For decades, Disney had always followed the same formula for its female protagonists; being young and beautiful, having a lovely singing voice, falling in love with a prince, and living happily ever after. Though the whole “Happy Go-Lucky” fairytale formula is pleasant and all, what Disney should be encouraging more for their female protagonists is giving them strong friendships with other women. Disney’s history for female heroine’s friendships had always been an animal companion (Snow White and Sleeping Beauty), enchanted objects (Beauty and the Beast), or supernatural creatures (Mulan and Frozen). It would be a refreshing sight to see more representation of strong female friendships more often in its films. Though Disney had improved on depicting female friendships in the current decade, let’s take a look back on their earlier works to see how it grew from then and now.
Before Rapunzel and Cassandra (Rapunzel’s Best Friend and Lady in Waiting), Maid Marian and Lady Kluck from Robin Hood took the crown for strongest depiction of female friendships in Disney films. While some argue that their friendship is mainly out of circumstance due to Lady Kluck being Maid Marian’s Lady in Waiting, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Lady Kluck is seen to be Maid Marian’s confidant and supporter rather than servant as she fully supports Marian’s relationship with the famed outlaw and never restrains her free-spirited behavior. The friendship is mutual as Marian values Lady Kluck’s wisdom and fierceness unlike other royals who dismiss their servants. Though their screen time together is brief, these two complement each other in the best way that female friendships are supposed to be depicted.
It took Disney a few decades more to portray female friendships in films like in the 90’s with Pocahontas and Nakoma from Pochahontas, and the early to late 2000’s with Mia and Lilly from The Princess Diaries franchise and Tiana and Lottie from The Princess and the Frog. Though Disney has progressively grown its female friendship depictions in their Disney Channel films and shows like The Cheetah Girls, Zenon, The Color of Friendship, Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, etc. their official film franchise line has yet to catch up in making female friendship portrayals the central plot of their respective stories. Recent Disney movies like 2019’s live-action Aladdin had only shown Jasmine and Dalia’s friendship as a subplot and films like Zootopia and Moana have its female leads be friends with their male characters. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but those of us crave for more tight-knit girl groups that many women can relate to on the big screen rather than its female protagonists relying on romantic partners, parental figures, and guy best friends.
Disney and Pixar’s current film release, Turning Red, had portrayed a genuine group of female friends bonding over the highs and lows of growing adolescence. Crushes may come and go, but the right group of girlfriends are the ones that’ll stick with you till the end of the line. Disney has done a tremendous job in keeping up with today’s relevant themes in their films, and I say it’s high time that we need more portrayals of female friendships leads in Disney films. So what are you waiting for Disney? If you can cook up a powerful girl group led film, I can confidently say that you’ll be able to film another powerful princess posse, hold the princes!