What does it take to be a princess? According to Disney, 1.
You must have a primary role in an animated Disney movie. 2. Must be human 3.
Not primary in a sequel. They must meet all three criteria in order to qualify.
The next round of qualifications is about the characters themselves. The next
three criteria a princess only needs to pass one of them. 1. You must be born
royal 2. Must marry royal 3. Perform a significant act of heroism. Besides the
characteristics to be a Disney Princess there is a unspoken rule based off the
given film’s box-office success. Shocking it has to do with money. Even to be considered an applicant at the Disney Parks takes much effort and requirements from their applicants.
Each of the official Disney
Princesses can be grouped respectfully. The classic era, Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs),
Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty),
share the characteristics of being highly romantic and just hope to end up with
a handsome man. They are more reaction characters, meaning that they don’t take
a lot of action themselves, instead letting the plot happen to them, enduring
the consequences of other people’s actions and often serve as the damsel in
distress.
Next is the renaissance era, Ariel
(Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Jasmine (Aladdin), Pocahontas, and Mulan. All are
very feisty, free willed and have a grand sense of adventure. They are not
motivated by romance but they do end up with someone at the end of the movie.
Finally, is the modern era princesses,
Tina (Princess and the Frog),
Rapunzel (Tangled), and Merida (Brave), and Anna and Elsa (Frozen); who are not official princesses.
These women are extremely independent, curious, hard-working and idealistic. Romance
and relationships are based upon getting to know somebody and Merida and Elsa
does not even end up with someone by the end of the film.
One of the most progressive
characters at the time for Disney in 2001 is Kida from The Lost Empire of Atlantis. She fit into the category of Disney
Princess except for the profit, making $189,000,000 at the box-office, being an
obvious failure.
Anna and
Elsa should stand out the most, with not being official princesses. One could
say that it hasn’t been long enough since Frozen
has been released in, but Merida had her coronation after a year from being
released in theaters. A huge sign that shows that Disney is not adding the sisters anytime soon is their absence from Disney's Official Princess website. It seems as if Disney is playing off of the success of
the two sisters in marketing, making parents pay more for toys. The picture above is of a Disney princess toy set, leaving out the two biggest box-office successes in all of Disney.
From the examples that little children,
mostly young girls, receive from these movies is that it takes a man to make
her happy, or true love is waiting around the corner. Problems from this teach
these children bad lessons such as the abusive relationship in Beauty and the Beast or touching a
person is okay in Sleeping Beauty. With
the modern era of Disney characters ever changing and becoming more progressive
in the sense of character development, Mulan, Merida, and Elsa, it does not
seem like fans of Disney would have to wait long for the idea Disney Princess
to emerge in box-offices.