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Two more Princesses were added to the list today. Read more on the blog. Follow us to stay up to date with all the Pixar Princess selections

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A Bug’s Life Princesses

Moving right along through the Pixar universe, we come to A Bug’s Life. Now, just eliminating the species discrimination of Disney Princesses gives us two Princesses in A Bug’s Life. Princess Atta and Dot are both female main characters in a Disney animated movie who are born royal, therefore they are both Pixar Princesses. Let’s look closer at why they are role models and are truly deserving of the title though.

Princess Atta is methodical and determined. While she might be set in the old ways, she is determined to be the best and lead the colony in the best way she knows how. She may not show the same creativity as Flik does or the same grit that her mother does as queen in the beginning, but throughout the movie she shows growth and the ability to change for the better. When the “warrior bugs” come to her with an idea, she is open to trying it and it able to organize the whole colony’s efforts towards making the bird. When she sees Flik going into the bird, and the bug circus begins performing for the grasshoppers, she doesn’t stop them and pretends like it was all part of the plan. And when everything seems to be crashing down and Hopper is going to squish Flik, she steps in and stands up for him. She may not be perfect, but when it comes down to it, she stands up for her friends and for what she believes to be right. That bravery and determination make Princess Atta a true Pixar Princess. (also, bonus points for becoming queen during the movie)

Dot is feisty and ambitious. She never lets her size get her down, and is always there to help out when her friends need her. She has faith in Flik even before anyone else sees his potential. When dot finds out that Hopper plans on killing her mother, she flees safety to get help from Flik and the circus bugs. She puts the safety of her family above her own safety. She is also able to help Flik see his value and teaches us to never underestimate anyone for being different. She convinces the other blueberries to help her fly the bird at the end, and is always working to make life better for the whole colony. She may be little, but she is fierce and will never let her size keep her from doing anything. She teaches us all that our dreams and goals are much more important than our limitations, and that is what makes her an amazing Pixar Princess.

Pretend it’s a seed. Okay?- Dot

-Pixar Princess

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Our first Pixar Princess: Mrs. Davis from Toy Story. Read the full explanation for why she’s a Princess on the blog, and follow along for our other selections.

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Toy Story’s Princess

Starting off our Pixar Princess search is Toy Story. Now if we follow the rules of only coming from the original movie then Jesse is out because she isn’t introduced until the second film. That really only leaves us with two contenders: Bo Peep and Mrs. Davis. Bo Peep largely plays the role of a damsel in distress and is mostly replaced as Woody’s counterpart/ love interest after the first film. While she sort of fits the archetype of the oldest Disney Princesses, she wouldn’t really be considered a role model now so she’s out. That leaves us with Mrs. Davis, and while she may seem an unconventional princesses at first, after closer examination we think her courage and spirit will show through as being more than worthy of being our first Pixar Princess.

While it has been hinted that we may learn more about Mrs. Davis’ backstory in Toy Story 4, we are going to work with our current knowledge of her character. Also, it is worth noting that Pete Docter has discredited the idea of Mrs. Davis also being Emily (Jesse’s original owner), so we will not be using this element of The Pixar Theory as a factor in our decisions about Mrs. Davis.

Let’s start with what we know about Mrs. Davis. First, she was married and is Andy and Molly’s mom. I say was married because she doesn’t wear a wedding ring and Andy’s father never appears in any of the Toy Story films. Pixar is so detail oriented that there details had to have been intentionally omitted. Molly being around gives us some indication that the split between Andy’s parents was recent. The lack of pictures of him around the house, and his absence at graduation in Toy Story 3 suggests that it wasn’t a pretty split and that he may have just walked out.  If we look at the rest of the movie’s events through Mrs. Davis’ eyes, it becomes a story of a single mother’s courage, grace, and dignity in providing for her children no matter what.

The first big thing that happens in the movie is Andy’s birthday party, which is happening a week before his birthday so he can celebrate with his friends. Moving is incredible stressful, and while it seems that they are moving within the same town, it seems like they are at the very least switching schools. Mrs. Davis having the presence of mind to throw her kid’s birthday party before they move so he can see all of his friends shows a lot of grace and selflessness. It does happen a week before they are moving, which has to be stressful with packing and preparing for a move. Mrs. Davis shows that she is putting her kid first and that he is her motivation for everything she does throughout the movie.

Second, at the birthday party, she gifts him a Buzz Lightyear. This is a strange gift for a kid who has been obsessed with cowboys since kindergarten. However, the timeline of being obsessed with cowboys since kindergarten does line up with Woody being one of the lasts gifts Andy got from his father before he walked out. Mrs. Davis is resourceful in using Buzz Lightyear to try and get rid of some of the painful memories of her husband leaving. She also shows great patience in that she doesn’t throw Woody out or make Andy give him up even though he must be a painful reminder for her. She shows integrity when Al tries to buy Woody at the garage sale, and she also shows great understanding and empathy for how Andy would feel if she got rid of Woody. This again shows great selflessness and compassion from Mrs. Davis.

Third, they are getting ready for a move, and she still finds ways to celebrate and enjoy time with Andy. They go to Pizza Planet which must be noisy, hectic, and result in constant begging for tokens to play games and overall seems like a stressful place to take a kid. But, even after a long day, Mrs. Davis sees the importance of making the move a positive experience for Andy. Again we see that he is her motivation for everything she does, and that she will do anything to protect him and make his transition as smooth as possible. This is also evident at the end of the movie when she gets him a puppy.

So how does she stack up in the criteria of becoming a Pixar Princess? She is a female main character in an animated movie and is not introduced in a sequel. As for our second main requirement: an act of heroism? Let’s see. She shows strength and resilence when faced with adversity. She shows integrity, selflessness and compassion in caring for Andy. She never speaks an unkind word, even when faced with great stress and pressure to do so. She puts her kids’ needs above her own and does what’s best to support her family even if it may be difficult. These might seem small, but courage and heroism aren’t always big decisions, in fact, more often than not, heroism is made up of small choices made by ordinary people in the hopes of making the world a better place. By that standard, I think Mrs. Davis passes the Princess test with flying colors.

To Infinity and Beyond!

-Pixar Princess

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The Pixar Princess

When it comes to Disney movies, two groups really stand above the rest as the elite. First, the Disney Princesses. And second, Pixar. Both of these elite groups have become synonymous with success and greatness. So it begs the question: why are there not more Disney Princesses to come from Pixar movies? After all, Merida is the only one from a Pixar movie to have gained the title of Disney Princess.

I think a lot of this has to do with the selection criteria (both official and unofficial) to become a Disney Princess. Disney champions many of the females from Pixar movies as being great characters who are strong willed and successful, and yet they still don’t make the cut of being a Disney Princess. Why is that? Let’s look at the criteria to become a Disney Princess and evaluate from there.

The Disney Princess franchise was founded in the early 2000s, even though many of the princesses have been along much longer than that. So let’s keep in mind that the only Pixar movies (or series) out at this time were Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Monsters inc. (though I think it’s a safe bet that Finding Nemo was well in the works at the time of official Princess selection, so we will leave it on the fence for now.) It will become important that these were the movies from Pixar that were out in a moment as we go through the official Princess requirements.

To be considered as a Disney Princess, a character must meet all of the following.

·         Must be human (unless you’re a mermaid *Ariel*)

·         Must be the lead in a fully animated Disney movie

·         Must be introduced in the first movie of a series, NOT a sequel

Now these first three criteria are interesting because, obviously an exception was made for Ariel, but no other exceptions have been made to this rule regardless of the qualifications of a non-human character. This rule is also interesting because at the time it worked against maybe 7 or 8 total films from the history of Disney until that point, but worked against 3 or potentially all 4 of the Pixar movies out at the time. This may not seem like a big deal, but it largely has set a precedent for a lack of Pixar representation on the Princess list because many of Pixar’s movies do feature strong non-human characters. It is also interesting because looking at the movies made since this point, many of Disney’s non-Pixar films now also feature strong non-human leads meaning that there has been a lack of human characters to pick new princesses from over the past 15 years. For the Pixar Princesses, all female characters will be considered, regardless of species.

The second criteria is currently irrelevant for Pixar Princesses because no live action, animated cross overs have yet to happen for Pixar. In the greater Disney universe this largely just affects Giselle from Enchanted.

While the third criteria poses some problems for Pixar princesses because Pixar makes a lot of good sequels with very strong female leads, it is not an impossible task to find strong females in the first films of a series, so we will try out best to stick with just those female characters introduced in the first movie of a series.

Now, these are only the starting points to be considered as a Disney Princess, and a lot of characters still meet theses. So, some additional criteria must be met for final consideration. Luckily, Disney Princesses only have to meet one of these criteria to stay in the running:

·         Must be born royal

·         Must marry royal

·         Must perform an act of Heroism (the Mulan rule)

Now, the first two of these are pretty simple, and since Pixar largely takes place in a world without royalty, these two criteria don’t work very well for Pixar Princesses.

However, the third criteria (the Mulan rule) allows some wiggle room. The act of heroism requirement seems to exist solely for the purpose of including Mulan as a Disney Princess. After all, all of the other Princesses qualify through one of the first two criteria. Mulan’s act of heroism was saving China, but our Pixar Princesses will show some smaller acts of heroism that might be more relatable to the average person.

There are also a couple of unspoken criteria that seem to be in place that is evident through the exclusion of certain characters who meet all of the above requirements, and have still not been awarded the title of Disney Princess. These are:

·         Box office success

·         Movie targeted at girls

Box office success is not a problem for any of our Pixar Princesses, but it seems a little shallow a criteria to be using anyway. As for movies being targeted at girls instead of boys, these is a little tougher, because while Pixar films are so widely relatable to so many people, I think it is still obvious that many of the Pixar films were largely geared toward boys instead of girls. But in the interest of diversifying and broadening our gender roles, our Pixar Princesses will come from all Pixar movies no matter who the “intended” audience.

Lastly, I think it is important to consider the Disney Princesses are largely chosen because of their abilities as role models, and their capacity to make kids think the best of themselves and believe in their dreams. Pixar Princesses may not fit the mold of what traditional Princesses may be made of, but they are some of the most relatable role models out there, and together I hope they can help us redefine what it means to be a Princess.

 -Pixar Princess