. Although this may be true, we see a different depiction of the common characters in Disney’s Brave (2012) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). To begin, Brave is about a fiery red head princess named Merida who is quite defiant compared to the Disney princesses that preceded her.
Throughout the entire movie viewers can see that marriage and more so becoming a queen, are not the top things on her to-do list. In fact, Merida opposes the idea of someone taking her hand in marriage, especially someone that she doesn’t know. During one major scene in the movie kings from all over Ireland bring and introduce their sons and even engage them in multiple competitions to win Merida’s heart. Well, movie viewers can obviously see that this doesn’t happen… at all. Merida eventually takes her handy bow and arrow and shows everyone who’s boss and even screams, “I am Merida.
And I’ll be shoodn’ for my own hand! ” (Stephens). Clearly there is not a heroic or charming prince in this story that comes along and sways outspoken Merida. Compared to previous Disney princesses, she has a very aggressive personality that drives her determination to be a free spirit and rule as an independent queen without having to be forced into marriage (Stephens). With this in mind, thinking back on the other characters of the movie, one can easily see that Merida’s personality is more like that of her father’s whom by the way is a man of lusty appetite and adventure (Tobias).
Similarly, based on her actions, he is also the one that acknowledges and praises her for her strengths and adventurous spirit. Rather, Merida’s mother, whom embodies a quieter power that’s rooted more in wisdom than in brute force like that of her husband (Tobias), wants Merida to be more like that of the usual princess, per say one that is well defined, proper in etiquette, patient, and much more; she wanted Merida to obtain the qualities of what is often found in a “good” woman.
Uniquely, “princess” Tiana from The Princess and the Frog opposed Disney’s past ideal princesses as well. I put the word princess in quotations only because Tiana’s character solely was not even set on becoming a princess nor was she one by birthright unlike Merida (Stephens). Not to delve into the plot of the movie, but all in all Tiana spontaneously became a princess through marriage, however her story is nowhere near that of Cinderella or Rapunzel. Instead, Tiana is seen as an aspiring business owner like that of many women in our society.
In the plot of the movie she was brought up in poverty and learned the value of hard work through watching her father work hard his entire life while also being a provider for the community that the lived in, which was apparently New Orleans during the 1920’s (Stephens). Furthermore, her behavior is that of a hardworking, independent, and determined women who battles through adversities of her surrounding society, being that she is a black women in the south during the early 1900’s—attempting to make her dream of owning a restaurant come true.
If one were to think about it, Merida and Tiana are two of Disney’s princesses that probably most modern day girls could relate to because of their realistic aspirations and attitudes (Mason). Comparatively, in our modern day society most women if not all of them do not see men as they used to in earlier times. Of course, men are always perceived as the providers and protectors of women, yet this has drastically changed over many decades (Hill).
Again, the heroic guy or the “good” man wasn’t really portrayed be side these two princesses in either story. On the contrary, Tiana had none other than Prince Naveen, except he wasn’t portrayed to be the heroic prince come to save Tiana from an unfair and cruel place with the typical dark and dreary cellar. Prince Naveen is seen as the guy that most modern day or any woman at all would ignore due to his self-centeredness and lack of no how. Throughout the entire movie Tiana basically has to be the hero which is taboo for a Disney Princess (Stephens).
Although becoming a princess was not on her list of to-do’s either, luckily it happened and that also contributed to her having her dream come true in opening her own restaurant to carry on her late father’s legacy of giving back. It is quite apparent that the gender roles of man and woman were sort of switched in accordance with the stories of the two princesses. By the same token, neither of them wanted or had to be saved by a man—the ‘charming’ prince—which can be seen as odd for a Disney princess. Tiana and Merida were their own savior, their own prince come to save them.
However the misogynistic enemy of them both was the norms of society. Women are undoubtedly perceived as weaker than men, which correlates with the uneasy idea that they cannot provide, protect, and guide themselves (Hill). Sadly, this has led to a setup of ‘norms’ established by many patriarchal societies that place other women-usually older—to train or more so condition girls to be a certain way in order to find a male suiter (Mason). In the case of Merida and Tiana, they do not find this to be important. Another thing that comes in part of gender roles is that women are always seen as caretakers as well as having he qualities of patience and understanding versus that of men.
Well for the two princesses, Tiana more so fits the quality of caretaker being that she is the one that aids Prince Naveen through his unfortunate mishaps in New Orleans. However, for Merida it is sort of hard to see that except for when viewers see that she has to care for and protect her mother throughout the movie since she turned her into a bear. For the most part, these two princesses embody the real and not ideal qualities of how woman are actually portrayed and/ or perceived on a day to day basis.
Physically, both Merida and Tiana are realistic in their physical form, behavior, attitude, and aspirations (Murphy). Merida is not clean-cut and her fiery red hair distinguishes her from all of the other princesses of Disney, which is also accompanied by her exuding defiant and outspoken personality (Murphy). Tiana depicts a hard-working and independent woman who defies all odds, especially being a young black woman in the south during a time of hardship. To conclude, these princesses definitely broke the gender role barrier and showed society through a Disney film how real women really are.
