“Princess Syndrome”: The Effect of Disney
Princesses on Young Girls
Happily
ever after, princes, weddings, wealth, beautiful girls with perfect bodies and
love at first sight; these are all characteristics that are associated with
Disney’s princess movies. These different things have a huge influence on
little girls and how they dream their life should be. Little girls that watch
these movies look up to the Princesses and admire them, wanting to be just like
them. Who didn’t want to be a princess when they were younger with their own
prince charming in tow? These movies provide an unrealistic view of how love is
and what true happiness is, and they also make you believe that there will
always be a happy ending, when we know that is not always the case. In real
life you can’t just bippity boppity boo a perfect outcome, as much as we wish
we could. With these types of movies, Disney portrays the meaning that as long
as girls are pretty enough and have fancy clothes and shoes she will find love.
These messages being sent out from Disney Princess movies have an impact on
young girls self-confidence and sense of reality, while also steering them away
from the important values for a young girl to be looking for in their role
models.
In
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),
Snow White falls into a deep sleep due to a poisoned apple, and is saved by her
true loves kiss to awaken her. This is the same scenario in Sleeping Beauty (1959), except a
spinning needle pricks Aurora, the main character, until her true love awakens
her with a kiss. Sensing a similar scene here? So am I, and it has to do with
True Love being a hero. In almost every Disney princess movie, the princesses
are only saved by their true love, their prince. Their knight in shining armor
always rescues them. Young girls are very gullible and vulnerable to these
stories, they will grow up believing that no matter what they go through they
will have their true love to save them, or take their pain away. Do we want our
young girls believing that they can only be rescued and be happy by some man.
We should be teaching them to be strong and independent so they can rescue
themselves, and provide their own happiness. Disney movies are majorly focused
on falling in love and getting married, but they do not value anything beyond
that. The princesses do not really pursue any of their own hopes and dreams,
because their dreams are focused on finding their prince. The movies do not
show what happens after the “happy ever after”, and so that is the only side
that the viewers get to see, the happy after. 
Although
we do have to acknowledge that Disney has been better about changing their
stories by trying to make the girls seem more independent and fierce. Some of
the newest movies show the princesses really taking a stand for what they
believe in and not caring about their prince charming. There is Princess Tiana
in The Princess and the Frog (2009),
and she is more focused on her career and starting her own restaurant than
worrying about a boy. Then there is Merida from the movie Brave (2012), who does not mold to the norm of a princess girl, she
is more of a tomboy and has no interest in finding a husband, she is happy to
be who she is. Another exception to this theory of true love is the new movie Frozen (2014) that everyone is raving
about; it is the first movie where the act of true love is not from the prince.
In this movie, the act of true love is done by the love of a sister. This was
inspiring to see, and I hope to see more scenarios like this in future Disney movies.
It was a pleasant surprise that for once the prince wasn’t there to swoop in
and save the princess; spoiler alert, the prince was actually the bad guy. This
being said, I love Disney and I don’t think kids should just stop watching
these movies, I just think it is important for the kids to understand that it
is a fairytale, and it is not real. They need to understand what
characteristics are the ones they should adapt into the real world and which
ones are not actualities. 
Bailey, Kennedy.
“Disney Princesses Have Mixed Effects on Children.” U N I V E R S
E. N.p., 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 May 2014.
Gissell, Lauren.
“The Disney Princess Impact.” Lauren
Gissell. N.P., n.d. Web. 01 May
2014
O’Connor, Lydia.
“The Princess Effect: Are Girls too ‘Tangled’ In Disney’s Fantasy? |
Neon
Tommy. “The Princess Effect: Are Girls
Too ‘Tangled’ In Disney’s Fantasy? | Neon Tommy. N.p., 26 Jan. 2011. Web.
02 May 2014.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that Disney movies have an impact on the children who watch them. I was one of the little girls that was obsessed with princesses and I wanted to look and act just like them and to be honest… I still want to today! But I completely agree with your argument that the Disney movies need to show children that they do not need to rely on other people to save them and instead they need to have self confidence and be independent and be happy with their own selves instead of waiting for their prince to always save them. They can save themselves. I agree that the newer Disney princess movies are changing their view on princesses and making them more independent, which I think is a great adjustment for Disney to make. I think this is showing children a more realistic and more positive message that you don't need someone else, you can be your own hero. Disney has a major affect on children and how they think so by instilling these positive ideas into their heads at these young ages will help them to build self confidence and be more independent and stronger as they grow up. I could really relate to your blog and I really enjoyed reading it. Great job.
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome blog post and is definitely needed to be talked about in our society. So many young girls dress up for Halloween in their favorite Disney princess and it's interesting to me nowadays how this can reflect their childhood. For me, I wasn't big into watching Disney princess shows but what I do remember is dressing up as a doctor for Halloween because that's what I wanted to be when I grew up. It's interesting what the message is in recent Disney movies. For instance, the movie Frozen has so many little girls and boys, singing, "Let it Go". It's a really great song and has a good message too. I think there are hidden messages in Disney movies that little girls might not understand or get when they're young and all they look at is how pretty or what a certain princess looks like and the man she falls in love with. If each Disney princess movie had a better ending other than falling in love with their prince, we would all be in a better mindset at a younger age.
ReplyDeleteGreat post that points out Disney's stereotype on women as submissive and passive subject, and how it changed gradually. As you said, I think this will be the great trend that Disney started to frame women as an independent subject, but there are tons of things that should be challenged. One thing that I want to raise is, their main character is still the 'princess', and how they sell this image of princess as a byproduct afterwards. Especially, products and images in their theme park still promote their hegemonic view on the female... Since I didn't born and was raised in the United States, I didn't experience some events that kids wear a costume or dress up like that, but I do remember the time that I visited the Disney World. In there, so many young girls wore a fairytale dress with a make up, and I was surprised that this is the service that Disney promotes to sell as a commodity. In there, full make up including hair and dress is not the only thing they try to sell. They sell the image, and fabricated dream that 'you can be the princess', or 'wearing a dress and doing a make up like princess is what they dreamed of!' instead of getting a professional job (like doctor, as Maddie K mentioned)... Thanks for giving me an opportunity to think about it!
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