Disney is known for its princess movies, catchy music, and lovable characters. While Disney has some amazing, strong, and empowering female characters I believe many are overlooked. We all know the basics Mulan, Elsa, Rapunzel, etc. But I’ve come with a list of some more inspiring Women in the Disney Universe.
On top of being Disney’s first black princess Tiana’s determinations is so inspiring and is shown so heavily throughout the film. Tiana dreamed of owning her own restaurant and saved up all her money from waitressing at multiple restaurants to do so. Even while the people in her town told her to give up or let go, she never did and kept working hard. She faced many obstacles and is often the character trying to push everyone along. She never lost sight of her goal no matter how crazy the situation was. A good example of this is during the song When We’re Human, when Louis and Naveen are playing music while Tiana pushes them in the right direction.
Helen Parr (Elastigirl / Mrs. Incredible) – The Incredibles
Helen Parr was able to be among the top of a very male dominated society as Elastigirl. Until Supers were outlawed and forced into hiding where she razed three super kids. Throughout the first film we see a touch of her super abilities being shown. Some of my favorite scene from the first movie is the plane one. She is flying a jet to rescue Mr. Incredible and is under attack by missals with her children in the back. She is able to keep them out of harm’s way by grabbing them and turning into a parra shoot when they jump out of the plane. The second movie is truly where we see her riding motorcycles, new costume, fighting vileness, stopping trains, protecting the city, and so much more.
Nani Pelekai – Lilo & Stitch
Nani losses her parents and becomes the caretaker for her younger sister Lilo. While the movies and TV shows mainly follows Lilo and her adventures you often see parts of her struggle to balance her new crazy life. Nani’s age is never revealed, but it is believed she is around 19. During the first movie Nani is fired from her job and under stress from their social worker, Cobra Bubbles, to find a new job. On top of all this she was quietly dealing with losing her parents.
Joy – Inside Out
Joy was the first to appear in Riley’s mind. As she grew more emotions were introduced like Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. Joy keeps the balance between all the emotions which is made obvious when her and Sadness leave headquarters and Anger, Fear, and Disgust weren’t able to control and balance Riley’s emotions the same. Only when all of the emotions work together Riley able to communicate her emotions and work through her problems.
In the other Toy Story movies, Bo Peep didn’t have a major role outside of being saved. However, in Toy Story 4 we see what happened to her after she was sold. She went from house to house and eventually ended up in an antique shop where she left to be on her own. Though out the movie Bo is the one helping and saving both Woody and Buzz.
Even though these are fictional characters their stories inspire millions of women around the world. Disney puts a lot of emphasis on their princesses. While their stories are inspirational as well, I believe they have some amazingly strong, brave, and powerful female characters that deserve way more appreciation than what they get.