The Problem With Modern Disney Princesses | Discussion

happy women's History Month everyone today I want to celebrate by talking about why modern Disney women are kind of boring okay so that may be a bit too harsh considering its women's history month but Disney's recent track record hasn't really been the greatest now that's not to say every single movie they've released has been horrible but I myself and many others have noticed a bit of a pattern with all of their female leads in the last decade or so that's why I went through and rewatched doz of Disney movies so you don't have to in order to understand where the shift and quality began and why newer characters just don't feel as authentic as they used to now before we even get into our Disney girls and what makes them all so special I'd like to take a moment to talk about feminism and Disney's relationship with it as a company the dictionary definition of feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the Sexes now that's not very specific and many women have different interpretations of what feminism truly is let me tell you all how I view feminism I believe feminism is all about choice I as a woman should be able to express myself and choose my own path in life without Cal expectations holding me back whether I choose to be an independent woman who works an office job or a single mother or a housewife none of those decisions should invalidate my experience as a woman or dictate my place in society now some women have different goals and aspirations than those around them and that's what makes Being Human so special try to fit all women into one box thinking it will fit everyone goes against everything feminism stands for and that is exactly what Disney has been doing in recent years lately modern feminism has been interpreted by conservatives as women hating men as well as all things girly such as cooking dressing more modestly or traditionally feminine skirts and dresses and even having children but this is simply not the case take a look at my best friend and I we're both proud feminists but choose to express ourselves as feminine as possible most of the time there are some days though when I feel the most attractive wearing a simpler leather jacket and loose jeans completely hiding my figure it's all about having the choice in how you present yourself this is where Disney's problem with feminism stems from they've strayed from creating women who have real personalities and interests that may fall into more stereotypically feminine categories and have had opted focus on women who lean away from these previous archetypes this has resulted in many of their more recent characters coming off as Bland and repetitive with Disney being too scared to create outside of the box anymore Disney has always been a company that has towed the line of being politically correct with both sides of the political Spectrum but this puts them in an uncomfortable position where they fail to please either side Disney recently released wish to celebrate their 100th anniversary as a company and it was not met with the highest of Praise like they expected receiving a 48% Rotten Tomatoes and becoming their lowest ranked princess film so what did wish do to Garner such a Negative response well it was the unfortunate combination of a bland overdone leading woman an underwhelming attempt at stylized animation and a poorly written story but today our focus is on the character of Asa and her fellow Disney leads now Disney has quite the roster of women in their catalog who were designed to empower young girls everywhere each of these women were different from one another but held the same core values that made them a good person in the Renaissance Era we had several leading women who were praise for their unique personalities such as Ariel Mulan Belle Jasmine and Pocahontas what made all these women so special though well to me it was their flaws Ariel was naive and mischievous due to her childlike Wonder getting her into trouble with Ursula Belle was stubborn and opinionated but also as Centric Milan was clumsy and self-conscious but remained optimistic and determined despite her situation all of these women had flaws that made them real to young girls everywhere if you're a more loud and bubbly person you might find comfort in a character like Ariel versus girls who were quieter and more shy who may have found more comfort in b or Mulan there was someone out there for everyone but in recent years that's changed with most of Disney's leads encapsulating the adorable personality they so carefully crafted after the Renaissance Era came a bit of a drought for Disney as they entered the post Renaissance Era from 2000 to 2009 during this time Disney only released one princess movie without being The Prince and the Frog but it's generally considered to be a part of their most recent era from 2010 until now this is because the movie came out in December of 2009 barely making it into the Revival era Disney went nearly a decade without any princess movies releasing only two movies with women in more prominent roles those two movies being lilo's Stitch and Atlantis the Lost Empire this era is usually considered to be a bit of a low point for the company with them struggling to capture the magic of their 9s films time and time again but with the prince and the Frog came a new era for Disney one that I would consider to be a bit of a Redemption Arc before they eventually fell victim to the comfort of these adorable characters starting strong with the prince on the Frog Tiana was a wonderful F example for girls at the time which included me I was just shy of 8 years old at the time of this film's release and at the time I really saw myself in Tiana she embodied everything it meant to be a feminist to me she is a strong willed independent woman who is the kind of girl who just doesn't take no for an answer but she's also flawed she's stubborn and she struggles to lean on those around her no matter how much they try to support her throughout the film though she learned to be more vulnerable with the people she loves by the end of the film Tiana has achieved her goal of opening her own restaurant by the name of Tiana's place and she's able to a self-made woman while still allowing love into her life thus gaining a partner who supports her and her dreams this was a great example for young girls and women everywhere following her came Rapunzel another princess with a lot of personality but she fell on the opposite side of the spectrum having a more awkward and excitable personality Rapunzel laid the ground work for what would become Disney's favorite lead woman in the future at the time Rapunzel was a huge change from our typical Disney Princesses she have never very good understanding of social etiquette given her a unique background and so she had to rely on Eugene throughout the movie to help her navigate the world she found herself in but this didn't take away from her independence she still had several moments to shine in which she wasn't a damel and distress as Eugene would fill that role too often having to follow along with the chaos that the two got themselves into because of her hair Rapunzel was able to be a fun and Spunky character and a more quirky personality while still being strong and self-sufficient in her own way relying on him falling in love with the man didn't dampen her light but rather made it shine brighter as he uplifted her after Tangled Keem Frozen which is where Disney struck gold with Anna now this film had two leading women with both Elsa and Anna fulfilling different roles in the Disney Princess catalog Elsa was more Calon reserved having an air of Elegance surrounding her but she was still able to have a little bit of fun now Elsa wasn't perfect she was riddled with trust issues and insecurities Anna on the other hand was more akin to Rapunzel being the clumsier awkward and more naive princess she also brought a new sense of humor to the studio though through her self-deprecating jokes this made sense for her character though considering she grw up in isolation rarely interacting with others her age though her more Awkward personality was reasonable and stayed true to her character I actually re-watched all of these princess movies to make this video and Anna was one of the ones I enjoyed the most and I felt I related to her even now at 22 years old this makes sense given the movie came out when I was 11 years old so I have a fair bit of nostalgia for it anyways at the time Disney had been receiving some criticism for having all of their women fall for a man by the end of the film and so this one had a different ending with the true love being found between the sisters despite Anna finding romantic love in the film their sisterly Bon trumped all I actually really liked Frozen and while there are some BL with the story I don't think it's a bad movie at the time this movie was groundbreaking and a huge Breakaway from the norm but that doesn't mean pursuing love is inherently anti-feminist or does it up next came Moana and this is where the pattern began to rare his ugly head once again similar to Anna Moana was naive and chatty but also quite awkward this made sense for Anna and Rapunzel who had both been isolated their entire lives but Moana grew up in a tight-knit community where she seemed to get along with everybody you could say she was a bit of a black sheep given her love for the ocean and desire to leave but that doesn't explain her awkwardness what really sens as the first copy and paste awkward princess is her knock for cracking on Liners in situations where it's completely uncalled for in serious situations everyone reacts differently after a car accident some people may react by freezing some may panic and others will Embrace a more heroic side taking Char of the situation humans are complex varied creatures and we all react differently to these kinds of things this can be seen in several older Disney films when Mulan was in the midst of the war she stayed serious only cracking a cheeky smile after succeeding in her plan in Frozen Anna didn't make a quick joke about Elsa after the party fell apart instead she reacted to this situation appropriately in the new films all of our heroins tend to react to these situations in the same witty manner though take for example when Moana and Maui are attacked by the kakamura a group of Pirates Who attack them on their Journey throughout the confrontation Moana remains witty despite having no experience fighting similarly when fighting against namari in spine Rya is constantly making Jabs at namari despite having the lower hand in the fight Disney just can't help themselves when they see the chance for a silly joke but those fun one Lin aren't always necessary and in many cases they kind of detract from the movie pulling me out of the scene completely to me this feels like a lack of respect for Disney's target audience children I understand Disney makes family films but let's all be real here children are the main target audience many filmmakers don't seem to have a lot of respect for children though and choose to dumb down the content we make for them but this isn't fair as a child I always preferred the series or movies that had more intricate plots enjoying shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe much more than episodic cartoons I enjoyed the story of evolving over the course of a series and talking to other fans online about the future development of the series and where we thought the show may go children have a much better understanding of the world around them than we give them credit for they deserve more in- depth plots and characters in their films anyways back to the main topic at hand our recent princesses moving on from Moana we have Rya I actually watched Ryan in The Last Dragon for the first time to make this video and I can't say it was a pleasant experience it definitely wasn't the worst film ever made even being better than Pocahontas a film from in the Renaissance Era in my opinion at least but the film left a lot to be desired if you're familiar with the movie you know of Ria's tragic backstory and I think a really great way they could have characterized her was by taking notes from Avatar the Last Air vender and giving her more of a season 1 Zuko kind of personality but instead we got another quirky nerdy and awkward princess I think having Riya take on a more serious Focus personality with cesu there to take on the more comedic role would have been for a much more fun dynamic between the two picture Saka and season 1 Zuko being forced to team up it would have added so much to the ending since the two of them would have struggled to get along early on making cesu going back for Rya and spine as well as her death more meaningful it's just getting a bit boring seeing the same princess over and over again in a slightly different font every time another problem I had with cesu was her sense of humor cracking jokes about the modern world even though her story takes place in an ancient dystopian land and C has been asleep for 500 years the hell does she know about group projects it's a funny joke out of context yes but it pulls you out of the story Sor when writing we have to ask ourselves would my character do that or would I do that we tend to write what we know but sometimes we have to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and think outside the box and now we find ourselves at Disney's most recent princess movie wish I also had to watch this movie for the first time to make this video and it was just as disappointing as everyone else said it would be I should have just skipped this one honestly but let's discuss Asha I had a lot of Hope when Asha was first announced despite being a little white girl myself I think it's really important for younger girls of different backgrounds to have good representation to look up to I certainly benefited from having a dozen blonde blue-eyed Beauties to idolize as a kid so it's really sad that one of our only two black princesses comes from one of the most boring movies ever at least we have Tiana I had so many problems with this film but we'll save that for another day our protagonist Asha is Clumsy awkward quirky chatty and naive our picture perfect Disney princess it was really fun when it was just Rapunzel and Ariel who exhibited these kinds of traits but when it's every single leading woman for a decade straight it gets really old even the non princesses have this personality just look at mirel from Encanto another perfect example it's like Disney has forgotten how to write anyone who doesn't fall into this category and that sucks the problem with every Disney princess falling under the same quirky girl tree is that anyone who doesn't fall into this category has no one to look up to now little girls may start to think that they're wrong for not being like the girls portrayed in Disney movies I mean Disney makes role models that little girls aspire to be like right so who are the girls who don't fit into this bubble supposed to look up to I know you can always say oh we'll look back at the owner movies and find Comfort there but it's not fair that they don't get any new modern role models it feels like Disney is too scared to write women who are anything less than perfect but in a quirky way out a fear of backlash they may receive in the name of feminism but all this does is set us further back Disney hasn't even given us a princess movie where loves the focus in over a decade all because a woman who depends on a man and any way won't fit their idea of a good role model for young girls it doesn't even need to be a prince Disney just give us Les and Elsa I promise you it's okay to write love in your stories it doesn't make your female characters any less now you may be thinking at this point isn't it a bit unfair of me to critique Disney when I don't even have a solution and that's why I offer you this more Alma for those unaware Alma better known as AA is the grandmother in Encanto and boy do I love her Disney usually shrives away from writing female villains nowadays and for their older ones they're given the sweet sweet treatment of a liveaction Redemption Arc so seeing a woman who's relatable and has real struggles and a real character AR be portrayed as the antagonist in the Disney film did that give me tingles I love Alma she both is and isn't a True Villain of Encanto as the True Villain was the family trauma we all made along the way but she's as close to a villain as we're going to get in this movie and damn it do I love her for that Alma is such a well-written character After experiencing the tragedy of losing her husband soon after the birth of her three children she was thrusted with the responsibility of rebuilding and taking charge of her Village and you know what she did it she did did that y'all want a girlboss princess she's right there her trauma explains her actions in the movie but at no point does the film justify what she did through it instead opting to have her properly apologize and see the error in her ways I know bebell is the closest we have to a princess in Encanto and her sisters play a large role in the movies too but almost stole the show for me on every rewatch and trust me there have been plenty I love that movie I just think Disney needs to write more flawed women like they used to rather than hiding behind the same personality over and over again it was fun the first few times I'll admit and I actually quite enjoyed Moana and Ryan The Last Dragon but none of Disney's recent movies hold the same special place in my heart as the older ones you might chalk this up to Nostalgia but I asked several of my friends and family who their favorite princesses were and none of them responded with anyone after Rapunzel even the kids honestly I just think Disney needs to create more female driven stories with a more diverse cast of women I hope that Disney will realize why people enjoy Danto so much given this huge variety of women and we'll try to replicate that in future movies their awkward girl strategy has clearly run its course and they need to come up with something new or their movies will continue to bomb at the box office I'm curious though what are your thoughts on Disney's recent characters did you enjoy them more than I did if so why I'd love to discuss further so please let me know what you guys thought down in the comments if you enjoyed this video consider giving it a like and maybe even subscribing I've got plenty more videos on the way but if there's anything specific you want to see feel free to comment down below anyways hope you all have a wonderful day or night and if you're watching this before bed sleep tight [Music] bye

Channel: melonn ★

Views: 7,677

Keywords: Disney, Disney Princess, Disney Princesses, Ariel, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Belle, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Aladdin, Tiana, The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel, Tangled, Frozen, Elsa, Anna, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Raya, Sisu, Wish, Asha, Video Essay, Review, Discussion, Movie

Id: kvdyn28olnE

Length: 15min 12sec (912 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024