It was a (mostly) good weekend for royalty, the biggest epidemic epoch-streaming launch of Oprah Winfrey's interview with Megan Markle and Harry with Amazon's Cumming 2 America (whatever that means) and an unholy 17.2 viewership and social media chatter Netting in quantity. In addition, Walt Disney offered the latest animated princess-specific fantasy, casting Banana Marie Tran in Raya and the Last Dragon. She is a very different kind of Disney princess, like every single Disney princess to audiences for the past 32 years. At the very least, this is as good a time as any to notice that Disney's alleged digression from the fairy tale princess formula is the Disney formula and since The Little Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid was sold in 1989 as a different kind of Disney princess story, featuring a feisty, independent, charged-in-charge hero who wanted adventure, wanted to stay on the ground and not take "no" for an answer. Was. Certainly, Ariel was still chasing most of the romance, and her journey with a red-haired teenager out of fear over a cliff as Prince Eric rushed to the rescue and influenced the evil Ursula, but this one Was an improvement. And, of course, Princess Jasmine was not there to agree to an arranged marriage or to marry out of obligation, but in the end she was a) an award to be fought between Aladdin and Jasmine and B. An hour was spent on the film's climax stuck in glasses as Sand threatened to suffocate him.
Nor was Belle seeking romance, but she did not have romantic commitment and enough courage in her lifetime in relation to her Stockholm syndrome with Beast. That it had to do with small minded neighbors was a bonus. My only issue with Beauty and the Beast is that pop culture pundits tend to be more focused on judging Belle than it is to judge Belle. The three major Disney princesses of this era, Jasmine, Ariel, and Beauty and the Beast's Belle, were sold and adopted as "not your average princess" characters. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin tripled the number of Walt Disney-produced fairy tale princess films.
Yes, as Disney's main assumption for fairy tale princess stories, with much debate over whether Disney accepted tropes for fairy tale princess romance, Stem from Snow White and Seven Dwarfs in 1938, Cinderella and Sleeping in 1950 Beauty was founded (1959). Disney's first widescreen was a visual marvel and a financial miss, earning only $ 6 million on a $ 6 million budget. Sleeping Beauty will be the last "fairy tale princess" Disney Toon to be released in theaters until 30 years later, The Little Mermaid. Yes, to be fair, the first three fairy tale princesses were actually comparatively inactive, waiting for a prince to arrive and generally for the cast of more lively heroes, villains, and comic co-stars, "Straight Women." "Playing.
That said, it has been 83 years since Snow White, 62 years of Sleeping Beauty and 32 years since The Little Mermaid. Between 1989 and 1998, Disney dramatically released The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and Mulan. Between 2009 and 2021, he then released The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen II, and Raya and the Last Dragon. We can debate whether Lion King matters (Nala becomes queen at the conclusion of the film) while Robin Hood's Mad Marion, Hercules Meg and Notre Dame's Esmerelda's hunchback make "their standard Disney girl" Did not fit, even if they were not royalty. All these women were given as breaking the mold.
Keep in mind the small numbers of "traditional" Disney Princesses released between 1938 and 1959. Note that the explosion of such entertainment first occurred during the period of the waking Sleeping Beauty, and then John Lasseter handled Disney Animation. All of the female leads in these films were sold, postponed, and held up as "not their standard Disney princess". While some of them were more loving than others and some were more upbeat or comical, all are cast as their heroes, not waiting to be saved, and otherwise than any other Disney princess Stronger, more independent and more empowered. This is great, but in the last 30 years, the notion of "breaking the mold" has become a mold by itself.
Disney again got to sell it all through a live-action remake. Not only was Belle a more forceful and strong-willed Disney princess back in 1991, but Emma Watson's live-action was even more forceful / strong-filled / prototypically organized than the "Girl Boss" feminist animated version , Despite being mostly the same character.
