Something
struck me recently and no I don’t mean in the physical way. Over the past few
months I’ve noticed a number of articles on the web that all focus on how awful
the Disney Princesses are and all of the terrible things that they teach girls.
Now, I’m not here to bash someone’s opinion but to politely disagree and say
what I have to say. In my mind I believe that the Disney Princesses teach young
girls many valuable qualities, morals and lessons through their films and on
the Broadway stage.
As I have stated a few times on here I was a child of the 90’s.
Like most of you I grew up with the Disney Princesses and just Disney in
general. The princesses were my favorite characters that I loved so much that I
wanted to be them. As I mentioned in a few other posts there was even a point
when I was about 5 or 6 that I actually wanted to be Belle at Disney World when
I grew up-I showed up to career day in a full-out Belle costume I was that
serious about it! When I watched the movies I never saw anything that I thought
was wrong about how Disney presented these characters. I enjoyed watching the
movies on a constant loop that drove my parents and well anyone around insane. These
were positive, empowering female role models for me and many other young girls
throughout childhood.
Now, I don’t have kids but from how my parents raised me and
knowing what I want to instill in my future children I know that I want them to
be honest, kind, loyal, generous etc. Those are all qualities that we want our
kids to have in them and we see them in every single Disney princess. One might
argue that they sit around and do nothing and show little girls that they need
to change this or that to be loved and accepted by others most notably by guys.
But, when you look at it these princesses are in a way indicative to the time
periods in which the films are released-you can definitely see it in the
earlier princesses to the more recent ones. While they to an extent represent
their time they are also ahead of their time in ways of showing that there is
good and evil in this world, by standing for themselves and going out to find a
way to get what they want, Yes, it might not be exactly like what we would say
today but Cinderella wanted to go to that ball and hey, she found a way to get
there.
These are characters that are adored by millions of girls
and they all emulate morals and traits that every parent wants to see in their
child. We want our girls to kind, accepting, generous, patient and loyal. We
want them to be courageous like Mulan, brave like Merida, curious like Aurora, adventurous
like Pocahontas, assertive like Rapunzel, caring like Snow White, determined
like Jasmine and to have the spirit of Ariel. We want them to follow their
dreams whether it’s to become an entrepreneur like Tiana or to have a passion
for books and learning like Belle. We want them to choose their path in life from
what they do to who they marry-does this sound a bit familiar!?
These women show that to little girls from a very young age.
Will they necessarily get it from the first time they watch the films at the
age of three-probably not. But as they grow older watching these movies and
experiencing life they can and will relate them to real-life lessons. I always
remember understanding as I got a little older around the age of 5 that Belle not
only fell in love with the Beast but she accepted him for who he was-she was
accepting something that we all want to have in ourselves and see in our kids. Elsa
and Anna from Frozen teach them that not every fairytale needs to have a prince
save a princess and they live happily ever after but sometimes you just need
your sister and that it’s okay to be different and to do whatever you want(girl
power anyone)!
These
are important lessons that the princesses teach kids that we have and currently
can see live on Broadway. The actresses who originated these roles and the ones
who have succeeded them have continued to spread the messages and lessons that
the princesses represent to young girls in a way that only a live musical
staging can do. Susan Egan brought the kindness, intelligence and gentleness
of Belle to life in the 90’s and Sierra Boggess gave the mermaid her voice,
spirit and determination in 2007. Currently, Courtney Reed is bringing the
independence, integrity and compassion of Jasmine live eight-times a week over
at the New Amsterdam Theater.
It
is these lessons that we remember, there is a reason why each little girl has a
favorite princess throughout their life, I loved Belle because like me she
loved to read, she showed me from a very early age that intelligence is amazing
and to accept others for who they are. Each princess taught me something from
the importance of kindness in Cinderella to instilling that I can be
independent like Jasmine. There’s a reason why girls latch on to these
characters through adulthood and you see them buying tiaras, dolls, little
mementos and the DVDs. It’s not just because the movies and the characters are
near and dear to them but because they taught them something as well. While we
all want to be happy and find that fairytale ending where we ride off with our
prince on a magic carpet to live out a tale that is old as time we also want it
for our girls whether it’s our present ones or like mine the hypothetically
speaking. We want them to have the princess ending but mostly we want them to
kind, independent, intelligent, generous etc.-all of the things and more that
the Disney Princesses show young girls every single day when a mother presses
play on the remote.
XOXO
-Bwaygirl828
Photo credit:http://www.disney.com.au/iamaprincess/index.php/site/being_a_disney_princess
