#i wonder which came first- rapunzel snow white or cinderella
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companionsofusall · 2 years ago
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I am thinking about rapunzel a bit. How many times has she had to go back to the tower shes been in. And how many times did she try to talk with the Witch. How quickly did she learn the easiest ways to appease her while she had to relearn her hair manipulation. How many times did her Witch catch her learning to manipulate her hair. I think needed to go back to the person who abused you over and over and over again, learned the quickest way to pretend that everythings okay and that Yes, Anything For You Mother, knowing you have to build yourself up again, brick by brick - or you get a Prince who cannot comprehend that you might want nothing to do with him. You’re on a clock between your StepWitch, your Prince, or Yourself. All within a single tower, perhaps a single room. How often does it take years before you can actually DO something, to actually step foot outside and begin the REAL work in the neverafter. How many lives has she lived
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softlytowardthesun · 2 years ago
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Curious: what are your favorite type of fairy stories listed in the Aarne-Thompson enciclopedia classification?
First off, it's nice to meet you and thank you for asking! Secondly, I want to preface this: I'm not a student or a scholar of folklore as a genre, and my knowledge of ATU is limited to what I've managed to find online over the years. More often than not, it's either something I've found on JStor in college, something in a Maria Tatar book, or this website.
Still, I love seeing these stories and all their variations across times and places. Without further ado:
306: The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes: I love the mystery element of this story, and I'm forever intrigued by all the variations of the other world the women travel to, whether it's the palace of Indra, the court of Satan, or something else entirely. Many versions attribute their actions to some curse that must be broken to achieve a heterosexual happy ending, but it's in the in-between that this story really sings to me. And a not-quite-variant of it, "Kate Crackernuts", may just be my favorite fairy tale of all time; how often is the ugly (or at least, "less bonny") stepsister the hero of her own story?
310: The Maiden in the Tower: I'm a sucker for a magical chase, and Rapunzel's relatives absolutely provide. My favorites include "Snow-White-Fire-Red", "The Canary Prince", and "Louliyya, Daughter of Morgan".
311: Magic Flight: Stories of magical escapes from dire situations, like "Sweetheart Roland", "The White Dove", "The Fox Sister", and "The Tail of the Princess Elephant".
407: The Flower Girl: Plants who become women or vice versa, often coupled with an escape from an abusive romance. I love these stories purely for the folkloric weirdness factor: "A Riddling Tale" (shout-out to Erstwhile for introducing me to this one), "The Gold-Spinners", "The Girl in the Bay Tree", and "Pretty Maid Ibronka".
451: Brothers as Birds: This one's purely on my love for the Grimms' "Six Swans" and "Seven Ravens". I love a resilient heroine who draws her strength from her family. I admittedly haven't read many others, but these two mean so much to me they get a place here entirely on the strength of these two.
510B: All-Kinds-Of-Fur: The story of a woman's escape from her incestuous father who then gets a Cinderella ending. I admire the heroine's courage in face of an all too real type of monster. Grimms' is a favorite, as is "Florinda" (which could also qualify as 514), "Princess in a Leather Burqa", "The She-Bear", and "Nya-Nya Bulembu".
514: The Shift of Sex: I first came across this story when I stumbled on Psyche Z. Ready's terrific thesis some years ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since. All of these variations from all over the world -- I find it cathartic to know that we've been asking these questions about gender and sexuality forever, and a happy ending is an imaginative possibility.
709: Fairest of Them All: This I owe squarely to Maria Tatar's anthology from a few years ago. Unfortunately, this also means that there are several I can't find online, including "Kohava the Wonder Child" (a rare Jewish heroine in a genre infamous for how it absorbs anti-Semitism) and "King Peacock" (one of the few African American fairy tales I know, also included in Tatar's collaboration with Henry Louis Gates). I love "Princess Aubergine", "Little Toute-Belle", and especially "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree" - my little bi self was elated to stumble across a princess who lives happily ever after with her kind and gentle limbo husband and her cunning and resourceful wife.
Even as a hobbyist, I love folklore and fairy tales. I love these little glimpses into other cultures, and I love the way these story structures act as magnets for so many nuances of people's lives across history. Still, I hope this answers your question, gives a glimpse into my experience with fairy tales as a genre, or (at the very least) gives you some new and interesting stories to read!
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lincnok · 4 years ago
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Disney Princesses are all excellent role models
Nowadays, we see something called the feminist movement, something that was born to empower young women, and equalize society, a noble cause; now it is nothing like it’s original goal, and some even bash more feminine, or soft spoken women in the fictional media. I have seen many ‘feminists’ go off about how earlier princesses, like Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora and Ariel are all ‘weak’ and are ‘unfit to be role models for young girls’ whilst princesses like Moana and Elsa are praised for their ‘empowerment’. In all of these events, both on the opposite sides of the spectrum, there is barely ever any space for the girls in the middle like Tiana and Pocahontas. Whilst these characters aren’t recognized, some get bashed, and others praised above the rest, which is unfair as they are all excellent role models and here’s why.
(I’m gonna start from the first movie cuz I find it easier that way)
Snow White:
This princess is overlooked and consistently talked about as weaker and ‘less than’, when in actuality, she is as strong a role model as any other. Even in the face of death, she is kind-hearted and care-free, choosing to clean the dwarves home, and never saying one bad word about her step mother. Yes, she did open the door to a stranger and eat the apple, but she was fourteen, and in the original story, had been living with the dwarves for two years, essentially leaving her ‘sheltered’. She lived in the middle of the forest with a group of tiny men for God’s sake, do you really think she would understand the no strangers rule? And even then, eating the apple was something she did out of politeness, rather than stupidity. It was her innocence taken advantage of that got her poisoned, not stupidity or weakness. She is a positive role model because she was able to stay level-headed, polite and innocent, even under severe pressure.
Cinderella:
Now in her story, she is claimed as weak because, in some people’s eyes, she did nothing in the face of abuse. Is that true? Absolutely! But not because she is weak, but because she is strong enough to know when not to fight. She cried and had bad days, but still chose to do the things she was asked in order for things to remain peaceful. She worked hard to achieve what she wanted. When she was told she had to do all her chores and more in one afternoon to go to the ball, she did, and made a dress on top of that. She would’ve gone to the ball anyway if it were not for her step-family’s spite, all she need the fairy godmother for was a change of clothes and a ride. She was honest and hard working, unbending even in the face of abuse and pain, something all girls should aspire to be.
Aurora:
This is the one that gets the worst media, as she had little lines and screen time and ‘slept through her whole movie’. But in all honesty, the girl lived in the forest with three fighting fairies, who did little to help with education and knowledge of the outside world, keeping her as sheltered as possible. She was happy and loveable, with a definite affinity for singing, something she did on the regular. Of course, we don’t get to see much of her personality there, but I’d like to say that she was something of a carefree spirit, happy and optimistic, trying her best to keep others happy too. She was a little boy crazy, yes, but she was fifteen, and Prince Phillip was the first man she had ever seen, so you can’t really blame her for her fascination with him. She had no idea about a curse, and if something possesses you, you don’t really have anything to do about it, and you can’t do anything if you’re asleep for one hundred years. But she kept herself happy and cheerful even in loneliness, as the prince was not only the first male she’d seen but also the first human she’d seen since she was a baby, and yet she was obviously happy, jubilant enough to sing for hours in the forest, despite being alone for most of her life. Happiness can be found in the even in the loneliest of places and that is what Aurora teaches us.
Ariel:
This girl gets bad media too because of her choice at the end of the film. Through out the film, she is presented as a curious soul, wanting to find out how the humans lived, collecting the trinkets and items from the shipwrecks said humans left. She did go too far in her curiosity, though, signing her voice away for legs. But she was eager to learn, and that is something all girls should aim to be. As I said before, she is bashed for making the decision to stay on land and get married, rather than going back home, but that is a very common thing to do, more common that people think. If a girl falls in love with someone in another country, she has every right to stay there with him, and thus Ariel shouldn’t be penalized for something so common and accepted. Her family didn’t condemn her, they came to her wedding and were happy for her. She chose her happiness over cultural norms, and that kind of confidence is something we should all aim to have.
Belle:
Belle isn’t bashed so much as diagnosed, and I feel like that isn’t right to do. I’m not saying that it isn’t true, but there is so much that is ignored about Belle’s story that should be mentioned. Like the fact that she is educated. This is something that was very rare in the time period in which she lived, and she definitely needs to get more recognition because of that. In an essay I read, it was said that she would be the equivalent of the village’s ‘IT guy’ and that is exactly right. When she rejected Gaston, she never said a bad word about him, nor wrote off his affections or was rude, she simply declined, which is something that should be respected and applauded rather than bought down. There is also the fact that she is quite feminine in appearance and picks a decidedly feminine dress despite being raised by a single father, which is a detail I rather liked, as it lets Belle be on both sides of the spectrum, being able to expertly communicate with her male friends, whilst also being ‘girly’ with her female friends, and thus makes her a well rounded character. Her falling in love with the Beast, may have well been a psychological disorder, but it wasn’t like her feelings weren’t reciprocated. And she wasn’t kidnapped. Kidnapping is abduction, meaning that you are taken or held somewhere against your will. She chose to stay. And it wasn’t like she was held in particularly bad conditions, the only condition was that she couldn’t leave. Yes, she was provided an ultimatum, but she chose to stay. And then made the best out of it. The falling in love was a side effect. Belle was educated, but not arrogant, kind and humble, polite and feminine, and those traits are wonderful, and make the princess an incredible role model.
Jasmine:
Jasmine is one of those princesses who is forgotten about, but I’ve come here today to let you know she is an absolute girlboss. In her movie, she was the crown princess, and her family ‘needed’ her to marry so that they could have a king and her dad could retire. But she wanted to marry for love instead of just political power and wealth and thus turned all her suitors away. This meant that she never gained any of the rights she would get if married and had to live in the palace for the rest of her life until she found ‘the one’. And if you pay attention, you’ll realize that Jasmine  was the ruling monarch because Jasmine was royalty and Aladdin was not. She was also only 17 when she became queen, which makes her queendom so much more impactful. Her little outing one the outside gave her that little bit of compassion that she would’ve needed to become a great sultan. She may not have been a warrior, but in terms of political prowess, she was one of the most powerful. She is the ruler that girls should want to look up to and follow, a role model to her community as well as her audience.
Pocahontas:
I don’t really know much about her, but I know enough to say this. In the film (not real life), she made the opposite decision to Ariel, and chose to stay with her tribe rather than stay the man she loved. That was a brave decision, and the fact that she made it in the face of pressure is to be admired.
Mulan:
Ah, yes. The great feminist icon. But the one who gets condemned for having a prince. Yes, she was a great warrior, and yes, she was professional, but that all doesn’t mean she’s not allowed to find love. She can be all those things and still be a mother and a wife, they don’t have to go separately. And, you know what? The fact that she had a prince just made it all the more inspiring, because thats what the #MeToo movement should be about, embracing all kinds of women, and not separating the roles of mother and wife from the roles of leader and independent. Having a husband doesn’t make you any less, and that, among other lessons, is what Mulan teaches us.
Tiana:
Tia should get about as much hype as Mulan, but in reality, she doesn’t. She is very much forgotten about other than the fact that she is black. Her story isn’t about ‘conquering racism’ or anything attributed mainly to ‘black media’, but instead is about a working girl, doing just that, working. She worked hard to achieve her goal, and not once did she even try to take a short cut. She found love along the way, made some friends and lost some friends, impacted some friends for the better, and achieved her goal, no short cuts and a whole lotta jazz music. That’s what the Princess and the Frog is about, working hard to achieve your dreams. That sentiment is something everyone should learn, and the fact that that’s a black girl up there being that role model for us just makes it even better.
Rapunzel:
Rapunzel, the queen of self-isolation. But despite that, she was always happy and optimistic, which is something us cynics could stand to learn about. She was curious, but had some common sense. She was probably the most organized out of all the Disney princesses, as she had a set schedule for everything. She was probably the most artistically gifted as well. She definitely not stupid, but instead innocent and gullible, but capable of defending herself and running a good negotiation. She could’ve been a lawyer! She was a perfect example of someone talented using their talents to better the people and that’s what makes her someone to look up to.
Merida:
Another warrior, except this time, set in Scotland without a prince. You guys know the story. Bought up in a home where all she was expected to do was get married and have kids, Merida yearned to be outside with her bow and arrow, but instead was told no. Eventually, tired of the pressure, she goes to a witch to get a charm to make make her mother more lenient. Instead, the charm turns her mother into a bear, and turns her curious little brothers into bear cubs. The race is on for Merida to get the cure before it is too late. She successfully cures her mother and brothers, fights the evil Mor’du and comes to appreciate her mother more. This little family story shows a headstrong girl getting love and affection from her family without condescending, and the best interests at heart. She sets of to fix her own mistake, something still not really shown in media. She teaches girls to love their family even when you don’t agree, stand up for themselves, take responsibility for their actions and try their best to fix their mistakes.
Elsa: 
I’ll start with her because this list is oldest to youngest. Another Princess without a Prince, she’s actually a queen for most of the movie, and isn’t even the mainest main character. She still teaches girls something. With her headstrong character, she was morally sound despite dealing with an immense feeling of self-hatred and fear. Only when she really broke did she ever intend to hurt anyone. She shows you how to be yourself in spite of the of the danger. She is brave and strong, with powerful abilities and love for her sister.
Anna:
Anna isn’t in the spotlight as much as Elsa was, seemingly naïve and gullible. Except, you have to realize that Anna is that she was left literally alone for God knows how long. Hans was the first person she’d met and liked who didn’t leave her alone. She liked him a lot, and it is believable that she would’ve said yes to Hans when he proposed. But still, as the story went on she became more mature, but didn’t lose her childlike spirit. She teaches us to go to the ends of the Earth for the ones you love, but to not be a push-over. To stand firm in the face of danger, but to not be reckless. Anna teaches us what true love is.
Moana:
“If I go there’s just no telling how far I go!” Moana is an adventurous soul, unafraid of nonconformity, and in love with the great unknown. She falls in love with the sea, and, even though she is prohibited, follows her dreams. She is the picture of determination and willingness to go out into the unknown, and she isn’t afraid to be herself, even amidst hardships, rejection and danger. Such a sprit is something to admire and aspire to have.
Every last one of the girls on my list is a role model and I hope you now understand why. So don’t look down on a little girl when she says her favorite princess is Cinderella. Don’t cuss out the little black girl who says she wants to be Snow White for Halloween even when there’s a princess that looks like you or vice versa. Don’t roll your eyes at the girl who says she likes Anna better than Elsa, or she wants to be a queen like Jasmine. Don’t hate on these characters because of circumstances they couldn’t control or because they’re not like you, because every single one of them is and can be a role model to a little girl, they all just cater to different types. Yes, the Disney princess line isn’t all representing, and many of these tales are taken out of context or made more light hearted, but no matter what the story is, these girls are their own characters and we should respect that, and everyones opinions on them.
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Aight, I’m out.
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yandere-wishes · 4 years ago
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Hi! Have you played the game Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey ? The game follows an amnesiac young girl (the protagonist who is controlled by the player) that is brought to a dilapidated castle called Gentlehaven. The character that the player controls may have the appearance customized by the player and that protagonist has no official name. Do you think Mc/Yuu (Twisted Wonderland) could be that character? Or her children? Your writing is wonderful, you are very creative and talented.
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So quick disclaimer I've never actually played the game but while I was reading through the game summary I came up with this theory 
-- I doubt that Yuu/MC from TW is the child of the princess, instead, I'd be more certain that Yuu is the princess (I know Yuu is gender-neutral but I'm factoring that out for now) In a way it would make sense, assume that the "princess" got transported into the "Disney" world when they were rather young (between 8-10) she met the five princesses went on adventures with all of them than got transported back home. Flash forward a few years where the "princess" is now in her teenage years, she (yet again) gets transported to the "Disney" world only this time the place looks completely different. That's because, while only 6 to 7 short years have passed for her, literal centuries have passed in the "Disney" world. Now the "princess" currently going by Yuu has somehow convinced herself that the magical world she went to as a child was all part of her imagination, it wasn't real, it couldn't be real and even if it was, there is no way in hell that this messed up world is the happy go lucky place she visited. Since Yuu was so young, she also wouldn't really remember the princess or their stories....that is until she meets the twisted wonderland boys and their similar actions spark subconscious memories. That would explain how Yuu has such vivid dreams of the Disney characters without having ever seen the moives.--
....Then I read the ending where the "princess" was actually from the Disney world herself and was the long lost princess of Gentlehaven. SO as you can tell the theory quickly disbanded....but that got me thinking. "What if there is a person from a parallel world (where Disney doesn't exist) who has the ability to jump to different dimensions, more specifically going from their world to the Japanese Disney universe."
Quick side note: I'm going to say (and use) the Japanese Disney universe because games and franchises such as Kingdom Hearts, Disney tsum tsum, and twisted wonderland don't exist in the Disney canon of America (at least I don't think so). BUT I wouldn't be surprised if they all exist in the complete canon of the Japanese version of Disney (meaning that in twisted wonderland the idea of key blades, heartless and tiny four-legged characters similar to classic characters exists. Also excluding Marvel and Star wars from this theory)
Now in kingdom hearts union cross, we play as a character who suddenly wakes up in Daybreak Town with no idea who they are or how they got here. That's when they meet a cat named Chirithy (who reminds me of Grim) who tells them that they have the power to wield a key like sword called a Key blade and that they have to rid the world of the "darkness". While they embark on their journey to defeat the darkness and slay the heartless they come across multiple Disney characters and their respective worlds (that are kinda just like neighboring countries considering how easily they go from to the other) which include Snow-white, Aladdin, Hercules, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Tangled and Sleeping beauty. Now at night when the player falls asleep, they start having rather vivid dreams of either current events or passed events most of which consists of (I'm pretty sure) seven hooded figures. 
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In a way, the player from Kingdom hearts and Yuu kind have a similar power set. The ability to have dreams that can almost predict the future or see into the past, some times both. So this made me draw a wired connection "what if they are similar because they are the same person!" I think that in the universe in which most Japanese Disney games are set; there are two worlds, one world that's identical to ours but without any sort of Disney franchise existing and another where Disney is that world. Now in the first world, there is a child who somehow develops a sort of power to be able to transport from their world to the other world. Granted they can't control this power, it seems to act on its own, transporting them to the other world when the other world is in dire need of help. Now I believe that once when the player was very little somewhere between the age of 5-8 they get transported to the neighboring world and met the Disney princess/princes/sidekicks/Villians, generally speaking, they become good friends with the "good guys" but when there is no immediate threat they get sent back home. Every time that they return to their world they lose a big chunk their memory of the "Disney World". They think it was all a make-believe dream or a figment of their imagination. Despite everything they still have distinctive recollections of the occasions that occurred but only in their sub-conscience.
Now sometime in the future, "Yuu" gets transported to the "Disney World" again only this time years have passed and an evil known as the "darkness" is plaguing the world. The Disney characters (or most of them) seem to remember Yuu. I say this because in the game (Union cross) characters like Alice, Cinderella, Hades, and Hercules says vague things that make it seem like they knew the character or at least had met them prior to the game. Other characters such as Snow while, Aladdin, and Rapunzel all seem to automatically trust the player despite claiming to have "just met them". Now, this could just be fan service or a way to move the plot along quicker. But I think it was deliberately placed so that we as the player get the feeling that not only have we met these characters before, but they too, vaguely remember us for some reason or another. Now the same thing repeats, "Yuu" helps subdue the current threat, says a heartwarming goodbye, gets conveyed back home, ends up thinking it was a crazy dream, and then continues to have random dreams about their time as a keyblade wielder.
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All this finally brings us to the "current" timeline. Where for "Yuu" only a few years have passed until they are 16-17 but hundreds of years have gone by for the "Disney World" this time Yuu's power could have activated when they were close to a mirror making them think that it was the mirror that transported them rather than their own power (which they have also forgotten) in twisted wonderland (the current name of the Disney world) overblots have become a hazard and like always Yuu is the only one who can knock sense into the characters and restore order. This time every little thing the boys do triggers Yuu's memory about what the older villains and heroes did, giving them a headstart as they can kind of predict exactly what the boys will do before they do them. Maybe their stay will be longer because after the overbolt threat is dealt with, there may be a threat from royal sword academy.
Never the less eventually Yuu would once again return home, once more forgetting most of what happened in NRC, and only coming back years later after every one of their new friends are dead or don't remember them.
Honestly, this is kinda sad, imagine spending so much time in another world, a better world, where magic and adventure exist. You make amazing friends, friends that you can never quite remember but who haunt your every dream. Every time you're resent to this mystical world so much time has passed that whoever you once knew is dead, doesn't remember you or is in some sort of life or death situation. I'm actually starting to feel very bad for Yuu, poor kid.
Okay a part of me really wants to make a blog dedicated to making theories about Twisted wonderland (and maybe some other games like KH, hypnosis mic, Obey me and argonavis)
Anyone else wants to share their two cents on this matter? Or their own theories?
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allgirlsareprincesses · 5 years ago
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Why Jasmine is the greatest Disney Princess
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I’ve been meaning to write this for a while and I wanted to do more research before I did, but then the new Aladdin (2019) came out and HERE WE ARE. So this is me winging it with what I hope is still a pretty convincing case for Jasmine being the greatest Disney Princess so far.
What makes a great Disney Princess? Well, you could argue they all have something to offer: Snow White rocked some impressive sarcasm for a 14-year-old, Cinderella was pretty bold for her time, Sleeping Beauty was a dreamer with epic hair, Ariel is spunky and brave, Belle is bookish and kind, Pocahontas is regal and self-sacrificing, Rapunzel is sweet and empathetic, Tiana is passionate and hard-working, Merida is independent, and Anna is loving and faithful. There are others I didn’t include, of course, but the point is that there’s something to admire about every princess, and they all represent the modern woman in their own way. But did they need to be princesses in order to be these amazing characters? With the possible exceptions of Pocahontas and maybe Merida, I’d argue no. These stories would hardly be different, for the character at least, if she was any non-royal woman. And yes, I know Cinderella and Belle only became princesses by marriage, but even then, their stories could have been the same with any powerful man. It didn’t have to be a prince.
Of course, historical princesses and fantasy princesses are not the same thing, and we’re definitely talking about the latter here. Except for a few incredible and very unique ladies, most historical princesses were property whose carefully-preserved virginity was sold for a treaty, land, or a lot of money. They often lived and died miserable, their spectacular portraits notwithstanding. Fantasy princesses are, on the other hand, unabashed wish fulfillment for centuries of women who had little to hope for. These are the beautiful, powerful women we wish we could be, how we might see ourselves if our circumstances were different and nothing prevented us from realizing our potential. Fantasy princesses live the lives we want, and Disney princesses live the most flawless, perfect, clean version of that life. So by that metric, the greatest Disney princess might be the one who lives the most fully realized life that most girls can aspire to.
Jasmine in the original 1992 film
So, let’s talk about what we know of Jasmine (animated by the brilliant Mark Henn) from her introduction in the animated film. The first we see of her, she’s just rejected a suitor, so right out of the gate, we know she’s got no time for egomaniacs. A great trait, but not necessarily unique just yet. Belle also had zero tolerance for pompous douchebags. Next, we get some exposition setting up her conflict (and Aladdin’s) in that she’s legally bound to marry a prince, and she has a deadline. Naturally, she wants to marry for love, which is again sweet but not really original: Aurora wanted to marry for love, too, despite her betrothal. Then, Jasmine mentions that she’s never done a thing on her own, never had any real friends, and never even been outside the palace walls. This seems to be a hint that she might be spoiled and naive, if still sympathetic and appealing.
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Finally, we get the line about “Maybe I don’t want to be a princess any more!” Ah, now that’s new. What does this mean? Is she declaring her ultimate goal, to reject her title and birthright, and become something new? Or is this setting up a lesson she’s going to learn about embracing her role? We don’t know, but suddenly we’re paying attention, trying to figure out if this is a spoiled brat or a girl on the verge of becoming a fully-realized woman. The next time we see her, Jasmine follows through on this thought, escaping over the palace wall to take her future into her own hands. We know now that, foolish or not, this is a woman with agency, who’s going to move the plot forward through her own actions rather than sit around and be an object for the hero.
In the market, we see Jasmine’s wonder at the world she’s never seen, but more importantly, we learn that she’s not just a self-absorbed teenager: she has a kind heart. She notices a hungry child and gives them food. True, she doesn’t understand that she needs to pay because she’s never had to do that, which is a consequence of her tremendous privilege. But, for someone who apparently had never before had direct contact with her people, simply recognizing hunger and instinctively seeking to correct it is encouraging. Importantly, this is also the first time we see her actions mirror Aladdin’s: we saw him offer food to a child only a few scenes before. The audience is starting to recognize that this girl is our hero’s equal (if not more).
Now, we come to the inevitable Damsel in Distress moment, and this is where Jasmine really shines. Caught off-guard by the abrupt cruelty of the outside world, she’s not quite able to talk her way out of having her hand chopped off for stealing, but thankfully Aladdin steps in to help. Jasmine, rather than being rattled and afraid, is intrigued and doesn’t miss a beat when her savior whispers “Just play along!” She follows his cues and immediately gives an Oscar-worthy performance as his insane sister, getting so into the ruse that she gives a glassy-eyed greeting to a camel as if it’s her doctor. To my knowledge, this kind of quick thinking is totally unique among the Disney princesses, certainly at the time. Even better, as we’ll see, Jasmine uses her smarts and acting ability several more times in the film, so this scene isn’t just a contrived meet-cute.
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On the rooftops, we learn more about Jasmine: she’s genuinely grateful, she can graciously take a compliment (her blush when Aladdin tells her she “stands out” is adorable), and she is, in her own words “a fast learner,” at least when it comes to imitating Aladdin’s street sense. Finally, they arrive at his hovel and she’s entranced by his apparent freedom. Upon hearing how impressive he finds the palace, however, we see her sink back into her own problems, focusing on what she doesn’t have rather than her extraordinary wealth and luxury. From the audience’s perspective, this is definitely a flaw, but one that makes sense given her life experience up to that point. Once she and Aladdin connect over their mutual feeling of being “trapped,” Jasmine completely succumbs to his clumsy charms, and they nearly share a kiss UNTIL….
They are surprised by palace guards and the iconic “Do you trust me?” exchange takes place (this will set the tone for their entire relationship throughout all of the animated content that came after, but more on that later). Aladdin is captured and without a second thought, Jasmine reveals herself and in a commanding, regal tone, ORDERS the guards to release him. For a girl who declared only a few scenes ago that she didn’t “want to be a princess any more,” she changed her tune FAST when it suited her. In fact, from this point onward, she embraces her power and wields her position like a weapon, never again seeming to question her role as Princess of Agrabah. When the guards try to question her, she tells them her actions are “not your concern” and when they tell her she’ll have to take her complaint to Jafar, she gives the most menacing glare of any Disney heroine, ever (fight me), with a sinister “Believe me, I will.”
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A quick note before we continue our recap of Jasmine’s epic badassery: during production of the animated Aladdin, the crew had a bit of a crisis with Jasmine being so amazing that she completely overshadowed the hero. Studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg (a horrible human who nonetheless brought a few nuggets of wisdom to the Disney Animation Renaissance of the 90s) is on tape saying he understands why Aladdin would like Jasmine, because she’s fantastic, but that he doesn’t understand why Jasmine would like him. At the time, Aladdin was written and drawn younger, scrawnier, more boy than man and more befitting his “street rat” title. There was a song about his mother, which also contributed to the impression of him as a child, and it quickly became clear that the hero was not really worthy of the heroine, as written. Aladdin was completely redesigned by supervising animator Glen Keane to have a more adult, heroic physique (despite the fact that much of his animation had already been completed), the mother character was removed, and Aladdin’s personality was patterned after popular film stars like Tom Cruise. To further “age up” the cast for this new, more adult take on the story, Jasmine voice actor Linda Larkin was trained to record all her lines in a lower register than her natural voice, making Jasmine sound more like a woman than a girl.
So, back to the palace (which, remember, she’d left because she didn’t “want to be a princess any more”) and Jasmine marching right up to Jafar to get in his face about the boy he took from the market. Still with that same commanding tone she used with the guards, the princess wastes no time on pleasantries and invades Jafar’s personal space, demanding answers and admitting no resistance. When he accuses Aladdin of kidnapping her, Jasmine doesn’t hesitate to tell Jafar she ran away, clearly more concerned about the boy’s freedom than any consequences she might suffer for her actions. But when she hears that Aladdin was executed, Jasmine mourns…. Not only for the kind young man who helped her, but for the damage that her selfishness caused. Though she blames Jafar when speaking to her father, Jasmine reveals to Rajah that she feels Aladdin’s death was “all [her] fault.” It’s not supposed to be her story, but we’re clearly seeing the princess learn a powerful lesson about the consequences of her actions. This is why we see Jasmine continue to mourn for multiple scenes, really right up until she realizes that Prince Ali is Aladdin: the guilt she feels is devastating. She’s reaching a new level of moral maturity even as the object of her affections is constructing an elaborate lie to win her back.
When Jafar is chastised by the Sultan for executing a criminal without consulting him first, he makes a silky and obviously insincere apology to Jasmine, who utters possibly her best line of the film: “At least some good will come of my being forced to marry. When I am Queen, I will have the power to get rid of YOU!” And then she marches off. DAMN, GIRL. And the best part is that Jafar takes her seriously. He knows that was no empty threat, and he discusses with Iago whether Jasmine will have him banished or simply beheaded. Tell me, when has a truly menacing Disney villain ever been that TERRIFIED of the heroine? That’s power, people, the kind that most women can only dream about. Jasmine has it and she’s going to USE IT. Jasmine, First of Her Name, Queen of Agrabah….
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Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, Jasmine scaring the sh*t out of Jafar like the badass b*tch she is. So anyway, Jafar realizes the only path open to him is to marry Jasmine (and then kill her, of course), so we see that plot being hatched just as Prince Ali comes to town. Unsurprisingly, Jasmine is even less impressed by the princely pomp and circumstance than usual, if that’s possible, and she literally ignores the parade when she realizes what it is. Then she overhears Ali bragging to Jafar and the Sultan that he will “win your daughter” and she snaps with undisguised fury: “How dare you! All of you! Standing around deciding my future? I am not a prize to be won!” And again with the storming off (there’s a lot of that, I mean she’s nearly 18, after all). But seriously, this woman is my feminist icon. She literally just took down a potential suitor, her own father THE KING, and the second most powerful man in the kingdom with one line.
Finally, Ali shows up at her balcony and Jasmine is blunt: “I do NOT want to see you. Just leave me alone.” Of course, when Ali takes off his turban, she recognizes him immediately. She doubts for a moment when he lies to her, and then he starts attempting to impress her. This is the second time we see Jasmine turn to her considerable acting skills, and the first time she uses her considerable powers of seduction to fool a man: she stalks toward Ali like a she-wolf, telling him everything he wants to hear. She takes his compliment about her beauty (and remember, we’ve already seen her blushingly accept that same compliment before) and turns it into a weapon against him, drawing him in only to put him in his place as a “swaggering peacock.”
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Naturally, Jasmine is intrigued by the magic carpet and the opportunity to taste freedom again, but it’s Aladdin’s ultimate tell of “Do you trust me?” that finally draws her into his arms and out into the night sky. Love, for this princess, is an expression of her desire for freedom: it’s what she chooses to do with that freedom, more than an end in itself. And both the music and lyrics of “A Whole New World” speak to that freedom as much as or more than romantic love. For two people who feel “trapped,” this song is the ultimate anthem. And as they soar, Aladdin tosses an apple to Jasmine with his signature move, and she’s again certain that it’s him. Rather than confront him directly about his lie, she again uses her smarts and performing ability to entrap Ali into admitting he’s Aladdin. She really lets loose on him once he realizes he’s caught, asking if he thinks she’s stupid. Then, Jasmine demands the truth…. And of course she doesn’t get it. Though this naivete could be viewed as a flaw, we know that their early relationship was built on trust, so it makes sense for Jasmine to bestow this on her suitor without reservation. We’ve seen so much of her harsher side ever since Aladdin was dragged away a prisoner, so this glimpse of her soft heart is refreshing and reminds us of why she is so extraordinary.
Back at the palace, Jasmine is in full teen-girl-in-love mode, having her first kiss and then dreamily humming as she brushes her hair (this is the only time we see her hair unbound in the film, signifying her achievement of freedom through her love for Aladdin). Upon discovering Jafar’s plot to marry her, Jasmine of course refuses forcefully, declaring without hesitation her love for Prince Ali. During the ensuing confrontation, Jasmine is a bit more the object for Aladdin than his equal, unlike in the rest of the film, but this doesn’t last. We next see her excitedly preparing to introduce her betrothed to the kingdom, even as he tries to confess the truth to her. While this analysis focuses on Jasmine, it’s notable Aladdin respects her enough to attempt to admit his lies and reveal his true identity, however belated. This shows how worthy she is, that in spite of the risk of losing her, Aladdin wants to be honest and be her equal partner. This is another theme we’ll come back to later.
When Jafar steals the lamp and makes himself Sultan, he demands that Jasmine and her father bow to him. Once again, she defiantly refuses, even as her own father begins to bend in submission. When Aladdin’s identity is then revealed, Jasmine is understandably startled, but there’s no indication she’s deeply hurt or angry, especially as she’s confronted with a much greater immediate threat in Jafar, and that Aladdin is obviously attempting to protect her. Alone with Jafar and reduced to a slave girl in chains, Jasmine still tries to fight back in any way she can. She pleads with Jafar to show mercy to her father, then throws a goblet of wine in his face when he suggests she marry him. Understandably, she’s terrified when Jafar uses a wish to attempt to force her to fall in love with him. Again, since giving her love is Jasmine’s ultimate expression of her desire for freedom, to be forced to love against her will is the greatest possible threat to that freedom. It’s not just that it’s a heinous thing for any woman or person, but that it’s the worst for Jasmine, specifically, because of what we know of her character.
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A quick note here about the similarity of Jasmine’s situation to another princess who has recently joined the Disney family: Princess Leia. Like Jasmine, she is captured and chained by a villain (Jabba the Hutt) and dressed in a “sexy slave” outfit meant to demean her as a sexual object. Also like Jasmine, Leia keeps fighting back, and eventually finds an opportunity to turn the tables on her lascivious captor and use the conditions of her captivity (literally, her chains) to destroy him. In both cases, there tends to be undue audience attention to how sexy the character looks (hello, Male Gaze), rather than how she uses her strengths to defeat the villain.
So then, Jasmine spots Aladdin creeping up the steal the lamp, and this is where she cements her place as the greatest Disney princess, IMO. Just as she has several times before, she uses her wits and her Oscar-worthy acting skills, and makes Jafar believe that his wish has been granted. In a startlingly mature turn for a G-rated film, Jasmine uses her sexual appeal as a weapon against the villain, to enable her lover to defeat him. All undulating hips and shoulders, a sultry purr, and excessive flattery, she slinks toward Jafar, distracting him as Aladdin draws closer to the lamp. When it seems Jafar might suddenly notice his enemy, Jasmine takes the drastic and self-sacrificial step of pulling him in for a passionate kiss. What’s notable about this moment is that Aladdin, in a classically male possessive moment, becomes just as distracted as Jafar, and misses the opportunity Jasmine gave him. It’s another example of how, though Aladdin has many wonderful qualities, the princess really is still out of his league. The filmmakers made her so brilliant that it’s tough for the “diamond in the rough” main character to measure up.
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Her ruse having ultimately failed, Jasmine still tries to fight back physically against Jafar, but of course she can’t. But Aladdin can, so he yells to her to get the lamp and she nearly does, until Jafar traps her in a massive hourglass. At this point, she’s back into Damsel in Distress mode since it is after all Aladdin’s story (I guess), but thankfully our hero uses his own cunning to trap Jafar in time to free Jasmine. To his credit, the first thing Aladdin does when he faces his lady after the battle is apologize for lying. Her response is perfect: “I know why you did.” She doesn’t say it’s okay, she just expresses empathy for him, because she doesn’t doubt his feelings for her. His judgement, maybe, but not his love. And then, she doesn’t hesitate to express her love for him, directly. And finally, when Aladdin tells her he must do the right thing and “stop pretending to be something [he’s] not,” she says “I understand.” She accepts that him making the right decision means they can’t be together. It hurts for sure, but she has the moral fortitude to cope with it. Seriously, Aladdin doesn’t deserve this goddess.
So Aladdin makes the right choice and frees the Genie, and then the Sultan changes the law so Jasmine can marry him. Her father’s justification for this decision is that Aladdin “proved his worth,” rather than that his daughter has the right to choose ANY suitor she likes, which is kind of unfortunate. If anyone has proved their worth at this point in the story, it’s Jasmine, who has defended herself, her family, her city, and her lover throughout the film. Fortunately, this is something the creators of the 2019 film recognized and corrected…. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
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As far as we knew at the end of the original film, Aladdin and Jasmine had married, and I believe that even if you considered ONLY this movie canon, the point that Jasmine is the greatest Disney princess stands on solid ground. But as we know, that was NOT the last we saw of these characters, and all the content since then has only reinforced how uniquely awesome Jasmine is.
Jasmine in the animated sequel content
After the smash success of Aladdin in the theaters, and the Little Mermaid TV show, Disney read the tea leaves and decided to create the first of its direct-to-video sequels. These cheaply-made, poorly-written debacles (often derisively referred to as “cheapquels”) would be a staple of studio income for some time, and were an intense topic of debate as well. That’s a tale for another day, but the point is that the first of these was The Return of Jafar, in 1994.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this film simply because it’s horrible and I have zero desire to watch it again, but I remember Jasmine being a lot more damsel-in-distress and less badass than she was in the original film, right down to her voice being higher than the carefully-crafted and mature vocals she had in the theatrical release. The film was mostly designed to set up the TV show, by removing the obvious remaining threat of Jafar, rehabilitating Iago for additional comic relief, and bringing back the Genie. It did all of these poorly, but the show afterward was better for having these issues resolved before it began. And the series, whatever its faults, had lots and lots of great Jasmine moments.
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For example, in only the second episode of the entire series, Bad Mood Rising, Aladdin and Jasmine are sent on a diplomatic mission to a neighboring kingdom, to establish trade. Interestingly, there’s no indication that it’s Aladdin’s mission, merely that the two of them are “the delegation from Agrabah” and the episode starts with Jasmine giving Aladdin crap for his lack of diplomatic experience. They find the kingdom devastated by famine, and discover this is because the king, a young child, is enchanted such that his moods determine the weather. The kid’s boredom and tantrums are causing his people to suffer, so our heroes attempt to entertain him. Only Jasmine succeeds by telling him a story, in a delightfully direct reference to Scheherazade from the original 1001 Arabian Nights. The boy king is so fascinated by Jasmine’s storytelling, he commands her to stay with him forever.
At first, Aladdin and Jasmine try to escape, but when confronted with the suffering of the people, Jasmine agrees to stay with the king. Aladdin of course protests, and Jasmine utters my absolute favorite line ever: “I was raised a princess, Aladdin. And a princess knows: the needs of the people outweigh her own.” Like WHAAAAAT? I was about nine when I saw this and I swear it blew my tiny mind. I loved princesses, but the idea of them having a responsibility to their subjects had never once crossed my mind. Hearing Jasmine declare herself a servant and protector of the people completely changed my perspective on mythical (and to some extent, actual) royalty, and influenced my opinions of fictional princesses forever.
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Jasmine freely chooses to go with the young king, even refusing to accompany Aladdin when he comes back for her again, but we see her mourning the life she lost. Even in a cheap and immature kids’ show, it’s clear that she’s made a real sacrifice to save the people. Thankfully, our heroes are able to teach the boy king that being kind feels good, and he releases the princess back to her city. I noticed when rewatching this episode that Aladdin’s first instinct is always fighting and physical aggression, whereas Jasmine turns to diplomacy. This is both a trend throughout the series, and also a setup for Aladdin’s eventual maturation. The show nearly always casts Aladdin’s aggressive stance as mistaken, which is an interesting commentary given the time.
In a much later episode, called “The Ethereal,” Jasmine has a dream foretelling the destruction of Agrabah. She is, of course, extremely disturbed, especially when events from her dream start occurring in sequence. Eventually a sort of Angel of Death called The Ethereal arrives to pass judgement on the city. We are made to understand that this is a very serious threat, as this same being has already destroyed Atlantis, Pompeii, and Babylon. While Aladdin attempts to make a magical spear that will destroy The Ethereal, Jasmine and her father take her on a tour of Agrabah’s wonders, to convince her to spare the city. They show her the fine library, the marketplace, and works of art, but The Ethereal is unimpressed. She begins to rain fire down on Agrabah in a fairly Biblical vision of the apocalypse, complete with smoking rubble and screaming citizens.
Aladdin attempts to use his spear to nullify the Ethereal’s powers, but his efforts fail. Our heroes come to accept that the city will be destroyed, so they turn their attention to saving as many of Agrabah’s people as they can. Jasmine sees a child about to be crushed by falling debris, so she uses the same pole-vaulting move Aladdin taught her at the beginning of the theatrical film (nice continuity, Disney TV writers!) to leap over the rubble and push the boy out of the way. She is then crushed by the falling tower. Just in case you weren’t SURE that they just killed off the princess in a Disney property, they have Aladdin finding her body in the rubble and saying in a devastated whisper, “She…. she’s gone.”
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Holy sh*t, Disney, did you just DO that??? What? Keep in mind that this is at least two years before Hercules was released in theaters, in which Meg was also crushed by a falling column when she pushed Herc out of the way. So not only did Jasmine sacrifice herself first, as far as audiences were concerned, but she did so for her people, not just her lover. This is not to say that Meg’s act was selfish, of course, but it’s notable that Jasmine’s sacrifice was for someone she wasn’t particularly close to, yet she acted without hesitation all the same.
As the people of Agrabah visibly mourn their princess, The Ethereal floats down with a smile and says “I have seen what I needed to see. Your princess’s sacrifice makes it clear: she understood.” She restores Agrabah, then resurrects Jasmine, who tells Aladdin “It’s the people. The people make Agrabah great.” The Ethereal then warns them not to forget this lesson, and leaves.
Though these are the two episodes that most stand out in my mind, they clearly demonstrate that Jasmine thinks of herself not as Aladdin’s girlfriend, but as a public servant, a political figure with responsibilities to her people and a genuinely empathetic heart for them. It makes very clear that when the Sultan’s reign ends, Jasmine will absolutely be the ruler of Agrabah. While this is never stated explicitly to my memory, it’s obvious that Jasmine would be the wisdom and power behind the throne, as there is no clear arc built around preparing Aladdin for any kind of leadership. Despite the Sultan’s proclamation in the original film that Aladdin will be Sultan, it seems he’s really more of Jasmine’s consort, which appears to suit both of them just fine.
This leads me to my last point about the TV series, and one that segues well into the “threequel” that ended the animated content: Aladdin and Jasmine’s relationship is treated in a surprisingly mature fashion. What I mean is, though the writing on the show is often cheesy and a little cringeworthy, this is also a kids’ show that uniquely features a committed, long-term adult relationship. They often reference their plans to marry, and frequently say “I love you” to one another. Though there are ups and downs in their relationship, they remain committed and mostly very honest with one another, consistently demonstrating that their bond still rests on that trust that was so heavily emphasized in the 1992 film.
One episode in particular demonstrates this deep commitment, called Eye of the Beholder. In it, recurring villainess Mirage transforms Jasmine into a snake, to test Aladdin’s love. Aladdin determinedly sets out to find a way to break the spell and change Jasmine back. When they are unable to find an antidote, a devastated Jasmine tells Aladdin to leave her, believing that she will be a snake forever. Instead of leaving, Aladdin eats an enchanted fruit that also turns HIM into a snake, declaring to her “If we can’t be together as humans, then we’ll be together as snakes.” A furious Mirage screams “No, this was supposed to tear you apart, not bring you closer together!” And of course the episode ends with them being transformed back into their human forms.
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While this is definitely more of an Aladdin moment than a Jasmine one, it’s important that her lover is shown being committed to her, because it demonstrates that he is truly worthy of her. Remember that in the original film, it was a major problem during production that Jasmine overshadowed Aladdin, so seeing him grow and become an equal partner is tremendously important to keep the audience invested in their relationship. I appreciate that instead of forced breakup plotlines, the writers of the series chose to show Aladdin and Jasmine growing even closer over the course of the show’s run, making them excellent romantic role models for kids.
Eventually, Disney chose to bring Aladdin and Jasmine’s story to a close, creating Aladdin and the King of Thieves in 1996. Blessedly, this film again featured Robin Williams as the Genie, and some much better animation than what we saw in Return of Jafar or the TV series. The story started with an obnoxiously-Westernized wedding, which was then interrupted by the appearance of the legendary 40 Thieves. We see here the return of Badass Jasmine, who punches out one of the thieves as payback for “ruining [her] wedding.”
Consulting an Oracle, Aladdin learns that his father, whom he had presumed dead, is still alive. There next follows another of my favorite Jasmine moments. She sings a beautiful song to Aladdin, about why she loves him and how special he is to her. The key line is “People like you don’t just come out of thin air.” Aladdin also has a verse trying to describe his painful childhood, including the wrenching line “Your father’s a man who taught you who you are; mine was never there.” I love the acknowledgement there that the Sultan, despite his faults, has been a good father to Jasmine, and that in particular, he shaped her and made her understand her place in the world. At the same time, Aladdin spoke to a generation of lonely kids with Daddy Issues, and there was Princess Jasmine, listening sympathetically and offering support.
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The song ends with Jasmine encouraging Aladdin to go find his father: “Our wedding can wait. I think it’s worth a small delay. And won’t it be great to have your father see our wedding day.” No bridezilla here! Jasmine is happy to support her partner and put his needs first. When Aladdin learns that his father is “trapped within the world of the 40 Thieves,” Jasmine tells him “Take as long as you need.” Wow. He really, really doesn’t deserve her.
Aladdin goes off, finds out his dad, Cassim, really did abandon him and his mother, and confronts him about it. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but I remember being fascinated by how Aladdin didn’t let his father off the hook, but told him that his family had needed him. In an attempt to rehabilitate him, Aladdin brings Cassim back to the palace, where of course temptation gets the better of him and he gets caught stealing (again). Out of a sense of grudging loyalty to his family, Aladdin frees his father, but at the border of the kingdom, refuses to continue on with him. Cassim points out that Aladdin is a criminal now for helping him escape, and tries to convince him to leave Agrabah together. It’s at this point that Aladdin finally becomes a real man, defiantly shouting at his father, “I won’t walk out on Jasmine!” and turning his back on Cassim. DAMN RIGHT BOI, YOU TELL HIM. And as his father rides away, Aladdin returns to Agrabah to face the consequences of his actions.
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Of course, they forgive him immediately and Jasmine even helps Aladdin rescue his dad later, but how great is it to finally see our hero show that he really is worthy of the princess’s heart? After this whole story has been told, this is where we end up: with Aladdin reaffirming his commitment to Jasmine, because homegirl is a damn QUEEN, thankyouverymuch. So Aladdin and Jasmine win the day and are finally married, and while we don’t hear anything of their lives together afterward, it seems like they probably had a wonderful life together, and that Jasmine was a wise and fair ruler with a supportive consort who always put her first. Or at least that’s the headcanon I’ve developed over the years.
Jasmine in the 2019 Live-Action Film
So this brings us to the latest of Disney’s live-action remakes…. BUT FIRST! Some context: I’m pretty lukewarm on this film. It’s fine, but IMHO it doesn’t hold a candle to the original animated version. That said, this rant isn’t about critiquing the film as a whole, so I’m going to set all of my nitpicks aside and focus just on the treatment of Jasmine, and whether she is STILL the greatest Disney princess in her newest incarnation.
Short answer: Yep, she is. While I can’t be certain that the writers for this movie had watched any of the TV series, I was struck by their choice of arc for Jasmine: whereas in the original film, her goal was simply freedom (expressed by loving whomever she wanted), her goal here is to literally rule Agrabah. That’s incredibly bold and of course anachronistic, but remember that we’re talking about a fantasy princess here, not an historical one. As in the show, Jasmine demonstrates an understanding of statecraft when she urges her father to maintain peace with the kingdom’s allies. Since she is interfering with his plans for a coup, Jafar insists she remain silent and enchants the Sultan into agreeing. This leads to an “I want” song for Jasmine, which she did not have in the original, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
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While this Jasmine is missing some of the endearing traits of her animated predecessor, like the quick thinking and the acting skills, her ambitions to leadership create a similar problem to that of the original film. Remember that the 1992 filmmakers never quite solved the problem of their Jasmine overshadowing the hero, and now, with a new arc of her own that really has nothing to do with Aladdin, this Jasmine doesn’t really NEED him. Unfortunately, this leads to their two stories happening in parallel, rather than as part of a clear singular plot. Worse, it means that the climax of the film downplays Jasmine’s role in favor of Aladdin, robbing her of that wonderful moment from the animated film in which she tricked Jafar to help her lover. In the end, Jasmine’s achievement is her father formally declaring her his successor, and marrying Aladdin is more of an incidental bonus.
Issues with story structure aside, this Jasmine is much more academic than the street-smart girl from the animated content. She’s clearly well-studied in geography and diplomacy, which is why she has no patience for doltish princes like the one she rejects at the beginning of the film. She even has the self-awareness to recognize how being cooped up in the palace makes her an unfit leader, which is why she’s in the market the day she meets Aladdin. Whereas 1992 Jasmine left for selfish reasons - she wanted to be free of the royal pressures she faced - 2019 Jasmine left the palace specifically to learn how to serve her people. This is a level of maturity that the animated princess does not reach until fairly late in the TV series. While I miss the feisty, sharp-witted girl from my childhood, I have to admit that I love the compassionate, driven, calculating woman depicted in this new film, as well.
Which brings me back to the new song, “Speechless.” First and foremost, it’s fantastically performed by Naomi Scott, who has easily the strongest set of pipes in the cast. The musical style is out of place with the other songs, and the scene itself is a weird music video dropped into the middle of an otherwise tense moment nearing the film’s climax, BUT! It’s such a great girl-power ballad that it really doesn’t matter. Honestly, the lyrics don’t really even reflect Jasmine’s inner struggle THAT precisely, but this is because the song isn’t really about her, it’s about the audience, specifically the young girls in the audience. Disney understands that girls will project onto Jasmine as they do all the princesses, so they’ve given us the new “Let It Go” to belt out when we need to get psyched up about anything. I mean, I could easily hear this being played at a Women’s March or similar event. It might not make a lot of sense in the film, but Jasmine is definitely the perfect character to deliver this manifesto to the young women of 2019.
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Point being, the only must-have on my list for the 2019 remake was that it not ruin my beloved Princess of Agrabah, and blessedly, they didn’t. And I think she still holds a solid first place among the princesses of the Disney lexicon, as the only one to seriously treat her role as a head of state. Pocahontas, Merida, and Moana all had moments of service to their people as well, but none with quite the boldness, cunning, and selflessness that Jasmine achieved in all of her many incarnations. I assume that Disney is seeing dollar signs and will put out another live-action sequel at some point, and it will probably be terrible, but honestly I don’t mind seeing more Jasmine as long as she continues to be the example of a powerful princess.
So thanks for reading my first unnecessarily-long Tumblr rant, and if you made it all the way to the end, please comment or reblog and let me know what you think!
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pixie-skull · 5 years ago
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AU Disney Heroines # 1: Feelings at First Pride Parades
MINOR UPDATE ON JUNE 22ND, ADDED GIFS AND NOT GOING TO ALWAYS. XD ALSO ITALIZED IS ADDED.
Before I go, yes I am going to attempt to make this open to anyone, but this creator wants more LGBTQ+ AUs, so this one just if you and x character went and the character's thoughts. Please share your thoughts if this good or not in my ask box? :D Here are the rules too.
Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs): Snow would a bit overwhelmed, but hold your hand or shoulder the whole time, yet be excited about the floats commenting on the outfits and colors. Funny enough she brought the Seven dwarfs too, so she had a group to go to encase, it was her first Pride. (yet yes bring friends, going alone is a lot and @myhollie1911 thought of you when writing Snow’s part, plus Aurora)
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Cinderella (Cinderella): Cindy would have made you and her cute patches and other tiny things and hide it from her step-mother because she would worry they be torn apart.
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Aurora (Sleeping Beauty): Inspired by the splattered of her gown (you told about her it), she asked her aunts (I headcanon the Faries as a polyamorous relationship and her aunt like figures XP ) to make her Pride outfit have a similar effect and loves to show off to you shyly.
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Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit): Outside people somewhat flirting to her, you two had a blast. You even saw her mood boost at the asexual* float and she buys herself an ace flag, which she wore as a cape.  (*=Many headcanon Jessica Rabbit as ace)
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Ariel (The Little Mermaid): Ariel asks you and even strangers what the flags used mean and how to apply to them, but everyone can tell in a good place, not in a “you are just your sexuality and/or gender”. Funny enough she goes on a ramble on what her underwater kingdom events similar to Pride are like. Her sisters even came to support her. :D (Again can not stress how important it is to not go to alone, you be overwhelmed, but if want to, all the power to you. :D)
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Belle (Beauty and the Beast): Belle is excited about the historical aspects and compares how far the LGBTQ+ Community got. You encourage her to see other parts of the parade too, but it is so adorable how she reads all these plaques, gather zines, and listen to a guest speaker. The friends from the castle and Lefou with his boyfriend had so much fun. 
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Jasmine (Aladdin): Jasmine trusts you to show you around and if does have questions, is both comfortable and excited to be the one to ask. You find it so cute when the animal floats come how she telling she wants all the cats shown.
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Pocahontas (Pocahontas): Similar to Snow White is quite at first, but unlike her, Pocahontas excited to see be part of the events, like she would rush to impulsively to floats where people brought their pets and ask if can pet them. She does stay quite though, however it is because she loves seeing the color of the flags in the wind.
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Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame): As a performer and enjoys to be part of the show and finds as many activities to do. She is even happy to see Jolly and Hugo being a cute dogs couple. So much when won a raffle for open mic she speaks about how in her experience religion has been supportive of the LGBTQ+ Community, after all, “Aren’t we Children of God”.
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Megara (Heracles): Meg may seem distant about the idea, but she teases “like Ancient Greece, anything Gay Pride-related tends to be for the men”. However, she goes and has fun, even warms up to being more vocal in her pride. ( @sailorzelda94)
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Mulan (Mulan): You are shocked Mulan never gone to Pride, but at other peer events always show interest in the Parades. Her friends' joke she should be a Drag King and named Ping, but drag is something she has mixed feelings. However, you both go and her friends all have fun and even though have significant others or girlfriends*, the men want to show support for their fellow war buddies. (*=Mulan II)
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Jane Porter (Tarzan): Jane always seems too busy if helping her father’s study, her own work/art, or a combo. Finally being free you take her and she is dazed in awe and wonder the whole time. She jokes “is it called Pride for like a jungle there so much life here”. She does not do anything too dress-up for the event, but you know she comfortable with who she is, and everyone once in a while you kiss her to show much she means to you.
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Kida (Atlantis: The Lost Empire): Kida so excited and even wears what looks like a 70′s biker and you can not help love how enthusiastic for the bikers. She does not fulfill the stereotypical image of someone in such attire, but she just loves the community aspect of Pride events. Even asks you questions of how she can introduce it to her family/kingdom.
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Audrey (Atlantis: The Lost Empire): Audrey goes in a causal “butch” outfit and her demi jacket is adorned with all the cute little LGBTQ+ buttons you get her and she finds, but at Pride, she sees so many, she jokes she buys a second demi jacket and only for pride, only she goes does that.
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Helga (Atlantis: The Lost Empire): Very quiet about it, but has a tiny smirk the whole time as she waves her rainbow flag when floats go by. She does sometimes act a bit aggressive when someone by accident hits on you, she punched an old man in the upper jaw. (thought of @mccoppinscrapyard)
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Nani (Lilo and Stich): Nani has a lot of fun and even feels she kinda loosen up, even though Lilo and Stich are both acting up a few times, you help relax them, so she can have a day to herself. She does tease “now I understand why Lilo does not like loud noises, it is a lot here, even for me” * and you hug her, with the other two hugging her to calm her down. Stich even acts as a good makeshift guide dog. (*=I and many headcanon Lilo as on the autism spectrum.)
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Tiana (The Princess and the Frog): Tiana does not mind the parade, but kinda wished she had a booth where she can sell food and cool beverages on this hot day. Luckily though again she has fun and brought Lottie and her significant other, so a makeshift double date. You do enjoy Lottie helps make the event more fun.
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Charlotte or Lottie (The Princess and the Frog): As stated before, having a blast and loves the double date. She can not get enough of the scene and “sings” to the songs playing, even if clearly not remembering the words. She is aware of pink triangles history, but she a pink princess, she has to get all the pink. Luckily she even spoiled you, Tiana, and Tiana’s significant other.
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Rapunzel (Tangled): Rapunzel was so shy in leaving her “tower” or room, but you reassured her you be there and no one going to judge because it is a fun place of community and celebration. She ends up going, but of course, being the artist she is, she painted both her (with help of the mirror) and your face in the colors of your respected flag. Even after Pride she wanted to go and joked “what if I got a super short haircut and dye it?” and you smiled, which she took as a yes, but kissed you unexpectedly, and you held her in your arms.
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Merida (Brave): Funny enough she wanted to see the following then leave; The Bear Float, Dykes on Bikes, and find something to get her parents. Luckily she enjoyed more and more, but you could tell she wants you to remember those top things, and luckily she got them and more. Merida, not the most public affectionate person, but tiny moments like holding your hand you enjoyed.
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Anna (Frozen): Unlike Merida, Anna is an affectionate bunny rabbit, plus wanted to see as much she could and even brought her camera and took plenty of photos. Her sister and friends were thankful you keep her anchored because of her hype.
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Elsa (Frozen): Elsa was shy because she still feels freshly out and not sure if she wants people to prejudge her for something she can not help but be. Luckily she warmed up (ha ha puns) and even danced on the way home with Anna, both saying how much they appreciate having the other in their life.
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Moana (Moana): Moana and her friend Maui had fun at mainly the floats, with him letting her sit on his shoulders. Even when eating the two have fun interactions with strangers, one both enjoyed to hand-wrestle with and dubbed him as “Mr. Shiny”.
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So how was that? :D I am actually glad to do something for Pride Month, so I hope to this for the other fandoms and their AUs, yet in the meantime, please share what you think, suggestions for other AUs, feedback on this, and HAPPY PRIDE! =D P.s. I am not sure if I keep all listed, so please be aware some AUs I struggle to think up stuff.
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The Disney Princesses- Ranked
I wrote a college research essay and project on this, so I know a teeny bit 
ALSO DISCLAIMER I LOVE THEM ALL 
10. Aurora
Sleeping Beauty 1959
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Aurora, while iconic, is probably the most passive out of all the Disney Princesses. She merely reacts to things happening to her, and bases her future on a literal dream. Furthermore, she only has eighteen minutes of screen time, meaning that she’s only in 24 percent of her film. However, Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario in her essay,  “The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princesses,” makes very interesting points about Sleeping Beauty itself. Coming out right at the beginning of the sixties, it’s one of the first mainstream films to feature teenage rebellion, and Prince Phillip and Aurora are showcases of the American teenager. She compares Prince Phillip to James Dean, while he himself is a very strong character that rebels against his father and societal norms. She also compares Aurora to the brand new Barbie of the fifties, noting on their similar appearances. She calls Aurora a prototype baby boomer- which I thought was very interesting. 
10. Ariel 
The Little Mermaid 1989 
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TO BE REAL, their all great, so sorry for putting some of these women low on the list. But getting down to business (to defeat the huns), Ariel is a very problematic character and frankly, a bad role model. I love The Little Mermaid, and Ariel was my favorite for a long time (because she’s a mermaid and that is bad ass), but her behavior is very unsettling. She is willing to give up everything she has every known to be with a man she has only met once, and completely changes herself for him. While the movie is great, Ariel might even be more submissive than the earlier princesses, because she goes through such great lengths to change herself for a dude. HOWEVER, I did see a post somewhere once that said that not only was she chasing Eric, but also her dream to see land, which is legitimate and makes her better.
9. Cinderella 
Cinderella 1950 
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There’s not much to write home about Cinderella. She’s iconic and great, but doesn’t do that much. Again, another passive character. I love her anyway though. 
8. Jasmine
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Alladin 1992
First of all let me say that I love Jasmine, but she’s got some issues. I might get some backlash for putting Jasmine so low on the list, but hear me out. I can’t figure out why she’s even a crowned princess, as one of the requirements according to Illinois State University is to be the main character, but she is not the main character in Aladdin... Aladdin is. That being said, she is a very strong female character that rebels against societal norms, those being to get married. While she is very much a damsel in distress on multiple occasions, however, her sassy attitude is quite iconic. She’s very much a plot device to push Alladin through his hero’s journey.
7. Snow White 
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937
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Snow White is the girl that started it all. She’s a lot like Aurora, in that she just sort of reacts to things happening to her, both movies also have women that fall asleep and are woken by true love’s kiss. Do Rozario has some interesting things to say about Snow White too. She says that Snow White is representative of an old Hollywood starlet, looking like a silent movie star crossed with a flapper. Furthermore, this movie came out during the Great Depression, and seeing a princess pulled from poverty was a hopeful story for the American public during the time. Snow White did so much for Disney and the film industry, she’s truly iconic. 
6. Tiana 
The Princess and the Frog 2009 
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This is where it gets tricky, because from here on out, all the Disney Princesses are fantastic women. Tiana herself is the most realistic princesses, with big dreams and the actually will power to make it happen. She is the fist black princess, an enormous milestone, and is the first princess to not only dream big, but do the grunt work to make it happen. 
5. Belle 
Beauty and the Beast 1991
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Belle is great. I don’t like her too much though because in fourth grade I was in a production of Beauty and the Beast Jr. and I was a plate and I got SO SICK of the music. Be Our Guest, a great song, is ruined for this nine year old plate. Putting that aside, Belle is an extremely intelligent woman. She’s not a warrior, which is ok!! A woman doesn’t have to kick ass to be a bad ass, and Belle is full of love and acceptance. She is capable of looking past an outer exterior into an inner self, something not many people are capable of, and is maybe the most compassionate princess, (even if she’s a little stuck up in Provincial Life). 
4. Rapunzel
Tangled 2010
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Rapunzel is awesome, and is a low key warrior. She, like all the other princesses, is a dreamer. Rapunzel, like Tiana, has the willpower to make her dreams happen. She is sweet and charming while still having the capability to kick ass and take names, and is such a fun character to watch on screen. 
3. Mulan 
Mulan 1998
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Ok this is just me being a nitpick bitch, but Mulan bothers me just a teeny bit BECAUSE SHES NOT ROYALTY. She’s Savior of China and she marries a general, but is not royalty. According to Illinois State University, to be a Disney Princess, one must be royal, marry a royal, or commit a heroic action (even though that last thing literally only exists so Mulan can be a princess). But thats just me being a perfectionist.  ANYWAY, putting that aside, Mulan is great. Like I said, she is Savior of China, which is a huge deal. She’s a straight up bad ass and warrior, and she HARDCORE rebels against societal norms. She’s just straight up awesome. 
2. Pocahontas 
Pocahontas 1995 
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Ya’ll are sleeping on Pocahontas. She’s incredible. Pocahontas is a strong and confident woman, who stays true to herself and her people while single handedly stopping a massacre-like war from happening. She also saves John Smith, who is SUCH a damsel in distress, which is awesome. She cares about the environment, all her songs are jams, and the movie is so beautifully animated. Pocahontas is just wonderful.
1. Merida 
Brave 2012
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Again, ya’ll are sleeping on Merida. She’s a straight up warrior, and doesn’t give  a shit about the societal expectations placed on her. She defies the place of the ancient Scottish woman, and is a flawed character. She’s selfish and hard headed, and she has to save her mother from a mess she herself created. She has the most dramatic character development, and grows tremendously throughout the film. The movie also does not focus on a romantic relationship, but rather one between a mother and daughter. Furthermore, Merida is the only Disney Princess without a love interest, and ends the movie independently. 
BTW: these are the OFFICIALLY CROWNED PRINCESSES. Moana, Elsa, and Anna, are NOT Disney Princesses. 
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noona-clock · 6 years ago
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iKonic Fairy Tales: Aladdin - Part 4, Final Chapter
A modern fairy tale series in collaboration with @cramelot - stay tuned next week for the next story featuring a new member! ✨
Genre: Office!AU
Pairing: Hanbin x You
By Admin B
🧞 Part 1, 2, 3, 4
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It had been exactly two weeks and four days since you’d spoken to Hanbin.
Not that you were keeping track, of course...
(But, yes. Two weeks and four days exactly. You had closed your door at 6:05pm two Saturdays ago, and it was now 6:05pm on Wednesday.)
You let out a sigh as you logged out of your computer, ready to call it a day and go home.
You’d been on edge for two and a half weeks (hmm, wonder why?), and your father had been bothering you about that ‘nice fella’ you’d been seeing since the party. You wanted to avoid him as much as possible since you were tired of explaining it just hadn’t worked out; he was sure to be gone by now, and you were dying for a hot bath.
Just as you were about to turn off the lights in your office, a figure appeared in your doorway.
You jumped, letting out a little startled gasp. 
“Oh, god, Jeff,” you breathed as you clutched at your now racing heart. “You scared the wits out of me.”
“My apologies,” Jeff grinned. “I’m glad I caught you.”
“What’s up?”
Jeff was your father’s secretary - had been for as long as you could remember. You’d honestly never liked him, but he’d done nothing to actually legitimize your feelings. 
“There are some transactions I need you to take a look at,” he told you with a slightly furrowed brow.
“...Can it wait until tomorrow? I was just about to leave.”
“Well... I mean, I guess it could.” But the way he said it made it clear it really couldn’t.
You let out a very soft sigh before nodding. “All right, let me take a look.”
You journeyed back to your desk, logged back into your computer, and navigated to the software your company used to manage transactions. Jeff came to stand behind you, resting a hand on the desk and leaning slightly over you. Maybe... a little too close.
You scooched your chair up a little, but he took a step forward.
Okay, whatever. Just ignore it.
“Which ones?”
He pointed a few out, and you honestly didn’t see anything wrong with them... As you were studying them, resting your chin in your palm... you felt Jeff’s other hand come to rest on your shoulder.
You froze momentarily before trying to shrug it off.
“Sorry,” Jeff murmured. “I just thought...”
You furrowed your brow, glancing over your shoulder at him. “You thought what?”
“Well, I can tell something happened between you and that... whoever he was. I thought you might want some comfort.”
Uh... ew?
“I’m okay, thanks,” you murmured. “I don’t see anything wrong with these transactions. What exactly am I looking for?”
“Hmm.” Jeff hummed. “I guess I misunderstood. Sorry for keeping you.”
“No, it’s fine.” I mean, it kind of wasn’t but whatever. You stood, squeezing past Jeff and heading back to your office door.
“Let me walk you out,” Jeff offered, following quickly behind you. “I mean -- I’m leaving anyway, so we might as well walk out together.”
You didn’t answer verbally, so Jeff took that as acceptance. He walked down the hallway with you, stood awkwardly in the elevator with you, and followed you out to the parking lot.
“Have a good night,” you said with a fake grin, ready to make a dash to the nearby bus stop.
“You still take the bus?” Jeff asked with a laugh. “Come on, let me take you home. I’ll drive you.”
“No, thanks, I’m good.”
“Y/N, come on,” he repeated. “Don’t be stubborn. Just let me take you home.”
You felt his hand take hold of your wrist, and you froze. Your heart started beating quickly.
“Jeff, I said ‘no,’” you told him firmly. “Please let go of me.”
“A girl like you shouldn’t be taking the bus.”
“A girl like me shouldn’t be helping the environment by using less gas?”
“You don’t know what kind of creeps ride the bus.”
Actually, I don’t know what kind of creeps are working for my own company. I mean, you did know, actually.
“I’ve ridden the bus for almost ten years. Nothing has happened. I’m fine. Let. Go. Of my arm.”
Instead of letting go, he pulled you closer to him. And before you could try to wriggle free, he smashed his lips to yours. You let out a muffled shriek, doing your best to push him away from you.
“Stop, what are you doing?!” you cried when you managed to free your lips. But he captured them in a rough kiss yet again.
His grip on you was too strong, his lips were too fierce. You were honestly beginning to get scared of what he was going to do to you.
Just as you felt one of his hands begin to slip underneath the hem of your shirt, you heard footsteps bounding up toward the two of you. You felt an unknown person pry Jeff away from you. You saw whoever it was punch Jeff in the face and throw him to the pavement.
And when the mystery defender turned toward you, you were more relieved than you thought you would be to see it was Hanbin.
“Are you okay?” he asked, gasping for breath.
“I’m fine,” you breathed. “...What are you doing here?”
“I was... I’ve been wanting to come and apologize for days now, but every time I come by, I chicken out.”
You realized you were shaking, and Jeff was starting to push himself up off the ground, groaning loudly in pain.
“Can we not be here right now?” you asked, the fear oozing through your voice.
“Yeah, come on.” Hanbin reached out to touch you but thought better of it, apparently, because he put his hands in his pockets instead.
He led you over to his car, opening the rusted passenger door for you before heading back over to the driver’s side.
“So,” you said once he joined you inside. “This is your real car.”
“Yep... this is her.”
“And...” You eyed his outfit, a plaid button-down shirt with ripped jeans. “Those are your real clothes.”
“This is me. The real me, yes.”
“You know, I didn’t like you because you were a CEO. You know that, right?”
He furrowed his brow slightly, showing he hadn’t really known that. “...You didn’t?”
“Of course, not. I liked you for who you were. Not what you looked like. I mean, I liked your face, but that’s always been yours.”
“Okay, listen,” he sighed, turning more toward you in his seat. “I’m so, so, so sorry for not telling you the truth. I thought if I went to that party as myself, I wouldn’t stand a chance with you because... I mean, you’re you. And I’m me. So my friend, One, let me go as him, and then all that happened at the party, and... I don’t know. I just let my pride take over my integrity.”
“Yeah, that much is obvious,” you pointed out with raised brows.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to apologize enough to properly convey how much I really mean it. I could tell you ‘I’m sorry’ every day for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t be enough. You have no idea how awful I feel for lying to you. I... I don’t expect you to give me another chance, but... I still like you. I still have feelings for you. I can’t stop thinking about you, and I just had to tell you.”
You studied him for a moment, saw the genuine sincerity in his face. Saw the hurt in his eyes. And you suddenly heard yourself saying the words you’d been thinking in the back of your head for two weeks and four days (and about half an hour).
“I still like you, too, Hanbin.”
His eyes widened. “Y-you -- you do?”
“I do. Even though I’m still furious you lied to me... I can’t stop thinking about you, either. Everything I felt when we were together, that was real.”
“So... you’ll... think about giving me another chance?” he asked hesitantly.
You let out a sigh, shifting your gaze to look out his car window.
Did he deserve another chance?
Did you think he would lie to you again? I mean, you were certain he was being his true self right now, so he wouldn’t lie about anything like that again...
But then you thought about what he’d said before you’d closed the door on him. About money. It didn’t matter to you because you had it. To someone like him who barely got by... it did matter. You’d never thought of it like that before, and you knew he was right.
You turned back to look at him, his eyes shining with anticipation.
“I’ll think about it,” you answered.
And the smile which appeared on his lips warmed your heart. It made you forget about Jeff. It made you almost forget why you were mad at Hanbin in the first place.
And, so, the two of you lived Happily Ever After.
...Well, eventually.
It took you a while to trust him again, and it took him a while to accept a job at your company with better pay. (He made sure One had a replacement for him first, don’t worry). It took you guys a while to maneuver the differences in your lifestyle, but... you got there. And it was worth it.
iKONic Fairy Tale Series: Aladdin | The Little Mermaid | Sleeping Beauty | Cinderella | Snow White | Rapunzel | Beauty & the Beast
Tagging @sun-shinee-world @leilaammartin @daelicious-jongbulge @sweg-imsorrywhatwasthat @baekinmylife @xiusmybeautifulnightmare @lost-girl-inc @brie02 @peach-sm @jong-yixing @haveanotherkpopblog @sundropsoo @constellxtion @akutagawahakuryuunosuke @lazypostfandomer @cupcakemintylash @smut-wars@mistressoflight22 @veryhotkpop @chanyeolol @shawoltzen@garlandcrowns @lostintheendlessvoidthatislife @nicht-so-schnell @jinhuwuan @dark-changbin @lafilleestmorte @tokyoseo for updates! Readers, let me know if you would like to be added to this list!
-Admin B
Psst! I kind of wrote an NSFW thing set after this series, so... here it is if you want to read it.
Master list // RULES // Submit a Request! // Read About the Admins
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thecardigangirl · 6 years ago
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Belle or Cinderella, Wirt or Greg, Brave or Tangled, Golden or Silver Disney, Nani and Lilo or Anna and Elsa.
Anon or not, make me choose:
Belle or Cinderella?
They’re my two most favorite princesses, it is hard to choose among them. I’d say Cinderella is my childhood favorite while Belle is my current favorite, so I’ll have to pick Belle (she gets extra points for relatability and because we look alike), but I love both a lot. Cinderella has always been a huge influence for me growing up, she was always there for me as a child, now it’s Belle’s turn to help me on my life’s journey, I suppose.
Wirt or Greg?
This is so hard, how am I ever supposed to choose between them, my sweet lovelies? ♥ Greg is the most adorable little boy but I’ll have to go with Wirt because it was him who took my hand and walked me through the Unknown. He’s also totally the kind of boy I’d have crushed on at school, if I had been lucky enough to encounter someone like him.
Brave or Tangled?
All of these are so hard, you know me well. Both have shaped my life in very special ways. I remember being extra hyped for Brave because I was tired of my sister rivaling my obsession with Tangled, so I wanted a new thing to obsess over that she didn’t like as much and Brave proved to be just that. I mean, I had lots of fun times fangirling over Tangled with her but after a while, I wanted something I liked most.Superficial, I know, but I was 14 and I’m a core 4, I realize my envy was present even back then. I was thrilled about Tangled because I’d been waiting for Disney to make an adaptation of Rapunzel’s tale for the longest time, I fell in love with the soundtrack, the story and the characters, I loved everything about it and still do. I saw Rapunzel as a wonderful role model and really endearing character, I wanted to be just like her. I used to listen to the film in the background as I did homework back in high school, it used to be the sort of movie I’d turn to whenever I needed cheering up and I made a point of watching it soon after I was back from the hospital after my back surgery, as a way of making my recovery and homecoming official. Rewatching Tangled seemed like an outright confirmation I was back and safe.
I got into Brave as soon as I was done obsessing with Tangled. :) It was my main fandom when I got in Tumblr. I liked that Merida was a rebellious and independent heroine, little like the traditional princesses. I love all princesses but the change felt good. I also could not quite tell you why, but I feel I can relate to her, maybe because we’re both very stubborn and like to have our way. It came out right in my early to middle teens when I was specially rebellious and stubborn myself so I was glad to have Merida as a reflection of what I was like back then. Like her, my relationship with my mother became somewhat strained during that time and I could clearly see myself as Merida and her as Elinor (now I’ve become the Elinor to my younger brother :P). It was my own fandom, the one no one else but me loved as much and while it felt kinda lonely (especially because I had to go watch it in theaters on my own), it also felt great because I could share my love for it over here. I remember how much I loved it back then and how I couldn’t stop watching it, I got lots of merch for it, more or less as much as for Tangled. I’d listen to the soundtrack non-stop and it was the film that got me into Julie Fowlis, Celtic Woman and Celtic music in general for which I’m eternally grateful.
So after this mini essay on how each of the films has been an important influence in my life, I’d say the better movie is Tangled but Brave was probably the one that influenced me the most. Right now, if you asked me to pick one to watch, I’d probably say Brave because I tend to watch Tangled more often and I haven’t seen it in a long while, but the fact I have seen Tangled more maybe means I like it better. Guess I really cannot choose between them. ;)
Golden or Silver Disney?
Golden is truly wonderful pure Disney (who doesn’t love Snow White, Dumbo and Bambi?) but Silver is my age, almost every Silver movie is one of my favorites. Unlike most Disney fans who are usually Renaissance or Revival fans, I’m a Silver gal.
Nani and Lilo or Anna and Elsa?
Both remind me a lot of my sister and I but I must say Anna and Elsa have a very special place in my heart, I’ve always loved them a lot. I loved Lilo & Stitch when it first came out and I love Nani and Lilo but I love Anna and Elsa even better. It’s funny because my sister is most like Anna and she’s the eldest. As with Belle and Cinderella, I feel Nani and Lilo are my childhood sisterhood and Anna and Elsa are my current sisterhood.
Thanks a lot for asking. ^^
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dontshootmespence · 7 years ago
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your mutuals as disney princesses/characters ?
These take a while, so sorry it took so long, also, if I didn’t include you I’m sorry! There are a lot of you! And I did a mix of princesses and characters. A lot of these connections are just innate in brain. I don’t really have a reason :D
The first one that came to mind was @criminal-minds-fanfiction as Snow White because of Snow in EMAEY.
With her Beauty and the Beast AU, I have to say that @beautiful-bau-beau is Belle.
My lovely @comehealinmyarms reminds me of Jasmine because she’s spunky and gorgeous just like Jasmine.
The lovely @gublernatural gives me a Sleeping Beauty/Aurora vibe.
My wifey @remember-me-forever-silent-angel is Jane from Tarzan because she’s full of wonder and an amazing teacher.
The beautiful Jasey @original-criminal-fanfics gives me a Merida from Brave vibe!
Hannah @reiding-and-writing is Rapunzel! She has the same zest for life and optimism that Rapunzel does.
The lovely @kalie-bee makes me think of Ariel. I can’t say why. It just is. 
My boy @ubdqwriting/ @ubdq-not-mxolh is Simba! 
Maisie @sapphicpage to me is Cinderella, just as gorgeous and a leader of sorts.
Sassy @lookwhatyoumademequeue reminds me of Judy Hopps from Zootopia!
B @bookofreid gives me a serious Pocahontas vibe. Like strong and badass and gorgeous?
My child, my love @prentissluthor makes me think of Tiana
My little lovely @imagicana reminds me of Kuzco because she’s funny af.
@marvelfanlife gives me a youthful Peter Pan vibe!
@stunudo is Grandma Fa from Mulan! Fight me!
Dee @wonderboygenius gives me a spicy Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame vibe.
The amazing and talented Sarah @illegalcerebral reminds me of Elsa, caring and wants the best for everyone.
Mish @spencerdamnreid gives me the vibe of Nani Pelekai, Lilo’s sister!
The young one @spxcxrrxid reminds of Tinkerbell - adorable!
Another funny af human being @ilikepipecleanerswitheyes is Mushu, charismatic, humorous and loyal.
The gorgeous @spencerthepipecleaner reminds me of Aladdin - a romantic at heart that always shoots for the stars.
@phoenix-transcending You remind me of Arthur from The Sword in the Stone, curious, with an innate desire for understanding.
@bitchinprentiss makes me think of Kida from Atlantis.
@k8callahan makes me think of Li Shang from Mulan. Like she knows what she believes, she’s a badass and has a strong sense of morals.
@veroinnumera makes me think of Megara from Hercules, smart, self-sufficient, and very caring when it comes to those she loves.
@princesswagger14 You seem to live in the moment, which makes me think Flynn Rider.
@rmmalta I see you as wise, intelligent, and cares deeply for others. You are an awesome character - Rafiki.
@static-001 she may not be an animated character, but you remind me of Princess Mia Thermopolis. :)
That was hard!
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pizza-is-my-buziness · 7 years ago
Note
Malvie + roses and/or thorns (your choice)
The Museum of Cultural History has never been Mal’s favorite place. Itreminds her of her first night in Auradon, when she and the others hadconspired -poorly- to attempt to steal the wand, when she had seen her motherin all her wicked glory. It reminds her of the other people she had known herwhole life, set aside into their own special wing to inspire fear and tointimidate little Auradon kids into following the rules and aspiring togreatness. And it reminds her of the things that had been taken from her whenshe got to the Isle, how Evie’s shard of the mirror now rests behind glass,along with the spell book that had been the last thing Mal had from her mother.It’s a building that Mal always makes sure to give a wide berth whenever she’swalking across campus, averting her eyes and quickening her step.
But still when Evie asks Mal to accompany her to the museum so she can doresearch on one of the artifacts for her Magic in Auradon class, Mal agrees.They’re the only ones in the museum aside from the guards and the tour guide,who nods to them but doesn’t offer a tour when he recognizes them as AuradonPrep students and not tourists from other parts of the kingdom.
They skirt the hall of villains without any type of discussion necessary.Mal sticks to Evie’s side, the sound of their boot heels echoing on thepolished floor. “I hate this place,” Mal grumbles as they step into a roomdecorated with images of happy princes and beautiful princesses. There areplacards next to each display, each one featuring a trite story about a happyending and a good deed.
“Really?” Evie questions, taking her school notebook out of the bag hangingfrom her shoulder. It’s the one she uses for her Magic in Auradon class, theone class they don’t share, and Mal catches sight of the absent and messydoodles on the cover: blue waves and green fire.
Mal shrugs, studying an artist’s replica of the Pridelands on a large canvason the wall. She admires his technique but can’t help but wonder if she everpainted anything like that if it would end up in the museum. “Don’t you thinkit’s kinda creepy here?”
“Not really,” Evie replies. “I mean I wouldn’t come here just for the fun ofit but it’s not so bad.”
“Maybe not on this side of the museum,” Mal grumbles, turning away from thepainting. “Just pick one of these things to write about so we can leave.”
Evie rolls her eyes. “You didn’t have to come, M.”
Mal isn’t sure how to respond to that without pointing out that she camebecause Evie was the one who asked her. Instead she says, “Well you said wewere going to go to the dining hall after so how could I resist.”
That comment earns her another eye-roll and Mal just smiles at her sweetly.Evie starts wandering through the room and Mal follows her, studying some morepaintings and photographs, reading a few of the placards next to the artifactsthat aren’t as important as the wand or the spindle or Cinderella’s glassslipper.
There’s doodads and thing-a-ma-bobs from Ariel’s grotto and vibrant purpleand gold flags from Rapunzel’s kingdom. Tiny snowmen and arrows from RobinHood’s quiver. A lamp, slightly tarnished but still with a somewhat magicalshine. Sandals from Hercules’ day as a Greek celebrity.
“What about this?” Evie says finally, her voice causing Mal to look awayfrom a replica of the box that Evie’s mother had reportedly requested SnowWhite’s freshly cut heart be placed inside. Evie hasn’t even noticed the box,her attention focused on something in the center of the room.
An artifact Mal would have thought would have been far too important to keepin this room with the other things.
Though, now that she thinks about it, it’s just like Queen Belle and KingBeast to keep the enchanted rose with everything else and not elevatethemselves above the other members of their kingdom.
The rose had, at the end of the spell, regrown its petals and its magicalshine, the faint pink glow bathing Evie’s cheeks and forehead in a warm light.Evie is leaning close to the glass dome, studying the rose inside. “It’s hardto believe that something so small was so powerful.”
Mal shrugs, coming to stand beside Evie. “I dunno about that,” she smirks, “peoplemight say the same about you.” She bumps Evie playfully with her shoulder.
“Or you,” Evie replies, returning the shoulder bump. “I’m not the one whocan turn into a dragon.”
Mal waves the idea away. “Psh, it’s not so hard,” she teases. “You are apowerful witch, after all.”
Evie frowns slightly, which was not Mal’s intended reaction to her comment. “Sowas the person who did this,” she says, pointing at the shimmering rose. “Whatif I’m not so different? What if I keep practicing and my powers become toostrong and-”
“Whoa, E,” Mal interrupts, “where is all this coming from? Are you reallyworried about that kind of stuff?”
Evie looks at her, shrugging, sheepish. But Mal can see it in her eyes, the sincerityin her fears. “There just seem to be so many stories about people using magicfor evil and in Auradon we’re not even supposed to use magic at all because itcan just get out of hand and think about my mother…she never used her magic foranything good. Do you think she started out that way? Or do you think she waslike us once?”
It’s clear that Evie’s question is supposed to be a rhetorical one. One theyboth know the answer to.
Mal knows that even Maleficent wasn’t born a dark and evil fairy.
“Evie, don’t be crazy,” Mal says, putting her arm around Evie’s shoulders. “Yousaid it yourself: this rose was super powerful. It might have cursed King Beast,but it also made him a better person and it helped him fall in love with QueenBelle. So maybe the spell started off bad, but it had a good result.”
Evie frowns, as though considering Mal’s words. “That sounds a bit like cheating,”she remarks. “Like yeah it sucked living as a beast for ten years but you fellin love so really you should be thanking me.”
Mal grins, unable to help herself. “I mean, really they should be thanking that sorceress…”
Evie only shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Hey, you aren’t like your mother, okay?” Mal says, giving her shouldersanother squeeze. “You’re kinda like this rose, actually.”
Evie looks at her skeptically. “That makes no sense.”
“Sure it does,” Mal protests. “That rose is magical and so are you. It’spretty but it holds its secrets. And plus it has thorns.”
The skeptical look on Evie’s face doesn’t disappear. “Um…thanks?”
Mal shakes her head. “I only meant, like, it’s kinda like you. You’re fromthe Isle so you have your thorns. But you’re beautiful too and soft, like thepetals on the rose. And no one ever talks about a rose being ugly just becauseit has a few thorns.”
Evie only looks at Mal and immediately Mal starts to regret her words. Thisis what happens when she doesn’t think things through, when she doesn’t thinkabout the words coming out of her mouth before she says them. “Too much?” Shesays, wincing slightly.
But Evie shakes her head, smiling slightly. “Does that make you a rose, too?”
Mal scoffs. “Um, definitely not. I’m pretty sure I’m a briar or somethinglike that.”
“I don’t think so,” Evie says, her tone slightly cryptic. “I don’t thinkthat at all.”
Mal figures that she’s not really going to argue as long as Evie is the onesaying it. If Evie wants her to be a rose, well, then she supposes there areworse things. “You really don’t have to worry about any of that stuff, E,” Malsays again, her voice quieter as she looks at the magic rose in the dome. “Youaren’t going to go around turning people into beasts.”
Evie sighs, letting her head rest briefly on Mal’s shoulder. “I guess that’sall I can really hope for,” she says, her tone slightly teasing.
Mal can’t help but think that, if anything, Evie is going to be the princessthat turns the beast human again because she loves her.
“So are you going to do your report on this stupid thing or not?” Malquestions, not that she really wants to prompt Evie to move away from her arms.
But Evie only shakes her head, stepping away from Mal. “No, I think I’llpick something less…dramatic.”
Mal smirks. “Well that’s a first,” she says dryly.
Evie gives her a look but there’s a smile on her face. “What about…this?”She points to the wooden cage that Mulan’s cricket had once called home. “Thatcricket really is lucky, you know, Lonnie said so.”
“Well…if Lonnie said it then it hasto be true,” Mal retorts. “Lucky crickets. Seriously.”
Though, this is Auradon, so she probably shouldn’t be surprised.
Maybe she could get her hands on that lucky cricket, just for a little bit.
Just to ensure that she can be lucky enough to ensure that Evie keepssmiling at her like she’s doing right now.
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badass-queen-of-puns · 7 years ago
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What Disney Princess Are You? Part 4 (Reggie Fic-One Shot)
Summary: It wasn’t everyday you see Reggie Mantle bothered by one message he receives on his phone at school one day, especially about a certain girl nonetheless. Though as he tried to keep himself together of the situation, a sudden curiousness of words from the core four may have solved his problem, or was it just the company itself from these so-called misfits he needed as well to find the answer himself?
Word Count: 2162
Notes: Unfamiliar characters mentioned or presented are part of my own Riverdale au (more detail into them in the future), specifically the Reggie-verse.
Chapters: 5
Warnings: Reggie being a less than usual jerk.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
“What about you, Ponytail?”  Reggie gestures his head towards the girl with the seemingly perfect ponytail.
Betty blinks for a moment. “Me?”  Surprised by the sudden ask, she answers him, slightly making eye contact in his direction “Cinderella. I always wondered what glass shoes would feel like.”  She says, admittingly.
“Uncomfortable, I think. I’ll take designer shoes thank you very much. Comfortable yet sensible.”  Veronica admits about her own fashion sense, flipping her hair back behind her shoulder.
Crossing her arms, Toni says “I say she gives off this Rapunzel vibe. She totally looks like she could be carrying a pan with her at all times to hit someone with a vicious look in her eye.”
“Or that ponytail of hers could just knock the crap out of people every time she turned her head.”  Reggie suggests, motioning his head as if he had a head full of hair flipping in the wind. Veronica releases a hint of laughter at his actions. Toni stares at him, entertained as a speck of smile rose from her lips, though disappearing before anyone else could notice. Unbeknownst to her, Reggie does.
Archie’s lips start moving on its own, “Now that I think about it–”  
“Don’t.” Jughead abruptly interrupts him as he covers Archie’s mouth much to his surprise. “You’ll know what will happen if you say more than you’re supposed to.”
They both turn their eyes to Betty, who was already giving them, particularly Archie the stare of death. To his eyes, that meant her saying, ‘Choose Your Next Words Carefully Archibald Andrews’. Archie’s mouth instantly closes shut after hearing his words, Jughead’s palm releases from Archie’s lips as he did. Reggie rolls his eyes in response to the idiotic duo that could completely be afraid of one chick. As if he would let that happen, no girl could hold him down to act so dumb like those two were doing as he thought to himself.
“We already confirmed Archie is Ariel, no doubt. He already passed the look in the wardrobe department.”  Veronica mentions, moving her head to Jughead, who was back at typing away on his laptop.
“What do you mean?”  Reggie notices Veronica’s attention being swayed towards Jughead, who everyone else noticed as well looking right at him. Jughead feels the amount of eyes laying rest around him that it brought his head up, locking eyes with everyone around him. Before he could say something else, Reggie’s face plastered with confusion, his answer came through with the sight of something he did not think he would see.
“It’s this.” Jughead replies back without making eye contact.
Turning his laptop to show Reggie the thing that he has been wondering about this whole time, which had these guys laughing about before his presence was made clear. His eyes widen as he sees the laptop screen pop up with a really well layered as Reggie would unwilling want to admit, photoshopped version of Archie in the body of Ariel from the popular Disney movie, The Little Mermaid in her mermaid form, or should he say HIS mermaid form. Complete with tail and seashell bra included. He had to blink twice to realize what he was looking at; the first time to know what he was looking straight at was right, and the second time to know that he did. With his mouth slightly agape at a sight, it was definitely a sight he would not be able to get out of his mind easily, but it happen to be a surprisingly a good look for Andrews, chuckling at the thought.
“Total mermaid, ain’t he? Only Andrews could pull off a look like that. That clam bra does it justice, I’d say.” Reggie responds at the image in front of him, Reggie tried to remembered where he saw that scene from, realizing a few moments later that it was the position of the scene where Ariel ended her song of ‘Part of Your World’, looking over to Prince Eric who was washed on the shore after she saved him.
He starts laughing at the realization as one thought did not cross his mind. That particular thought was not noticing how loose he was letting himself be around these guys that he could vaguely refer to as his classmates, let alone friends and yet it wasn’t that often he would completely let his guard down in front of others. Only a particular few could do that.
As he continues laughing, Jughead gives off a smirk at the sudden appreciation from the guy who would usually be the one start something that didn’t need to begin. Smiles erupted from around the room for a moment as the conversation continued with the next predetermined role of animation.
“I think V would be more of Snow White. But then again, she could easily be Jasmine.”  Betty suggests, tapping her finger on her cheek in thought as she gives Veronica a grin across the room.
“Aww, thanks B.” Veronica winks back at her; her eyes lighting up with a thought. “Ooo I’d love to have a tiger to guard me. Plus, it would be interesting to see Archie-kins ride a flying carpet.”  Her chin resting on Archie’s shoulder, Archie grins back at her touch.
“Andrews is more like the Abu if you ask me. All this talking, but nobody knows what he’s talking about.”  Reggie remarks, reaching for a piece of pizza when no one is paying attention. Having to dig through the first couple of empty boxes that the gang, mostly Jughead, devoured in a flash.
Archie just laughs at his comment, even Jughead huffing a response of amusement as his words. Toni shakes her head a bit at his words, but responsive enough to show smile herself at his words. 
“Why haven’t we said anything about Jughead yet?”  Veronica realizes as she looks back to him, then to someone else “And you too Toni?”
“Belle. I’m Belle. You can’t deny the similarities.”  Jughead answers as quickly as his hands were moving on the keyboard of his laptop.
“Of course, he would be the bookworm.”  Reggie chuckles.
“Makes sense.” Toni agreed with him, for once. “I personally would be more of a Pocahontas type of gal, got my tribe to back me up like my Serpent family, but still following my own roots, and got my own Grandmother Willow to give me some badass advice.”
“I can see that.” Reggie responds, checking her out as if he was imagining what she would like in that particular princess’s attire. Toni rolls eyes again in response, unfazed but use to his gaze already.
“All this talk about everyone being someone, and you all haven’t gotten to the best one.”  Reggie’s fingers point to one direction. “Me.”
“Okay Reggie, since you’re so willing to announce your royal status.” Veronica says to him. 
“Oh let me guess, how about sleeping beauty? Cause you seem to be good at that.” Toni claims, a hint of a smirk appearing on her face.
Betty nudges her neck back as she asks, “Which one? The sleeping or the beauty part?”  
“How about both?  He acts like a beauty even though he sleeps a lot.”  Veronica suggest, but then corrects herself “I mean around.”  Reggie gives off a smirk at her definition of his version of ‘sleeping beauty’, but he did not take it to heart or anything below that underneath tight clothing he wore that he called an outfit.
“Thanks for the compliment, but that chick is for virgins. Too innocent for my taste. Nah I’d be Mulan.”  Reggie answers, using his thumb to point himself, confidently.
“Why because you’re Asian?” Jughead’s mouth rose peculiarly at what his answer would be.
“No and yes. Not because she’s a representation of asian culture and independence or that I would definitely could pull of those outfits she wears, but she makes me think of how much I can kick ass without being judged by gender. Plus, I wouldn’t mind having a dragon as my sidekick compared to other miniature creatures that other princesses have. Plus, that cricket isn’t too bad either.”
“Isn’t he a lizard?”  A voice comes out from behind the ever-growing band of Riverdale’s most known students. Curiously, they all turn their heads to see two tall, laidback guys with smiles that expressed a self-satisfaction in what they were just hearing. Sweet Pea and Fangs. They were wearing their infamous Southside Serpent jackets, which were usually banned from wearing on school grounds, but Jughead was able to make a committing argument for them to be able to at least be worn after school. Both of them were each leaned against the rims of the door that showed their relaxed yet intrigued stature of the audience that was looking in their direction.
“No, he’s a dragon. Didn’t you see him blow fire in the movie? Mushu is a beast. Next to her Grandma.”  Reggie continues saying as he eyes turned to focus on them. He paused as he realized who he was replying back to all of a sudden. He gives a silent nod to the two, acknowledging their presence in front of him. Even with his lack of interaction he would occassionally get from the core four, he usually tried to keep his distance from the Serpents, though lately he has been slowly been having a mutual presence around Sweet Pea as well as Fangs who he has been at times becoming a team player and constant competitor with those two whenever it came to playing sports during PE practice. He watches as those two made their way closer to the group that were discussing more than just mere guessing games.
“How many disney princess are there again?”  Archie wonders, cocking his head to the side, looking at Veronica as he asks. Though he didn’t have to wait long for an answer to his question as it became clear in an instant as he tossed a few pieces of skittles into his mouth that he reached for from the messy food-plastered table. A unexpected voice spoke.
“Eleven, officially. Not counting Moana who is about to join soon or Anna or Elsa since I guess they don’t count them in the line-up. Since you know Elsa was actually crowned queen in the movie and Anna…well I don’t know bout that. Popularity issues I guess.”  Reggie’s words coming off as a deer in the headlights to everyone around him as he chews some more of his pizza off from his lips that seemed to be craving the moment he saw Toni appearing with them. He positions himself comfortably on the arm rest of the couch that Archie and Veronica were sitting at the whole time. Unaware of his informational words of the princess lineage, he stares back at everyone confused.
“Wow, Reg. I didn’t take you for a disney fanatic.”  Archie voices with surprise.
“I’m not..I just know stuff…You know television.”  Reggie mutters, shrugging his shoulders, trying to diminish the insinuation of his sudden spoken knowledge of famed childhood films.
“Right…. And you just happen to have the whole Disney Channel on your tv?”  Veronica raises her eyebrow, curiously.
“Now that I think about it. You’re like a walking Disney encyclopedia. You sure been giving hints of that so-called genius you’re always bragging about. This is probably it. Am I right?” Jughead compliments surprisingly in his own way, a smile peering from his lips. “Maybe I should mention to Mr. Weatherbee to issue a Disney Day in the school paper that way we can vote you to be in charge since you know so much.”
“I would love to see that. I’ll gladly vote for once. I’ll even nominate him.” Sweet Pea declares, standing up for a moment as he raises his arm in declaration to those words.
“Me too. I don’t mind dressing up. Beats wearing those school uniforms every day.”  Fangs comments as he went along with what Sweet Pea was saying, interested in their possible event as him and Sweet Pea high-five each other grinning like elementary school kids at recess.
“Don’t you dare.”  Reggie responds back yet his voice sounding laid-back than he would expect it to be. He knew that those two were messing around at the notion of his preview of unhidden disney knowledge that he could not admit he got from a certain someone. A little someone.  
Though that secret would stay just that…deep down in an area of himself like a jack-in-the-box that he would be labeled as ‘Mantle Mysteries’ only spinning to be released, but never to be opened. Unless someone were lucky enough to figure out the trick to doing just that, but that will be the day he thought to himself.
Suddenly without notice, he feels a vibration near his stomach. The one thing that he was keeping his mind off popped back up without warning and he reaches for the device inside his jacket pocket that gave him more anxiety than a championship game in the fall. Tapping his phone that he held out in his hand, the screen appeared with bold, clear words yet again.
She’s here. You better have fixed IT.
PART 4 finally complete only one more to go! To all who are reading it, thank you so much. I’m glad to finally be finishing up soon and all your questions that you may have about this mysterious ‘she’ will soon be revealed. stay tuned! 
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fandom-rants · 6 years ago
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My Revised List of the Princesses of Light
With the princesses we know now, we could give this part of Kingdom Hearts’ story the overhaul it needed. If we could - say, in a perfect world - these are the ones I would pick.
1) Cinderella
Keep her. They’re right to say she shows a lot of light, and her story was instrumental to both Aqua and Terra. Overhaul the whole “if you have faith, that’s enough” bullsh*t, because in the real world, that’s hogwash. (Though I understand that they were trying to say that having faith in your dreams can keep one from becoming discouraged and depressed, which lead to darkness.) Replace it with her “have faith in your dreams” and the knowledge that her dream was not to go to a d*mn ball, but to one day live a happy life. This would have touched Ven deeply.
2) Snow White
Another to keep solely because she shows a lot of light. Her resilience to everything that happened, and her easy acceptance of her new situation, shows adaptability and an open heart. Emphasize that instead of just having her run around being afraid of everything.
3) Rapunzel
Another easy choice, as she shows nothing but optimism throughout everything. And when she gets angry, she does so righteously. Use her to show that anger is a healthy response to being used and hurt. Use her to show anger isn’t pure darkness, but exists within those of light, as well.
4) Tiana
Another easy choice. She doesn’t let setbacks hold her down, or peoples’ reactions to her, or even the world falling apart. She stands for diligence and responsibility while maintaining her optimism. She and Riku would be close friends, and she and Terra would understand one another intrinsically. A much better suit for Terra, in fact, than Cinderella, though they likely wouldn’t be able to meet in the storyline - which could easily be used later to show that he got unlucky with who he met, and the irony of him missing the heart of light that could have helped guide him on the right path.
5) Pocahontas
Such an easy choice it still bothers me that she wasn’t picked. A heart of guidance and wisdom who could have helped any and all who met her. Sometimes unsure herself, but always striving to do what was right in her heart, even if it went against societal expectations. Perfect for countless Kingdom Hearts situations.
6) Lilo
As much as I would love to choose Nani instead, she’s a bit too cynical and suspicious. Lilo, however, chooses to see the good in everyone, even Stitch, and does nothing but support his decisions. She may get angry, but it’s always a reaction to others hurting her. Shows that even those of pure light can be hurt by others, and those others can damage their light. Also gives Sora a proper chance to meet Stitch, who would still be searching for his trio of friends.
7) Anna
Another easy heart of optimism and light, one who had faith in those she loved without wavering. Could have been used to teach Aqua her lesson a little faster. Could also be used to help guide Sora on his path as Riku fell to darkness. So many options here, it hurts me that she wasn’t a thing when Kingdom Hearts first came out.
You’ll notice that I didn’t keep Kairi in the list. That would be because I hate those kinds of tropes. If you really want her, take off Cinderella. You’d have to give Kairi a personality overhaul, however; at the moment, she has very little but determination and a dedication to her friends. She’s basically Anzu/Tea from Yu-Gi-Oh! And no one likes Anzu/Tea. (She also gave nothing to the plot as a princess save to become a damsel in distress, so there’s that as an issue, as well.)
I also didn’t keep Aurora, because she spends the entire movie either melancholy or asleep, and that shows no ‘light’ worthy of being a Princess of Light.
There you go. For anyone wondering, half of the reason I made this was because, if I ever write a long fanfic for this world, these are likely the ‘princesses’ I would choose in my story. (And I am preparing for KHIII to have such an awful ending that the entire story will need an overhaul.) The other half is to show how the KH world could have been better, because too many people proclaim it perfect as-is.
Runner-ups (in no particular order) (reason why I didn’t make them princesses in parentheses): Merida (angry and reckless) Mary Poppins (strict) Esmerelda (talks trash - funny and awesome, but not a ‘light’ thing) Jenny Foxworth (too small a role with too little personality) Meg (cynical) Kida (a bit too suspicious of others to be ‘pure’ light, though a tough contender) Jasmine (quite frankly, Aladdin’s a better pick) Moana (literally because there was no more room; might easily replace Cinderella or Lilo) Belle (another that had no more room for her) Ariel (oh, look, another without any room)
If you would choose another from my runner-up list, I can easily understand. These were hard picks. Easier, though, than choosing Alice or Kairi or Aurora, who weren’t nearly as good choices as those in the list. If you did knock people off the list, I would understand much easier if Cinderella, Snow White, and/or Lilo were the first someone booted off. The others make far too much sense to me.
I’ll likely make a “Hearts of Light” list someday, too, because this list is sexist, and I hate the trope of only women having pure hearts. If I do make that list, you know d*mn well I’m putting Aladdin at the top.
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baby-prince-oppa · 7 years ago
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[NOTE: Like a dumbass I was, I accidentally deleted the original post of the Descendants Family Tree while I was updating it, so I’m posting this again. Please show as much love with this one as you did with the first by reblogging! Thanks!]
♔ ♕ - Disney’s Descendants - Family Tree  ♕ ♔ 
Note: I may update the chart once there are new characters that will be introduced in any upcoming books, movies, spin-offs, etc.
I made this chart so I can group the characters in their respective movies and whom they descended from. Most of the information I got was from Disney wiki. There are possible cases where some characters only adopt their children and raise them as single parents (hence the ??? at the opposite side of their name). If you know any other information that I have overlooked, please let me know.
There are some things I want to point out (and thoughts I had while making these charts) so here’s an explanation under the cut.
Beauty and the Beast
The fact that there are Descendants characters who are named exactly/closely similar like their parents really irritates me to no end. Like how lazy can Disney be anyway? But let’s be real though; Gaston would definitely name his sons after him because he’s that much of a narcissist. However in Descendants 2 and Rise of the Isle of the Lost, Gaston has a third son named Gil. This raises two questions: Does Gaston have any more kids other than these three? Do they share the same mother or not?
The Beast doesn’t have an official name according to his character wiki (although I was really tempted to type “Adam” since that name stuck with me out of nowhere throughout my entire childhood).
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Sleeping Beauty
I’m really curious as to who is Mal’s father (like seriously. As said from someone else in some other post, “WHO WAS BRAVE ENOUGH TO BANG MALEFICENT?!” which to be honest, sounds like a game show title. LOL). According to the novel, The Isle of the Lost, we definitely know for sure that he is human. When is he gonna make an appearance? Along with the other missing parents of the Rotten Four?
Snow White and the 7 Dwarves
We can see here that Evie and Snow White are stepsisters and Prince Florian is her brother-in-law.
I’m wondering if Snow White and Florian have any children yet at this time. If so, this would’ve make Evie an aunt. :D
Doug has 3 other cousins, Bashful Jr., Sleepy Jr. (both in School of Secrets), and Gordon (Return to the Isle of the Lost, chapter 43). 
Aladdin
Two things are mentioned in The Isle of the Lost: Aladdin and Jasmine had a son named Aziz and Jay mentioned he has a cousin named Jade. Since Jafar has a twin sister named Nasira (who appeared in the video game Aladdin: Nasira’s Revenge) it would make perfect sense for him to have a niece.
Another thing mentioned in Rise of the Isle of the Lost, is that Aziz is the eldest son, implying that Aladdin and Jasmine may have more than one child.
In Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, Jasmine has a cousin named Sharma who was a schoolteacher, but it wasn’t clear as to whether she’s her maternal or paternal cousin.
Genie is in a loving relationship with a female djinn named Eden on the show Aladdin: The Animated Series. With that much devotion to each other, I’d be pretty surprised if they don’t end up having a child together in the Descendants verse (unless Disney happens to overlook that fact as well. Just like everything else. -__-).
There’s also another unknown fact (not sure how many people know about this) that Aladdin has a canon father, Cassim, who appears in the movie Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
In the live-action Aladdin (2019) movie, Genie had 2 children with Jasmine’s former handmaiden, Dalia; a daughter named Lindy and a son named Barro. It seems that Genie’s other daughter, Jordan, doesn’t exist in this particular universe.
101 Dalmatians
“Who was brave enough to bang that crazy bitch, Cruella de Vil?” would’ve been added to the list of questions that will probably go unanswered. Although someone did pointed out that in the original novel of The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Cruella was married to a furrier but that detail was omitted in the Disney verse. (Discussion about that can be found here: 1 2 3 .)
There is official info on Cruella’s relatives, so her having a nephew named Diego seems plausible. I tried to fit them in with what space I had. Looking at it however, I’m pretty sure either Cecil B. de Vil is Diego’s father or Cruella has some other unknown sibling who is the parent of Diego.  
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The Dalmatian puppies listed on the chart are the ones that Perdita and Pongo have naturally. The other 86 puppies are adopted (like hell I have the energy to name every single one of them LOL).
It has been confirmed that Carlos’s middle name is “Oscar”. Carlos Oscar de Vil.
Cinderella
Anastasia have just entered in a relationship with the local baker in the sequel Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True (he even made a small cameo at the end credits in Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time). I had a discussion with a few other friends that the baker might have went with Anastasia to the Isle willingly and if that’s not the case, then Anastasia might have had children with someone else (which made me sad to think about, since she and the baker seemed to genuinely love each other). I’m willing to bet that Anthony Tremaine (who appeared in The Isle of the Lost) is Anastasia’s son, if we are to follow the “first name alliteration rule” that applies to almost every Descendants character. He also seems to be Lady Tremaine’s only grandson.
In Descendants 2, Drizella has a daughter named Dizzy (another stupid name). Might appear to be her only child if we were to disregard the Isle of the Lost novel.
The novel doesn’t specify how many granddaughters Lady Tremaine has.
As we can see here, Chad Charming is cousins with Anthony and Dizzy.
There are questions whether Jane is either a full blooded fairy or a half blood. This post addresses that.
Mulan
The only thing I have to say about this is; I wonder if Shan Yu has a kid in this universe too? (Even though I don’t really agree that every single Disney character should bear a child.)
The Princess and The Frog
Tiana’s and Naveen’s child(ren) has got to exist somewhere.
I have this headcanon that Freddie was actually reborn from another life by the help of Dr. Facilier (or somewhere along the lines of being resurrected from the dead), but due to some complications from knowing the facts (i.e. magic can’t be used on the Isle and voodoo probably doesn’t work that way) that headcanon is pretty short lived.
Dr. Facilier happens to have another daughter named Celia who appears on Descendants 3.
Tangled
So I’m really confused as to who Rapunzel’s and Eugene’s daughter is. From the web series, “School of Secrets”, there’s a girl named Anxelin who was said to be Rapunzel’s daughter, yet in “Wicked World”, a girl named Ruby was also confirmed to be Rapunzel’s daughter. It’s still unknown whether or not they are sisters or if it’s the same character renamed.
Ginny Gothel is a character who appeared in The Isle of the Lost.
The Little Mermaid
Ariel is the first Disney princess to have a child in canon (The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea), so shouldn’t that count for something? But knowing Disney, they would probably throw in a redhead girl whose first name starts with “A” just to fit in with the criteria.  -___-  Either that or Melody would only be mentioned as the “older sister” of this girl.
In “School of Secrets”, Ariel has a niece, but it’s not clear as to which of her sisters is the mother of this girl.
In Descendants 2 and Rise Of The Isle Of The Lost, Ursula’s daughter, Uma, was introduced. 
Ursula has a sister named Morgana (The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea). Morgana is often very jealous of Ursula because their mother always considered her to be her favorite daughter.
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Thanks to @auradone who pointed it out, there’s a musical that portrays Ursula and Triton as siblings. This means that Ursula (and Morgana) is Ariel’s aunt and Melody’s great aunt. Although to me it’s kind of confusing since they’re both a completely different species. (Honestly I’m not exactly on board with this story line since Ursula and Morgana’s mom was shown above. Definitely doesn’t seem like she’d be related to Triton.)
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Peter Pan
Before, I thought Harriet and CJ were the same person but the confusion was cleared in Rise of the Isle of the Lost that Harriet, Harry, and CJ are apparently siblings (oldest to youngest in that order). Still unsure as to whether or not they all came from the same mother.
I strongly disagree that Peter Pan would have any kids himself. He’s a child and will always be a child, so I highly doubt that he would take on the responsibility of being a parent. EVER. If Disney ever try to shove that bullshit under our nose, I will completely lose ALL faith that they’re going to put any effort into accuracy.
Mr. Smee had a son named Sammy in the 1st novel Isle of the Lost, but has 2 other sons in Descendants 3, Squeaky and Squirmy.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Thanks to @72crowe89 for reminding me that Phoebus and Esmeralda had a son together.
Quasimodo and Madellaine had a happy ending in The Hunchback of Notre Dame ll, so I’m pretty sure they have to get married at some point.
I guess since Frollo was so used to have Quasi as a personal slave (and so abusive towards him), he had to assign that same fate to his daughter (hence her job as the bell ringer at Dragon Hall, the school on the Isle). How sad…
Others
Again, who’s in charge of naming the kids of Disney characters when their “originality” is as dull as a brick?
Clayton has a sister named Lady Waltham who appeared in a spin-off TV show, The Legend of Tarzan. 
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Alice’s sister doesn’t have an official name (it wasn’t even mentioned in the credits), but in a few sources, her name is Mathilda. I just went along with it, because it would look weird if I only put in a nameless sibling.
Pin? JUST PIN?!! THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE LAZIEST NAME EVER. They couldn’t even give him a legit Italian name that starts with a “P”? Are you serious right now?! I pray to God above, that better be just a nickname. This was mentioned in the second novel Return to the Isle of the Lost.
Yzma apparently has her own little family; her mother, Azma, and her two nephews, Zim and Zam, who all appeared in the TV show spin-off The Emperor’s New School. Yzma’s daughter, Yzla, appeared in the books Isle of the Lost and Return To The Isle Of The Lost, while her son, Zevon, appeared in Wicked World.
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auroreflore · 4 years ago
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Snow White & the Big Apple
A long time ago, in a far away land, there was an unhappy family: Snow White, her father, the King, and her awful stepmother. Snow White had a classical unresolved Oedipal syndrome which created the jealousy of the newly Queen. After the King's death, Snow White suffered from her step mother's ill-treatment and life began to suck. Snow White became a slave in her own house, doing all the chores that living a castle implicates: the cooking, the cleaning, the serving, the shopping.
One day, Snow White ran out of the castle with this furious rage inside to pull through. She faked her own death with the help of a guy called The Hunter. He was known for the disappearances of Cinderella to go to the ball, the little mermaid from the ocean and all Bluebeard's wives – he was unfairly accused for their murders while in fact, they all had run away. He was not a serial killer but a terrible husband!. The Hunter gave Snow White a new identity so she could move into the Big Apple. She shortened her name to Snow. She found a place to live and a job in a tavern managed by seven dwarfs. They were hard, tough but they treated her like a princess. She was a hard worker and, step by step, she became executive manager.
Every Friday nights, she even gave singing performances at the tavern. A lot of people came to see her. They spoke about it so much Snow became famous. The news of the great idol of New York City came all over places as far as the evil stepmother's kingdom. When she recognized Snow White, she entered in a huge rage. She had not thought about her daughter-in-law in several months. Wasn't she dead? She wondered. She was ready to do anything to stop envying the girl. The better idea she found at that moment was to kill her. She was determined to do it herself.
She went through a severe surgical intervention for Snow White not to recognize her. She put some cyanide in a beautiful red apple and went to New York. She had heard of the tavern so it wasn't hard for her to find Snow. She waited the end of her shift and followed her in the back. She presented herself as a huge fan who wanted an autograph. Snow seemed flattered, but a little uncomfortable. Then, the evil Queen offered the apple to Snow. It is impolite to refuse a gift so Snow took it.
“What a beautiful fruit,” she said.
“Go ahead and take a bite of it, it is really tasty too”, the Queen answered.
“Maybe later.”
Furious, the Queen insisted, but there was no changing Snow's mind. Finally, Snow said “I'm sorry Gran'ma but after my show I love to eat at McDonald's.” Then she took her coat and took off. Devastated, the Queen bit into the apple and died.
The next day, Snow White was taking a nap in central park when a prince saw her. Lied down on the grass, with the sun shining on her face, she was beautiful than ever and the prince could not resist but to kiss the girl of his dreams. Snow White woke up disturbing in her sleep by this tall, dark stranger. She slapped him in the face and yelled at him:
“What the heck you think are you doing? You think you can kiss a girl just because she can't say anything? You know that is sexual harassment, don't you? And you are so not my type! I prefer Ryan Goslin, you stupid toad!”
Snow was happy but she needed to do more. She had this urge. She wanted to rescue all the women that were in the situation she had delivered herself from. She heard of a lot of them and realised she had to do something for them. She started with this young woman kept locked in a tower since enfancy who, supposingly, had these very long hair she was forbidding to cut. During a particularly dark night, Snow White climbed the tower. She found Rapunzel wraped into her hair, singing crazy stuff about a prince blinded by brambles. Snow spent the night talking to Rapunzel about self-sufficiency, freedom and free will. She described the city and all the opportunities that had presented themselves since she had arrived there such as meeting new people everyday, getting lost in the many streets, finding her true self and having fun. Rapunzel resisted at first:
“What about true love? First kiss? Marriage? Happily ever after?”
“That's the beauty of it!” Snow said. “True love is the love you have for yourself! You can live many good first kisses! You can experience great love and not being tied down by some dude you've met that very day but learn to know the person, develop feelings, have butterflies in your stomac! You can loose, reconquere, break some hearts and have yours broken. You can find peace, find a passion, open your mind onto the world that is so big in comparison to this tower! You can live! And not only a “ever after” and but actually live the present moment!”
Snow revealed herself in her speech and found completion. It took her all night but by the time the sun rose, Rapunzel had tears in her eyes. She felt that, for the first time, she was truly seeing the light. She could not wait to live this great new life which was offered to her. She took a pair of scissors and cut down her hair very shortly. She made a roap out of the hair loss and she and Snow climbed down the tower.
Two years later, Snow White created a feminist association to help all the women waiting for a man to rescue them. The association “Princess in distress” was responsible for the rescue of Cinderella who got herself into a horrible marriage, Sleeping Beauty and many others. Rapunzel, inspired by her own rescue, became involved in the association. She was making the speeches now.
She rescued Sleeping Beauty who was forced to sleep waiting for a man to kiss her. The guy would have taken a hundred years to come to the rescue. The age differential would habe been a reccuring problem in the couple. Everyone would have called Sleeping Beauty a cougar. She was a challenge for Rapunzel. She was uneasy to convince, she was persuated that, as all women, she was supposed to grow up under her father's supervision until she was old enough – let's face it until her fisrt period at age thirteen – for her to live under the supervision of her husband, she was not supposed to be a person on her own but to ever be a “plus one”, a being existing through society because of a man.
“Don't you have a name Sleeping Beauty? Aren't you tired of no one knowing it?”
“I am tired! My name is Aurora! And nobody will forget it ever again!”
The association changed her life for ever. She read Simone de Beauvoir, became aware of her own body, of her own experiences. She became a Femen activist and participated to many feminist protests including one where five of them entered a mosque during a Friday prayer, paraded topless and shouted for women's rights before they were arrested. When the police asked for Aurora's name, she showed them her breasts where she had written “My name is Aurora. My breasts are my weapons.”
Aurora was now well known in the police department. She had been arrested a bunch of times and had spent many nights in jail for a protest or another.
Snow White met Pocahontas at a convention on minorities and discriminations. They fell deeply into a great passion and began to fight for their gender and for the lesbian cause as well. Their love was not perfect, they challenged each other a lot. Pocahontas was vegan and defended the animal cause a great deal.
“Snow! Stop eating dead animals! Don't you have a heart! Can't you see what you're doing?”
“Look! Stop pressuring me! When you almost die because of a poisoned apple, you don't see vegetables the same way! And I love hamburgers, damn it!”
“Oh, not this again! Every argument it comes back, the poisoned apple incident! Snow, we need new toilet paper! Apple incident! You forget our three months anniversary! Apple incident! You kill cows! Apple incident! Can't you give it a break?”
“Incident... INCIDENT! Try attentive murder, you insensitive bitch! And what about carrots? Don't they feel pain too?”
“Oh my Gosh! Are you for real!? For the last time, carrots don't have a nervous system! And all apples are not poisoned! Look!”
Pocahontas grabbed an apple and took a huge bite of it. But the apple got stuck in her throat and she started choking. She was trying to breathe but could not anymore and looked at Snow who had not realized what was going on. Suddenly, Snow saw the distress in Pocahontas' eyes and gave her a heimlich maneuver. Pocahontas spit the piece of apple. The air regained her lungs, the life came back in her eyes.
“See! Apples are dangerous!”
They fell into a deep silence. Everything had been said. The relationship was not working anymore. They were in different places, they could not reach each other anymore. This was to hard. The next day, Pocahontas left. She gained Canada, the great white north, a land of nature and wildness. She became taking actions for what she believed in. One day, she introduced herself into a farming, they were raising minks for their fur. She busted the door open and watched the animals running into the wild. She felt so enlightened and powerful at that moment. Since that moment, she traveled all across the world to teach the values of veganism and deliver animals from their terrible fate.
Rapunzel has become a great orator. She gives conferences as a life coach for women and men. She writes books which inspire millions of readers.
Aurora continues to express her rebellion. She has become a street artist recognized for her tramendous work about discrimination and social conformism.
For her part, Snow continued her actions for all women to find freedom and hapiness in their own selves. Maybe she found love. Maybe she found many loves. Maybe she got married but then again maybe not. The story does not tell because the “ever after” is not over.
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archiveacademics · 5 years ago
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Spotlight: Some retellings
Guys, I have a confession to make. I read...a lot.
Like, so much. Just...books, everywhere, all the time.
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So it’s safe to say I’ve read a lot of retellings in my day and after last week’s discussion about what I deemed “literary fanfic” I’d like to share some of those wonderful retellings with you. For the sake of not making this blog post a mile long, I’m sticking solely to fairy tale retellings and even then, there’s a lot of them. Many of them are YA, but don’t let that distract you, these are well written and well loved books.
Series Retellings
I’d like to start off with a series called “Once Upon a Time is Timeless Once Again” put out by Simon and Schuster. It’s a wonderful set of books written by a few different authors covering a number of different fairy tales. There’s a Sleeping Beauty who defies her fate and goes on an adventure, a Cinderella who grows pumpkins on her mother’s grave, the Frog Prince set during WWII, and other retellings of tales you might not know as well like Shahrazad from the 1001 Nights and story of The Magic Flute.
What I love about these books is the creativity that goes into the retellings. I guess that’s kind of what I love about all retellings, but it’s hard to pinpoint just one thing over the course of so many books, so I’ll leave my praise a bit generic. 
Next is The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker. First in a series of books about an adventurous, clumsy, magic using princess who breaks all the rules her mother sets about what it means to be a princess. This book came before the Disney movie, but has a similar beginning: Princess kisses frog and turns into a frog herself. From there, it takes a very different turn from the movie. The two hapless frogs journey from the swamp back to the castle and along the way make lots of new friends, including a dragon and a talking bat. It’s cute and fun and there’s numerous sequels, though they’re not really retellings themselves, just continued adventures. 
The Wide-Awake Princess by E. D. Baker, however, does continue its fairy tale retelling theme through the rest of the series. The main character is Sleeping Beauty’s younger sister, on whom magic does not work. When her sister is pricked by a spindle it’s up to Annie to gather together a bunch of princes and bring them to her sister, in the hopes that one is her sister’s true love. Each successive book sees Annie taking on adventures in the realm of fairy tales from Snow White to Rose Red.
Jessica Day George has written many wonderful books, including Princess of the Midnight Ball, a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses. There are three books in the series about the twelve daughters of a widowed king who fight against the goblins and witches that want to destroy their happiness and take over their world.
If you’re a fan of Ella Enchanted (which I’ll get to later) then you know that Gail Carson Levine is a talented author. She also wrote a series of short books called The Princess Tales and they are simply delightful. From a fairy who gives a blessing that turns into a curse and vice versa, to a girl so obsessed with parsley she eats it until her teeth turn green, the characters in the Princess Tales are not what you expect out of a fairy tale, and yet they are just what they need to be. (My personal favorite is Cinderellis and the Glass Hill.)
Last but by no means least there’s The Lunar Chronicles, begun by the Cinderella retelling, Cinder. The Lunar Chronicles are a futuristic sci-fi masterpiece that bring us a cyborg Cinderella, freedom fighter Red Riding Hood, computer hacker Rapunzel, and alien princess Snow White. I honestly cannot recommend this series enough, it is so well done and quite fun to read.
Cinderella retellings
Ella Enchanted might have been one of the first times I ever read a book and realized it was a retelling of a fairy tale. I was absolutely delighted and perhaps a bit obsessed. But this book still holds a special place in my heart and if you’ve never read I insist you must (even if you’ve seen the movie because, well, there’s just no comparison!)
Do you like choose your own adventure stories? Do you like fairy tales? Then boy howdy are you going to love Maureen McGowan. Cinderella: Ninja Warrior is the choose your own adventure you never knew you needed in your life! It does exactly what it says on the tin, and it is so much fun to go through all the different options and see what happens.
And finally, if you want a little bit more LGBT in your life, I’d suggest Ash by Malinda Lo. It’s a beautiful tale and well worth a read. 
Sleeping Beauty retellings
If you want a more modern retelling, A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn is great. Sleeping Beauty wakes up alright, right into the modern era. It’s told, at least partially, from the point of view of the hapless teen who managed to kiss her awake, only to end up having to take care of her and teach her the modern world.
Princess of Thorns, by Stacey Jay is based more on the original Italian version of Sleeping Beauty than the one you might be used to. There’s an Ogre and twin children, and lots of adventures.
Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert is a great coming of age story about a princess struggling to find her place when everything she’s known is suddenly ripped away.
Adult retellings
So all of these books are YA, but I wanted to include a few more adult retellings.
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card is a fascinating retelling of Sleeping Beauty that span continents and centuries. There’s time travel and Russia and Baba Yaga and a bear...I could go on and on about the delights of this book.
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines is the first book of series that, according to Goodreads is apparently just called “Princess”? Either way, its a great mish-mash of different fairy tales and wonderful adventures. When Prince Charming goes missing, who better to find him than his beloved Cinderella?
And finally we’ve got the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey, one of my all time favorites. The first book is called The Fairy Godmother and tells the story of a Cinderella whose prince was too young. Magic has a way of forcing things to go it’s way, though, so who better to take the poor girl in as her apprentice than her very own fairy godmother?
And with that, I’ll stop throwing books at you.
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So...that was just a really long list of books that I think are cool. I could list so many more. I really just adore fairy tale retellings. But this could have been a list of mythology retellings as well...
Speaking of which...I’ve actually written a couple retellings myself. It feels a bit self-important to link to them here, but...
Witches and Wolves
Cassandra
One is a fairy tale retelling, and one a mythology retelling, based on the Trojan War. 
You get bonus points if you can tell me which fairy tale the other story is based on.
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