Thursday, June 12, 2008

F'in Disney Princesses....


Fine. Alright. I quit. I gave it a hell of a good fight. Burn my damn Women's Lib card.

Today, after a 3.5 year struggle against the Marketing Gods of Disney, I'm throwing in the towel.

I hate the Disney Princesses (for the most part). Weak, shallow, "Oh come save me Handsome Prince" crap.

Yes, Darling owns "The Little Mermaid", "Sleeping Beauty", "Aladdin" "Hunchback of Notre Dame" etc. but I've always drilled into her that she should never ever settle for "Princess-ship" when being the "Queen" is the ultimate in control and self-determination.

We've repeated over and over, "I'm the Queen, not the Princess. I can do it myself"...

It's not so much women's lib stuff but self determination and a sense of adventure. Seriously, who wants to nap thru the excitement (Sleeping Beauty) or have to dress up to impress a guy who can't see it in the very first place (Cinderella)? I'm a do-it-yourself, rely on yourself kind of girl and want my daughter to never be dependent on a man to make it thru life. That's all..

Yeah, well, so...

Today Darling came home from the babysitters with her hair re-done (GRRRR!!!!) out of her usual cute pigtails into braids.

Like Pocahontas.

"Look Mama! I'm Pocahontas!"

And my ancestors (my whatever generation it was great grandmother was her granddaughter) wept and rolled in their graves.

Sorry, guys, I tried, but ya can't beat Disney.

I know that kids movies can't be completely historically accurate, but seriously. "Pocahontas" bugs me beyond belief and I swore she would never see it, so help me GOD!...Thanks, Babysitter...but it's not like I'm going to say anything to you because I don't want to be one of "those parents" and most people would see it as slight liberties with the truth...

SHE WAS KIDNAPPED, CAST AWAY HER FAMILY TRADITIONS AND DIED OF F'ING SMALLPOX!!! JOHN SMITH MADE THE WHOLE SAVING HIM THING UP!!!

Hardly admirable and hardly a Disney ending, really.

I suppose it could have been worse. Don't even get me started on "Anastasia".

Nevertheless, I'm weak, I'm weary, can't fight preschool peer pressure and I give up. As long as I can balance those negative woman images with something more positive like "Mulan" or even "Belle" maybe there's a chance for her self esteem yet.

Handsome says I'm too uptight about it all, but it makes me sick how many ADULTS think movies like "300", "Braveheart" "Glory" et al are true depictions of what really happened.

Sometimes the true stories are more dramatic than the Hollywood versions. They may not be as "cinematically pleasing" but sometimes we need to learn from tragedy and others' mistakes....

But whatever. Someday when Darling's older, I'll sit down with her and have the "Good Heroines/Bad Heroines" talk.

Sigh...

Creating positive self esteem in young girls is a frightening battle.

6 comments:

The DLC said...

I can't say anything about parenthood. As for movies one good thing that comes out of "historical" films is that people want more and get interested in knowing the real story. So even if the movie is inacurate, it can provide an impulse to go check out a book or something that might give better info.

That being said, Disney should just stay the hell away from historical subjects.

Hey There! I'm Amanda! said...

Oh, just wait until she starts celebrating Columbus Day in grade school...talk about a misrepresentation of the actual history...

seussgirl said...

Oh my, I haven't even thought that far ahead. I am a fan of Belle though; any princess who can walk through town reading a book is a friend of mine. :)
Here from NCLM.

Anonymous said...

I agree, the Disney Princess stories can be shallow. There's nothing wrong with the exposure, as long as you teach her character and depth behind the scenes. I came across a website that adds value to their existence. http://www.highprincess.com/princessparty.html provides a free party guide that's more than about looking good - it builds self esteem while having fun.

blue milk said...

I love this post! Will investigate Belle a bit more further then. Will also add you to my 'feminist mothers' blogroll.

snobographer said...

I don't know why some of y'all are fans of Belle. Instead of Beauty and the Beast they could have titled it, Stockholm Syndrome, The Movie. The Beast is physically violent and verbally abusive, tears Belle away from her family, imprisons her, and denies her food and it's left up to Belle to convert him into a civil human being.