Disney Princesses

04/06/2018

The Sorting Hat School of Literary Analysis

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From character archetypes last week to character analysis this week. One of the favorite pastimes of Harry Potter fans (other than complaining about Harry Potter stuff) is sorting characters who are not in Harry Potter into the four Hogwarts houses:  Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. There are a few schools of thought as to how to go about this. The simplest is the way that it appears to happen in the books — heroes in Gryffindor, villains in Slytherin, smart people in Ravenclaw, everyone else in Hufflepuff. This, to many, is quite reductive and does not fully encapsulate the complexities of what the houses have come to represent. However, this is also how the houses are seen within the general public due to the nature of how the books were written. Sorting characters is as much literary analysis and, specifically, character analysis, as much as it is kinda fun.

Short intro because we have a lot to cover.

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03/08/2018

Disney Princess Profiles: Belle

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The first time I did one of these posts, I wrote about the original Disney princess. Now, I’m going to talk about my favorite. Beauty and the Beast is as much of an artistic triumph as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, if not more, given that it won at least some of the Oscars it was nominated for. While Belle is not necessarily the Disney Princess– that would probably have to go to Cinderella– she is almost always included in and on any merchandise for the brand (see my post on the Disney Princess brand for more info). Plus, Belle and Ariel were the first to ring in the Disney Renaissance, which put Disney back on the map in terms of being a studio powerhouse.

As with the last post, we’ll be looking at the history of the character and her story, as well as go into the production of the film and its impact on popular culture at large. I’ll also take a dive into some of her other portrayals, both within the Disney company and without (though certainly not all of them, and I’ll explain that as well). It’s called a tale as old as time for a reason, and Disney’s film is no exception.

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01/15/2018

Disney Princess Profiles: Snow White

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So the most popular post on here is still my post about the Disney Princesses and their cultural impact, but that was more the Disney Princesses as a brand. I didn’t really talk much about the girls individually, and that is worth doing because each of them are unique characters in their own right. Yes, even Princess Aurora. This new series is to highlight the history and character of each of the Disney princesses and talk about their films on an individual basis. I might expand out to doing profiles on other Disney characters (Prince John is actually much more interesting than Robin Hood makes him out to be), but if we’re starting with the princesses, we might as well start with the princess that started everything.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an historical feat of animation– the first ever cel-animated, full-length feature film. Of course, with how old it is and how much people praise it, there is the inevitable backlash. Many people find it boring, say it doesn’t have a good message, say it’s sexist, etc. Filmmaking and storytelling of the 1930’s can be quite different from the sensibilities of current moviegoers, but this film is still an excellent piece of cinema and an important one at that.

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09/24/2016

Beyond the Brand: Disney Princesses and Cultural Diffusion

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What makes a character a Disney Princess? Do you know? There’s actually a procedure for it, with a set of rules and an official ceremony. There’s a list of official Disney Princesses, with inclusions and exclusions that may surprise you. Because the Princesses are an actual brand as opposed to a concept, there almost has to be some sort of regulatory procedure. This is the VIP club of Disney royalty, and not every princess gets in.

But if we consider the term as a concept, as most people do, the rules become a bit fuzzy. What Disney properties are excluded, that maybe shouldn’t be? What properties tangential to Disney would qualify? Why even stick with Disney properties– other properties have some great female characters. Is the concept that the Disney Princesses represent powerful enough that it surpasses the lines of branding, marketing, and copyright, to encompass something that we as a culture then fill in to fit our own ideas of what royalty, femininity, and heroism mean?

I mean, of course it does, but that’s beside the point.

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