November 10, 2009
-
Psychoanalyzing the Disney Princesses
So recently I’ve seen these psychological breakdowns of Disney Princes and Princesses (above), and I feel like they’re such a cursory coverage of the real stories.
Snow White: The Prince fell in love with her when she was – for all appearance sake – just a servant. He loved her before he saw her when he heard her song. Remember how he climbed the wall to find her??
Aurora: So against being married for politics, she wants to marry for love. Again, Philip falls in love with her before he sees her, and her being beautiful is just an added bonus. Also, if Philip only liked her for her looks, it wouldn’t be true love, so his kiss would not break the spell. And really, how many boys would be willing to take on a temperamental dragon. If he only wanted a beautiful girl, I’m sure it would have been much easier to give up on Aurora and find someone he didn’t have to work for.
Jasmine: Isn’t the entire point of this story that love can’t be arranged? Yes, her culture dictated a marriage to royalty, but the entire point is that she fell in love with someone because of who they were, not what they had, so so of course Aladin’s quick wit helped save her in the end. Also her father really does want her to be happy, which is why he didn’t force her to marry one of the other unsuitable suitors.
Ariel: I don’t think she changed her appearance so much to be attractive to Eric, but so that she coud physically be with Eric. She agreed to sacrifice her voice because he was more important to her than anything else, because of love.
Belle: Belle was not sexually attracted to the beast. Did you not listen to the introduction?? The Beast’s curse said that someone had to love him for who he was, in spite of his appearance. Belle saw past his rough exterior and fell in love with who he was underneath. That is not her blatant sexuality, it is all about seeing past who people pretend to be into who they actually are.
Cinderella: The prince wants to meet all the women in the kingdom, not just the rich or the beautiful, ALL OF THEM. Because he’s not looking for just a pretty face, he wants someone he can see himself spending his life with. The fact that Cinderella is beautiful is again, an added bonus, but it was not his driving motivation to find her. She was mysterious, sweet, gentle, well managered, exciting to be around, etc… All the things he was looking for in a bride.
What do you think? Am I the only one that feels like these ‘breakdowns’ aren’t doing the princesses justice!!??
