Comments on: Disney Princesses Going Viral!

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:01:36 +0000

Actually J those issues would come up even if she was Caucasian! My daughter certainly obsesses over her looks and she is a pretty slim blond 13-year-old! I remember thinking my nose looked too long even though it is more of a Roman nose than a stereotypical Jewish one.

By: PunditMom

PunditMom — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:11:39 +0000

Yes, I am conflicted, as well. My daughter is just now talking about how she thinks her beautiful Asian nose is “fat” and she wants her nose to look like my Caucasian nose. Yes, all these issues would come up even without the Disney princesses. And she did have a fun time when she was little dressing up as Belle and Jasmine (at least she wasn’t white), but in the end I wonder — does each little thing about how we view girls and women build upon each other and create the “monster” of managing our daughter’s perceptions and expectations?

*sigh*

By: Gina Chen

Gina Chen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:48:16 +0000

I have a lot of mixed feelings on the Disney princesses. On the one, hand they certainly perpetuate the dominant American beauty ideal – white, blonde and thin. Plus, the princesses’ plot lines tend to involves sitations where a man is the rescuer.(except Mulan, thankfully.)

I don’t love that they aren’t diverse and when there are hints of diversity in them — like with the first black princess (finally!), it does bug me that she looks a bit like Cinderella with a tan.

But I’m also a realist. I think our jobs as moms are to help our children navigate the world — not shield them from it. Yes, I’m the mom who has discussions the impact of media beauty depictions with her 7-year-old daughter.

My daughter is bi-racial (white/Asian), so we’ve talked about why Cinderella and Barbie look the way they do — and what that means and, particularly, what that means for my daughter’s concept of herself. (Obviously, I use different words with my daughter.)

I try (don’t always succeed) to make just about everything a teachable moment for my kids. Disney princesses can be part of that.

By: Debbie Owensby Moore

Debbie Owensby Moore — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:15:28 +0000

I always detested the whole princess thing. I was relieved when my daughter skipped the experience, since a girly-girl she is not. However, I had a paradigm shift a few years ago after reading “The Woman with the Alabaster Jar” by Margaret Starbird.

In her search for the revival of the sacred feminine, Starbird believes that we modern feminists have turned the “Cinderella” fairy tales upside down. She points out that we miss the true point of the story. In all the princess fairy tales, “it is the prince that is passionately seeking his lost counterpart.” Only when he reunites with his true equal is balance restored.

For those interested in the “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” and the role of women in the early church, Starbird’s book is a fascinating read.

Maybe Walt Disney was actually ahead of his time!!

By: Tonggu Momma

Tonggu Momma — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:08:25 +0000

I second “The Paper Bag Princess” and also the newer book “Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?” I am so not a princess kind of gal, but my daughter is obsessed with the Disney princesses, even though she’s only ever seen the movie Mulan. I wish I DID understand this hold they have over our children. Then I could actively work to minimize it.

By: Daisy

Daisy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:51:22 +0000

I highly recommend Robert Munsch’s “The Paper Bag Princess” for any and all princess fans. This princess is one feisty royal!

By: magpie

magpie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:17:39 +0000

I’m kind of happy that my 6yo is enamored of her Bakugan right now. I avoid the Disney stuff as much as possible, preferring the Miyazaki movies instead.

By: nonlineargirl

nonlineargirl — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:24:35 +0000

I feel a bit conflicted about whether to take my daughter to the new movie. She has just gotten into the princess stuff (Disney makes a KILLING selling merch on that line!) but I do like the idea of a non-white lead.

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:46:16 +0000

I think my daughter always like the Mulan and Pocahantas movies best of all the princess movies and in fact was both of them for Halloween at different years. She was more into the whole Barbie princess thing although she always had a tomboy side anyway. So she has no illusions of happily ever after at age 13.

By: thefremen

thefremen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:03:15 +0000

My daughter likes the princesses just fine, but if anything is far more influenced by the Tinkerbell videos/expanded fiction. I honestly have no idea what happened to Tinkerbell later on in life, perhaps it’s Peter Pan’s Machismo which is so strong it warps the very fabric of time and space, but in her earlier years in pixie hollow Tinkerbell was quite a different fairy.