Prompted by Disney’s new line of Princess products, Barbara Ehrenreich rails against the studio’s entire family of female animated characters at The Nation. Her key arguments:
- “Today, there is no little girl in the wired, industrial world who does not seek to display her allegiance to the pink- and-purple clad Disney dynasty.” Read: your daughter understandably wants you to buy her shiny things, but she’s too young, impressionable and greedy to understand what consumption of those things mean. It’s up to you to decode the messages she’s unconsciously slurping through her Princess toys. This is of primary importance because…
- “Disney likes to think of the Princesses as role models, but what a sorry bunch of wusses they are.” Ehrenreich is particularly concerned that these so-called heroines generally “have no ambitions and no marketable skills,” and are prone to allowing themselves to become intoxicated at the hands of men and/or devious older woman. No work, free booze––I guess your daughter’s supposed to wait until college before indulging in that dream.
- “No need for complicated witch-hunting techniques–pin-prickings and dunkings–in Princessland. All you have to look for is wrinkles.” The Princess films fail to give middle aged and elderly women the respect that they’re accorded in … um … real life?
My favorite takeaway, and my own conclusions, after the jump.
Snow White has gotten slimmer and bustier over the years…In faithful imitation, the 3-year-old in my life flounces around with her tiara askew and her Princess gown sliding off her shoulder, looking for all the world like a London socialite after a hard night of cocaine and booze…It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex–and especially some middle-aged man’s twisted version thereof–doesn’t belong in the pre-K playroom. Children are going to discover it soon enough, but they’re got to do so on their own…One’s sexual inclinations–straightforward or kinky, active or passive, heterosexual or homosexual–should be free to develop without adult intervention or manipulation.
How could a 3 year-old girl be more “on her own” than plopped down in front of a DVD, clad in a Disney-branded, apparently ill-fitting costume, while her respected sociologist mother compares her to Kate Moss in the pages of The Nation? If Ehrenreich thinks Snow White is turning her daughter into a coke whore-in-waiting, why did she bring home the Princess gown in the first place?
All kidding and sniping aside, I’m sure these are all morally sound arguments, but I’m honestly having trouble remembering–when was the last time Disney actually made a movie with a female heroine? At best, Ehrenreich’s storm is ten years too late, and at worst, it could touch off a wave of nostalgia for a time when Disney and other studios actually made children’s films about girls and women, instead of two about rats in twelve months. The ultimate question: is a bikini-clad heroine better than no heroine at all?
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There’s something inherent in the role of the “princess” that excites little girls’ imaginations. Maybe it has to do with being the center of a kingdom’s ardor, who knows? Right now, my daughter makes me pretend to be Shrek while she plays Fiona. Having at least a more feminist princess to rescue is the only substitute I’ve been able to find for princess enamor.
This is hilarious - I just loved reading it — especially the bit on there being two films about rats in a year. I just burst out laughing in my cubicle. It’s true. I think Pocahontas may have been the last film about a girl… A few years too late indeed.
I have to agree that this is true. I was a bit disappointed that you did not mention all the make up and stuff that goes along with the dress. Also to only blame Disney for making little girls into whores is kinda distorted considering you have the new line of barbies and bratz dolls. These really have no career goals except to party. Disney at least says they should get married lol.
Karina, are you aware that in Enchanted, Patrick Dempsey is to choose between his career-minded fiance and Amy Adams, the princess who cleans his house and has no aspirations other than to make dresses and sing?
Oh and sorry to spoil it but that career-minded woman? All she really wants to do is become a cartoon princess — and she gets her wish in the end.
The best thing is that Amy Adams in Enchanted has been compared with Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. What was Robert’s career in that film again? Oh yeah, whore.
In the latter years of classic 2D Disney animation, they’ve discussed the role the princess plays in their movies how well of a model it is to young girls.
Lilo & Stitch: a young girl who doesn’t really fit in, but also doesn’t follow the rules and has quirky traits as well as an older sister who’s trying to hold down a job.
Mulan: A young woman who doesn’t abide by traditional beauty and goes to war to uphold her family honor.
Hercules: Meg, though deceitful, also shows she’s no ‘fair lady’ and is quite self-reliant (one could argue the effect Hercules has on her, but that changes her moral choices and not her confidence)
Hunchback: Esmerelda fights for freedom and justice for the lowly against a tyrannical power. Helpless, much?
Pocahontas: Risks her life and goes against her father to stop a war.
Since this is just a comment I’m not going to go into more specific detail, but hopefully my point is being made.
And featuring “The Little Mermaid” is stopping a decade and a half early. Look at the ‘Heroine’ figure that follows it: Belle, someone who rejects the ‘popular crowd’ as it were and sacrifices her freedom for her father’s.
I love the snippet about the dress, though. Can parents please stop complaining and take care of their children?
I honestly think you have to think about the time period the Disney classics were made in. The role of the helpless damsel in distress was almost a reality for women then. Girls brough up these days are surrounded by enough evidence to the contrary of the damsel issue that I believe they can take the classics in stride, take it with a grain of salt. Plus, doesn’t every little girl go through a princess phase? I did, and guess what, I still have career ambitions and a strong head on my shoulders.
i am nikhil ,age 16 years ,height 6 fit ,i want to be popular in disney i want to do modeling in disney channel without any salary because i only want to be popular in disney
This article is superflous to begin with, and it’s flamebait. I wonder how many women today watched Disney films. Are you saying that all these women are whores, or is Disney’s attempt ineffective, and therefore is worthing blogging about? Perhaps more to the point, your premise that a woman that wears makeup and a pretty dress is a whore reflects the deficiencies you have and loathe you carry for women you who groove like you. Then again I’m a guy who watched Disney, I just must be a dumb brute, eh?
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[...] hard-working film blogger Karina Longworth at Spout Blog put up this thought-provoking piece on whether Disney wants to turn your daughter into a whore. As Karina points out, Barbara Ehrenreich’s recycled rant on the evils of all things Disney [...]