#feminism | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mk-wizard · 2 days ago

Text

I could kiss you for making this list because this exactly what I have been saying for YEARS. May I also add some other honourable mentions of both princesses and non-princesses?

In Robin Hood, Maid Marian is an upper class woman yet is not spoiled by her status. She even sees the absurdity of classism and shows kindness and respect to people by way of their actions not their status. And her lady in waiting Lady Cluck shared those honourable values and was a fighter. Maybe having her as a mother figure is what shaped Marian into being such a kind and fair person. Also, Marian was ready to leave her lavish lifestyle at any time as she was already not happy being there. She was just waiting for the right time and wanted to make her exit the smart way. Yes, she was still in love with Robin and hoped the feeling was mutual, but she was NOT living just for him.

In The Black Cauldron, Elonwy is the proactive one and often the voice of reason of the group. She saved Taran and everyone else before she was saved later on. And might I remind everyone, it wasn't even Taran who saved her. It was Gurgi who is that hairy strange short creature who talks in third person. She can be tough and outspoken, but only when she needs to be. She is not mean spirited in the least. In fact, quite the opposite, she is kind, positive and genuinely helpful to the team.

In Peter Pan, Wendy Darling is the first to learn that there are good things about growing up as well as being mature. She also comes to realize that it's not a good thing to be childish, irresponsible and treat everything like a game all the time. It thanks to her that she made the lost boys and her brothers rethink the way they act as well as to stop and appreciate their mothers. However, she is not above being playful and imaginitive. Wendy is the ideal big sister figure or babysitter who is a great balance between fun and kind, but also responsible and smart. If anyone was truly guilty of being overly fixated on a man, it was Tinkerbell in how she was overly possessive of Peter. And even then, Tinkerbell went on to become her own woman with her own franchise.

In Atlantis, we have Princess Kida who like Mulan and Tiana doesn't need explaining.

In Treasure Planet, we have Captain Amelia who is a damn CAPTAIN. Even though she clearly has a feminine side, she takes her job seriously, she is very brave and she is good at what she does. Even when she was severely injured, she toughed it out even when near death. Yes, she got married and had kids, but she clearly didn't stop doing her job.

In Lilo & Stitch, Lilo's big sister Nani is trying her best to hold it together as the breadwinner and parent which is not easy because they are struggling. There's also the fact that Lilo did not make it easy for her. She is also not painted as a Mary Sue about it. She makes mistakes, she faces tough decisions and is not always as confident about her actions as she makes herself out to be. Yet she keeps pushing through, grabs every opportunity and does it all for her family. And in the end, she manages to make it work. Nani is both relatable and inspiring. Yeah, she had a boyfriend, but she was absolutely not focused on landing a man. In fact, quite the opposite. If anything, she is what we imagine a loving "single mom" to be like.

It seems to me like everyone and their mother has forgotten about Brave which focused on the bond between princess Merida and her mother Queen Elinor, and how they learn to see eye to eye. Yes, Merida took a stand against being reduced to a prize to be won, but even before than, Merida's main thing was that she wanted the freedom to be the kind of young woman SHE wanted to be not what her mother believed she had to act like. Merida is also flawed in how she is still just a teenager and makes bad decisions such as feeding a magic cake to her mom which winds up turning her into a bear. Queen Elinor also deserves some honourable mention here because she too is crucial to the story. She is not Merida's enemy. She genuinely does have her best interest at heart and wants to do right by her. By the end of the story, both Elinor and Merida not only come to genuinely understand each other, they are also realize they were both in wrong about certain things and in the end, make up.

Disney was much more feminist and progressive when it wasn't trying to be. It just tried to make good stories. I love the Disney princesses and think they are highly misunderstood. They don't fixing. Society's view of them does.

Rant incoming

I feel like the problem with a lot of Disney's live action remakes (and arguably Wish) is they're trying to appeal to a crowd that no longer exists, namely the people who used to claim that the Disney Princesses were sexist.

All the interviews tend to include, "Well she's not chasing a MAN anymore" which...almost no one sees the princesses like that, anymore. Virtually NO ONE still believes the princesses are man-chasing sexist caricatures of women.

Cinderella is now hailed as an abuse victim who stayed strong long enough to get help to get out of her situation. Anyone who says she should have saved herself is basically regarded as a victim blamer. And it's very clear in the film she wasn't looking to marry the prince, she just wanted a night off. She was the only one who wasn't in line to meet him. She didn't find out she met the prince until he went looking for her!

Snow White is now hailed for her negotiation skills, ability to calm down after extreme stress (she had a moment of panic and had to cry for a bit, but who wouldn't after finding out The Queen hired someone to kill you?), and ability to take charge of a house of adult men. And again, she was an abuse victim, this time trying to escape ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS. While she dreamed of her prince, it was secondary to her main goal of SURVIVAL. There are also entire video essays about how Snow White gave hope to people during The Great Depression.

Everyone acknowledges that Ariel wanted to be human BEFORE meeting Eric. We all know she was a nerd hyperfixating on humans, and also standing up to her prejudiced father.

We understand Sleeping Beauty wasn't the main character, the Three Good Fairies were, AND PHILLIP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEATEN MALEFICENT WITHOUT THEM! He literally depended on them! WOMEN SAVED THE DAY! But even then, is it really such a sin for a girl to fantasize about romance and fall for someone with corny pickup lines?

We all understand Jasmine just wanted someone to treat her LIKE A PERSON. She rejected every Prince before Aladdin because they treated her like a prize. So why did they need her to want to be Sultan? How did that make her more feminist when she already wanted to be treated like an equal and have a say in her future? Is it only empowering if you want a career in politics?

We admire that Belle, despite living in a judgemental village, was kind to everyone (even though she found the village life dull), and her story teaches girls that the guy everyone else loves isn't always a good guy. What's sexist about teaching girls about red flags? And she didn't start being nice to The Beast until he started treating her with respect and kindness.

Do I really NEED to defend Mulan or Tiana? I think they speak for themselves.

Rapunzel was yet another abuse victim who just needed a little help to get out of her bad situation. In this case, she also needed to learn that she was an abuse victim, and that what Mother Gothel did WASN'T normal, much like many victims of gaslighting.

And don't get me started on the non-princess animals.

Perdita had a healthy relationship with Pongo to the point she was open to express her pregnancy fears to him, and was ready to TEAR APART Cruella's goons for daring to touch her puppies as well as adopting the other puppies. Like, she was so ferocious the goons mistook her for a hyena! She's basically that "I AM THAT GIRL'S MOTHER!" scene from SpyXFamily if Yor were a dog. She and her husband were a TEAM.....but they made a Cruella live action to turn her into a girlboss?! The literal animal abuser!? THAT'S the woman you wanted to put on a pedestal when Perdita was RIGHT THERE!?

Duchess kept her kittens calm after they had been catnapped and was classy as heck. Nice to everyone regardless of social class during a time period where that was uncommon.

Lady stood up to Tramp when she believed he had abandoned her and didn't really care about her. She found out he was a heartbreaker and was like, "Nuh uh. No. You are not doing that to me! You put me through enough."

Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was IN CHARGE the whole movie, and was willing to risk life and limb to save an innocent child. THAT TINY MOUSE TOOK ON ALLIGATORS! And she picked Bernard to accompany her because he was the only one who wasn't ogling her. And then in the sequel SHE DID IT ALL AGAIN! I wish I were as brave as her.

Like, the public haven't accused these ladies of being sexist caricatures since 2014 (Actresses and actors don't count, they're out of touch like the rest of Hollywood) yet Disney is operating under the assumption that the public still thinks that way, hence all the "sHe'S nOt AfTeR a MaN iN ThIs VeRsIOn" talk.

The live action remakes are trying to attract an audience that doesn't really exist much, anymore, and back when it did exist, was comprised mainly of people who didn't actually watch the films. The Disney princesses are no longer seen as sexist, and feminine qualities are no longer seen as weak or undesirable.

#feminism #disney #disney princess #merida #brave merida #brave #atlantis #princess kida #lilo and stich #lilo and nani #elonwy #the black cauldron #robin hood #maid marian #lady cluck #wendy darling #peter pan

6K notes · View notes