I go to the movies far too often. Often it’ll be Friday night, the mood is good, and a friend of mine will not want to watch anything at home and will simply want to see something in the theater for the hell of it. This is how I took a chance on many movies I loved, from Moonrise Kingdom (from the maker of the infamous Grand Budapest Hotel) to Inside Out (breaking a tradition of me hating a long succession of Pixar films). With this same mentality, as well as a certain curiosity about the recent craze, my friend David and I saw a late showing of Frozen just as it was exiting theaters. It was…neutral to say the least. I’ve had a sort of antagonistic relationship with Disney since I reached my teen years, but frankly I was excited to see the latest in a string of Disney films to purport to have feminist underpinnings. Safe to say by the time I got to “Let It Go” I wanted very badly to…
“David, we have to go…” to the response of “…but we did pay for the tickets;” and we stayed to the end where, as Anna was unfrozen by the power of love, I was frozen, slumped in my seat still in shock that in their most “progressive” movie to date that Disney was still using the same formulas as Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and even as far back to Snow White. And frankly, I’ve always hated Disney princesses…
To explain, let’s go back in time. I’m around ten years old and my little sister is closer to six or seven. We have a television in the middle of our minivan and a VCR (yes I know I’m old!) in the very back where my sister always sits, legs settled right over the tape entrance. When my brother and I would decide on a film we’d hear a loud, screeching “NO!” So Cinderella it is. Cinderella would move fluidly, gracefully as she scrubbed, cleaned, and sang. There were cute little mice who assisted her; and when all her good work amounted to nothing and she was sobbing on the ground…MAGIC…a fairy godmother would come and grant her wish. As a boy and later as I’d grow into young adult and still have to share a car with my sister, I’d be less than happy to see all the dances, the silly songs, and most of all the lack of action at any point. So from boyhood, I was inundated with Disney princess films and yes, even Mulan didn’t quite break the formula for me.
So what is the Disney formula and why do I hate it? The truth to why I hated Frozen and so many others has to do with the Disney recipe which frankly, as I’ve mentioned before, hasn’t really changed since Snow White when there’s a female lead at the forefront. And it’s frankly more than “it’s girly” and at the same time my cultural upbringing as a male has all to do with it at the same time. So, if we generalize, why do men like myself hate Disney princesses? Although the films themselves often have different content, places, and emotions to them, it all has to do with the princesses themselves and their character arcs. It also has a lot to do with, when the princesses have their own movie, the fact that the movie itself takes on a different quality to suit what Disney perceives as the limitations of a female lead. I have two points to make:
Protagonist as the Viewer
It is a common trait of films and other media that the focal point of the film, the main character, is actually a projection of the viewer or better yet, what the viewer wants to be. Now I will grant Disney this—over-time the Princesses do change, but change with the values of what girls of the time period are expected to desire. Snow White is pretty, loyal, and brings out the best of everyone around her and because of that, is rewarded by those around her (the dwarves treat her very kindly) and by the world around her (she by unbelievable luck encounters a beautiful prince!). Sleeping Beauty, made over twenty years later, has a princess who, while not actually rebelling against her fairy caretakers, rebels in thoughts, secretly wishing for a life beyond the ordinary and, due to her sweet personality and beauty, is able to meet a handsome young man who brings it to her. Fast forward to Frozen where our protagonist, Anna, literally rebels against authority (her sister in this case) for the right to marry a handsome man. She of course runs off to later save her kingdom from a never-ending cold and is assisted by a capable young man who finds her personality and drive to be admirable and thus earning his never ending loyalty. VERY different character arcs yes but with some common ground, each of these protagonists is predominantly passive or, lacking passivity, is reliant (yes, even Anna!) on an outside force to obtain their goal.
Now for my female readers out there, I’m not trying to persuade you to dislike this formula but rather to explain to you this…why don’t men like this? Frankly it’s stated, the film expects the viewer to want to be the protagonist. Now imagine a guy…wanting the qualities of a Disney princess and wanting to be in similar situations. Many men (including myself) would be frustrated to be in a situation like Snow White, having to run away, to be scared and crying, to rely on seven old men half our size for protection and support. We certainly would feel frustrated, being the type whose fantasies revolve around solving our own problems on our own, to be “asleep” while some other guy has all the fun slaying the dragon. And, in the case of Anna, having our reward at the end of the film being…a relationship with some dopey guy…? And being that we don’t have these ambitions, we therefore don’t particularly like said movies where we’d have to relate to a main character who has those wants and needs.
Composition
Frozen is the PERFECT example of why guys don’t like Disney princess films. Why? Let’s look at the content. Think for a moment—what happens in Frozen? And I don’t mean just the plot points. Yet, let’s even look at how we open! We have some guy, chiseling into ice…singing. So…much…singing. Not to say I don’t like music (MGMT for the win), musicals (I love the Producers) or even all Disney songs (“We Are Men” stays in my head, no pun intended) but consider the latest James Bond film that has come out, Spectre, which in its opening scene has Bond decimating a city block and killing two people on a helicopter. Not speaking for all guys, but a core part of our demographic isn’t very interested in a film in which, instead of action and suspense, we have people singing out their feelings. Frankly, it bores me. And yes, there is that scene where Anna and her boy-toy are chased by wolves and where Elsa fights some soldiers; but those are few and far between. And if you look back at other Disney princess films like the Little Mermaid, you don’t remember when Ariel saves her love interest from a sinking ship; you remember her singing about how she wants to learn about a world beyond her own. So much singing and sharing of emotions and concepts. Not enough doing.
Now that I’ve solidified why, at their core, Disney films don’t really deliver to a male demographic, let me close with the fact that although I dislike the company’s feature films as a whole, it doesn’t meant that, SURPRISE, I don’t actually like some of their films. Robin Hood (yes the one with animals) was a favorite of mine as a child and I still enjoy it today. The difference between Robin Hood and, perhaps, Pocahontas is that there are plenty of action scenes, plenty of slapstick humor (Sleeping Beauty’s primary running gag involves the three old fairy ladies unable to decide on a dress color!) and an overall content of heroics and daring do, perfect for a guy like myself. And then we have another Disney film I like, the little known The Black Cauldron which, although lacking in humor as the focus, has a Lord of the Rings style to it with an evil king, sword fights, and a rather dark and scary atmosphere in comparison to the film’s library. The truth is that Disney has made tons of films, and it’s almost impossible to not like something in their library. But truthfully, you won’t see me watching a Disney film any time soon, at least not an animated film with a female lead to continue the ss” line. However when they release the newest Pirates of the Caribbean? Count me in!