Growing up, I watched most of the Disney princess movies. Don’t lie, you probably did too. Disney movies were a big part of my life because it gave me a fantasy to look forward to. However, for the individuals that never watched a Disney princess movie, here is the rundown: a girl in distress meets the perfect boy and lives happily ever after. This simple storyline has become a major role in girls’ lives because we were taught that we should be waiting for our prince charming. But why prince charming?
From the beginning of the movie we just see a good looking guy helping a damsel in distress. The whole time, we have heard the princess’ side of the story and her thoughts, but why haven’t we ever heard of the prince’s thoughts? Let’s connect this back to two Disney movies, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast: In Cinderella, the first time the prince saw Cinderella what was his thought? Was he thinking that she was hot? Or was he thinking that he already fell in love with her? Another example is in Beauty and the Beast, the Beast’s thoughts in the movie could have been shared more. I feel like this would add another dimension to the male character that we otherwise would not have seen, turning them not just into love interests, but humans, as well.
It is surprising how one-sided these movies really are. Since they are so one-sided, I feel like it had an effect on girls’ beliefs about boys. Since the beginning, we have believed that most guys should have a strong masculinity, but maybe watching Disney movies have made us think like this. Many females have certain characteristics of how a male should be. In certain situations, we have pre-beliefs on how a man should act and feel. Is this caused by never really getting to understand what the thoughts of male characters in Disney princess movies are? When I started to think about this question more, I thought that these movies are towards a female audience. Then, I thought if there were a movie about prince’s thoughts, no one would probably care. The main goal in the movies is to create a fairy tale of a life where the woman gets all her needs from a male. The big question is: Is there a prince charming?
In my opinion, there is not. Disney princess movies are purposefully one side to sell to girls. They know how to profit from a fairy tale and make them little girls role models. Prince charming in real life is full of opinions, bad jokes, emotion, and has every aspect of a human. In reality, prince charming is a regular guy who can be the guy sitting next to you to the guy in one of the guys in your freshman dorm. Importantly, what we should take away from this is that girls do not need a prince charming. All girls need is girl power. I don’t believe that I am the only one seeing that because princess Disney movies are changing their story line of the damsel in distress. Princesses can now fend for themselves. The idea that a princess does not need a prince charming is amazing because it shows little girls that they do not need a man nor figure out what they are thinking.
Image Credit: Disney, Barbie Movies