Are the old Disney princesses really that bad? The general consensus is yes, even if you ask Disney. They are weak, bland, damsels in distress waiting to be rescued by a man. They have just as much agency as they have personality. Even worse, they promote harmful messaging to children. Stockholm Syndrome and kissing without consent are the only things these movies are about.
The new princesses are clearly the better examples of female empowerment. Ignoring that putting the OG princesses down to lift the new ones up is the opposite of female empowerment, the new princesses just aren’t better. The OGs were never that bad to begin with. There are genuinely good messages in those old princess movies that are wildly misrepresented nowadays. Oddly enough, there are even bad messages overlooked in the newer princesses.
It’s all a matter of perspective, and maybe just a dash of objective observation. It’s all too easy to imagine them as being “good” or “bad” role models, until each story is broken down individually. Comparing a few of the OG princesses to the newer ones proves that there is something worthwhile in each princesses, but they’re at their best when they’re allowed to work together.
Belle, Beauty and the Beast
Belle is easily one of the most targeted OG princesses. This doesn’t have as much to do with Belle herself, but with her prince. Beauty and the Beast is nicknamed Stockholm Syndrome the Fairytale. Belle falls in love with Beast because he holds her prisoner. It’s an extremely unhealthy dynamic. At least, it is if the actual story is ignored.
Belle is the most humble, yet self-assured, Disney princess.
Stockholm Syndrome must also be misunderstood by this definition. It’s an unofficial term to describe feeling compassion for a captor. In this sense, it is Stockholm Syndrome. But the key thing is, Belle doesn’t fall in love with Beast until she is free.
Cinema Therapy, a YouTube channel run by a filmmaker and therapist best friend duo, made a video analyzing the relationships in Beauty and the Beast. They went into detail about why Beast is a redeemable love interest, why their love is healthy, and why Belle isn’t a plain, weak damsel.
Cinema Therapy’s Beauty and the Beast video (available on YouTube) breaks down the relationships in the story.
Belle has her own interests and hobbies apart from Beast. He tries to embrace her hobby of reading, accepting influence and growing as a person. Belle is willing to sacrifice herself for her father. She doesn’t judge the castle staff for being talking objects, or for having a soft spot for Beast. And most importantly, Belle is willing to accept Beast’s growth and give him a second chance.
This is a great example to set for young kids. Belle sets her boundaries with everyone and willingly lets them have a second chance after they have proven they deserve it. There are no unreasonable expectations on her part, nor will she let anyone walk all over her. Belle exemplifies a very specific kind of strength: the kind that is fair and humble. She isn’t boisterous. She’s just a quiet person who is content to stand on her own, but is happy to share her life with those who are kind in return.
Ariel, The Little Mermaid
Once again, the controversy around Ariel is actually around her prince. At least, half of it is. The other half is really about her being a teenager. Let’s be honest, of course she is going to be a little boy crazy.
Ariel is a free spirit with a lot of different interests.
This doesn’t mean Ariel is all about boys. Of all the Disney princesses, Ariel has the most diverse interests, second only perhaps to Rapunzel. Ironically, even though her story is primarily a love story, Ariel is motivated by so much more.
Ariel’s Obsession
Ariel is obsessed with the human world. What else can anyone expect from a sixteen year old with an overly strict father? She wants to know about the thing that’s being kept from her, and yes, she immediately develops a crush that she pursues with everything she’s got. However, her feelings for Eric aren’t her only motivations to leave home.
See how Ariel is singing to her collection, not to a boy?
Ariel always had a fascination with the human world. It was inevitable that at some point, she would try to go explore on the shore. Part of Your World is a love song, but not about Eric. It’s all about Ariel’s love for the life she wants to live. When she gets the chance to explore the human world, she doesn’t ignore it for Eric. She bonds with Eric while embracing her passion. Her dad not accepting her crush was the trigger that led her to run away to the surface, but it isn’t her main motivation. Meeting new people and falling in love is just one more reason for her to go explore.
Eric
The issue people have with Eric is that he falls for a beautiful girl without having to get to know her. He sees her and just tries to kiss her without her saying it was okay. How horrible, right? He’d be a decent kid if he got to know her first, then waited until she gave consent before kissing her. Maybe, Eric could even wait for Ariel to make the first move.
Look at how Eric clearly made the first move.
Like she does repeatedly in Kiss the Girl. The whole song is about convincing Eric to give Ariel a chance. “It’s possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her.” Ariel keeps moving forward. Ariel keeps trying to make it romantic. Eric doesn’t go in for the kiss until the end of the song, after she gives consent (yes, non-verbal consent is a thing, just ask anyone who physically can’t speak).
In fact, Eric is distracted by his dream girl until that point. He heard a beautiful voice, so he thinks he’s in love. This is something people are taught in real life. They see perfectly curated images of women in the media, but real people aren’t really like that. Eric eventually realizes that a dream girl isn’t as good as a real person.
Eric fell in love with Ariel…after getting to know her.
Ariel challenges his perspective on things. He thought his life was mundane, but she showed him how to appreciate the beauty in it. Then Ursula curses him. But Eric did choose a real person he knew over a fantasy, obviously oblivious to them being the same person. Either way, Eric only chose Ariel after he got to know her, quirks and all. He even risks himself to save her, repaying her for saving his life before and making them equals in the relationship.
Cinderella, Cinderella
There seems to be a general distaste for any strength that isn’t boisterous, loud, and maybe overcompensating. Cinderella is quiet. She puts up with a lot from her evil stepfamily. What she doesn’t do is let them take her hope.
Cinderella is all about hope, dreams, and breaking the cycle.
Despite all of the hatred she has to endure, Cinderella chooses to show kindness every day. She refuses to become a part of the cycle. She doesn’t have an obvious way out. It’s not like she could move in with a friend or go to a shelter, work at a fast food joint, and save money for her own place. She was pretty stuck. However, she didn’t give up.
That doesn’t mean that she takes everything with a smile. Cinderella is one of the sassiest princesses there is. She knows she doesn’t deserve the way her family treats her, but she also doesn’t think she’s better than them. Even if everyone else might say she is, she won’t put them down like they did her.
Cinderella stood up for herself and others.
Cinderella enjoys the ball and dancing with a dashing man. Why wouldn’t she? It’s the first time she’s been allowed out of the house in like a decade. Many people acted about the same after quarantine was lifted. No, her relationship with Prince Charming isn’t explored too much, but does it really need to be? The story isn’t about him. Finding a kind person to fall in love with and live happily ever after is Cinderella’s reward for a life of kindness and perseverance.
Cinderella gets to live her dream.
If anything, it might even be good for the movie that their relationship isn’t explored much. The message is that dreams come true as long as you keep dreaming. By not focusing on the romance, it leaves that theme open to interpretation. Love can be a dream to pursue, but so can improving your life circumstances, or anything that anyone in the audience can dream of.
Snow White, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White is often described as a boring girl with no personality. She cooks, she cleans, and she’s pretty. Clearly, Snow White is the personification of the objectification of women. However, like a lot of princesses, she’s judged as weak because she isn’t loud.
Snow White is the youngest, yet most naturally nurturing, of the princesses.
Snow White, much like Cinderella, is strong for keeping her head up in tough times. She doesn’t lash out at anyone just because she’s been mistreated. What really says a lot about her personality and qualities is how the dwarfs react to her.
Even Grumpy, who is, well, grumpy, comes to love Snow because she is nurturing. She is the youngest of all the Disney princesses, but she is easily one of the most maternal. Her presence brings the family together, and that is no accident. It is because of Snow White’s kindness and role as a peacemaker that the dwarfs all come together and get along better than it seems they ever have before.
It’s no easy task to bring a family together.
Yes, Snow White has a romance with a prince she barely knows. Maybe it doesn’t add a whole lot to the story, but does it take away from the good parts? It’s a fleeting moment in the story that is there because it’s a fairytale. Just like Cinderella, it’s something nice for Snow White to enforce the idea that her kindness was rewarded, specifically with more kindness (aka, love).
Anna, Frozen
Anna is by no means a bad princess. She’s playful, awkward, but very willing to put herself out there. She enjoys chocolate a lot and wants attention, badly. She falls in love with a man she just met, but then finds out that it’s really not a good idea to rush into marriage.
Anna tends to be cited as the turn to modern Disney princesses. She has far more personality and none of the folly of the old ones. The thing is, Anna isn’t actually a better role model. In fact, she might be worse.
Anna definitely did not take the high road, and Hans probably died from his injuries.
Most of the OG princesses, especially the ones that have faced the most criticism, had to be better than their circumstances. That is their strength. Hans threatens Anna and Elsa with violence. Anna solves the problem with violence.
People, especially kids, will pick up on physical violence the more they see it. Anna teaches kids to punch their problems. The counterclaim is that Anna prevents kids from falling for dangerous men they just met, unlike the other princesses. The thing is, Anna isn’t really doing that either.
Anna is the only Disney princess to actually try to marry a man she just met.
None of the other princesses fell in love with someone who was bad for them. Beast is the closest example, but Belle only falls for him after he has proven that he changed. The princesses may fall for their princes at first sight, but it’s never said that they got married before getting to know each other. Even then, it’s safer to fall fast for someone who is good for you rather than to be so blind and desperate that you fall for someone who wants to kill your sister to overtake your kingdom.
It’s not bad for Anna to have faults. All of the Disney princesses have faults. It’s only human. However, Anna really shouldn’t be seen as a “better” princess. She clearly has the worst judgement of all of them. She’s actually the only one who wanted to marry a man the day she met him.
Moana, Moana
Moana is a pretty physically strong princess. She wants to see how far she’ll go. She wants to be in the water. She loves her family. And she wants to prove herself as a sailor. And maybe she likes the color orange?
Moana is a perfectly fine princess, but there isn’t much to her as a character.
The thing about Moana is that she doesn’t have more of a personality than any of the other princesses. Aside from maybe Sleeping Beauty, Moana is one of the most basic.
Character Analysis
Ariel was driven by a motivation to explore, so she has the most similar setup to Moana. Ariel is pushed to leave because of a fight with her dad. Moana leaves because her island is in trouble. Ariel relies on her friends, and Moana has to leave them behind. This all says something about their journeys and growth.
Moana and Ariel are both prone to huff, roll their eyes, and blow their hair out of their face. However, this is the point where their characters diverge.
Hobbies?
Moana dances on her island, but what does she feel about it? Is it just a fun thing to do because everyone is doing it? Is dancing a form of personal self-expression for Moana? It’s a part of her culture, but what does she individually think about it?
Look up ‘Disney Moana’ and this is one of the most versatile pictures of her that comes up.
Ariel jumps into the village dance with so much energy. She clearly loves it. She wants to learn about everything she can. Moana wants to learn about wayfinding, but is she in love with learning itself like Ariel? What else would Moana like to learn about?
Ariel is a collector. She wants love. Ariel loves to sing (and not just in her head), but she doesn’t care to be defined by it. She doesn’t like showing off for the kingdom, and she only hesitates to give up her voice because she can’t tell Eric verbally that she’s the girl he saw before. When things don’t work out, she tries something else. So Ariel isn’t overly attached to her voice, but she sings in a mer-choir.
What else does Moana do? If she’s not helping people on the island or out at sea, what does she do? It’s just very hard to imagine a Moana without the ocean. She’s pretty defined by it.
Flaws and Growth
Moana has self-doubt, but then realizes other people believe in her, so she should too. Ariel is impatient and impulsive, as any kid their age would be. But Ariel also has a moment of self-doubt when it seems like the odds are entirely stacked against her. Even when it comes to their flaws, Ariel is more developed.
On top of that, her flaws actually play into the inciting incident, which allows for more character growth by the end of the movie. She’s sorry for going behind her father’s back. Ariel had to learn she was partly in the wrong. Moana learns that she had everything she needed inside of her all along.
Moana sails, poses, fights for her people, and then kind of just does that on repeat.
It’s not that Moana is a bad character, but she is comparatively underdeveloped. Her hobbies are limited (sailing/exploring, maybe dancing vs dancing, singing, collecting, learning, exploring), her flaws are limited (self doubt vs self doubt and impulsivity), and her growth is limited (believe in herself vs believe in herself and learn where she was wrong). Even in the sequels, Ariel has to learn a new lesson (communication), while Moana learns the same thing again (to believe in herself).
Promotions
So the OG Disney princesses really aren’t that bad, and the new princesses aren’t that great. Why is Disney trying to make it seem like they’re making “better” princesses then? It comes down to promotions. The new princesses are easier to promote if there is a narrative that they are better than the old ones.
The OG Disney princesses clearly want to be like the new ones.
Why buy Blu-ray discs if they had nothing new to offer? Why have 4k if it isn’t better than Blu-ray? Why stream movies now? If there is no difference between the old product and the new one, why would anyone buy something new?
A new princess will just be another princess, unless there is some way to guarantee fans will pick them over the old princesses. Kids will like whichever princess they like, but parents buy the merchandise. Of course parents are going to buy the new, full-priced merchandise to steer their kids towards a better role model.
But why give up on the OG princesses? Surely, they can still make money, too. All Disney has to do is remake the movies. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. They made a “better” version.
Remake, Remake, Remake
Except, they didn’t. The problem with buying into the idea that these princesses are bad role models is that it ignores the good they present. The more Disney emphasizes the changes they make to the “problematic” characters, the more they actually ruin them.
“Fixing” Ariel made her and Eric a problem.
Ariel is the best example of this. In the remake, they changed both the terms of her curse and the Kiss the Girl scene. Ariel can’t remember that she needs to kiss Eric to get her voice back. By making her forget that, she loses her agency. She can’t want a relationship, she just has to get lucky to stumble into one.
More importantly, this means Eric has to force the relationship on Ariel when she keeps moving away from him every time he tries to kiss her. In trying to avoid Kiss the Girl seeming problematic, they made it so. Now, it’s not Ariel’s choice what relationship or physical intimacy she engages in. It’s up to the man.
What does it say about those who aren’t the best at everything when their role models have to be before they’re “right”?
Moreover, Belle didn’t need to be an inventor. She had other hobbies. Yes she was quiet, soft, and feminine, but why is being feminine bad? Inventing doesn’t have to be masculine, so of course it isn’t unreasonable for a young woman to have that passion. But why can’t Belle support her father having his own hobby? She doesn’t have to have every admirable trait to be worth admiration.
Belle can support the kind and goodhearted people in her life without having to try to be more impressive than them. And being more impressive than those around her doesn’t make Belle a better person. It just makes her seem unrealistic. Even the most talented people lack plenty of skills.
Belle is confident to just be who she is. That is the foundation of all true strength. It’s good to teach children that being the best version of yourself is what’s most important, rather than having to be the best person around. That simply breeds comparison to others, which is the opposite of true strength and the thief of joy. What does it teach kids if Belle is only worth while if she is the best at everything?
But, what does Disney get if the OG princesses are allowed to just be? Definitely not a spike in sales.
Conclusions
There isn’t just one good way to be a role model, so there doesn’t have to be just one type of role model. The OG princesses have just as much to offer as the new ones do. The thing is, they hold onto values that aren’t valued as much nowadays, especially not for female role models.
Pocahontas is about as strong as it gets.
Strength and empowerment is now supposed to come from being loud, being the best, and being in charge. The OG princesses do have that as well. Pocahontas, probably the most underrated princess, speaks through her actions quite often. She’s very hands on when it comes to helping out, and she stands up for what she believes is right. She’s very similar to Princess Leia in that regard. And of course, Mulan is a literal warrior, and Jasmine isn’t known to be demure either.
The princesses are strongest together, balancing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
The beauty of the OG Disney princesses is how they create a complete tapestry of what true strength looks like. They can be bold, sassy, nurturing, quiet, admit when they’re wrong, and have faith in themselves. Some of them sacrifice themselves for their people, others stand up for themselves, and others still just find purpose in family. It’s all valid.
Confidence is embracing the achievements of yourself and others, not constantly striving to be the most impressive person in the room. The OGs don’t minimize themselves for the sake of others either. They’re just happy to be the best them that they can be.
For being the princesses that “always need men to save them,” they’re really quite comfortable to be on their own. The choice to share their lives with the friends, family, and even princes who deserve it is what makes these relationships healthy. They all express different ways to achieve the same value: be the good you want to see. And what’s so wrong with that?
