disneyboy20022 wrote:http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/nostalgi ... te-6558321
The Nostalgia Critic takes a look at the Disney Princess Line or rather Princesses in general. I figured I'd just post it in this thread since it would be silly to post it in a new thread
I thought his reasons were very good and well thought out
He does indeed make some good reasons in both favor and against the princess issue. I, however, must note a few things missing in his argument:
1) He should have mentioned that while Vanellope does indeed become a princess once King Candy is destroyed, she DOES strip herself of the title and the poofy dress that comes with it just to be herself and jokes with the princess concept, so that is an advancement at the very least and should have been noted.
2) The examples he mentions about stronger, non-princess female role models are aimed at an older audience, while the princess fad is usually aimed at girls age pre-school till they are 7 or 8, that's when they move onto something else (not saying that girls can't enjoy princess things till much longer, just saying that most of the merchandise and such is aimed at younger girls). Katniss can work as a young female model since her stories are aimed at that audience, but characters like Black Widow are usually relegated as cheesecake, and at their worst they are the male fantasy equivalent of a strong independent woman (ie lots of ass and cheesecake shots, stays behind the stronger male character). Movie Black Widow was indeed a great character, but most of the time she is overshadowed by the wit, strenght and cool factor of the male characters. It IS something, but again not quite there yet.
3) When he talks about good queens in fiction, he forgets a number of them. For example, the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland, Elinor from Brave (yeah, she was part of the conflict, but she did not appear to be the OMG EVIL MEGALOMANIAC stereotype most queens are associated with, all she did was in protection of the kingdom and her family), Queen Miranda from Sofia the First (she is a loving queen that is very caring towards her stepchildren, and on the pilot movie she says "I know there are not many stories about kind hearted stepmothers, but I hope to fix that"), Queen Amidala/Padme from Star Wars (not THE best example, but it is something) among others.
I WILL, however, agree with him about how people have these silly associations with monarchy and there should be variety in character development. A king can be evil, a princess just and a strong ruler and the queen nice and passive. Seeing this also makes me realize why many people hate the Disney Princess line: it puts a label on the Disney characters. He makes a great point about how the Disney princess virtues apply to many of their non-princess characters, yet it is the princesses that get the most criticism. While indeed there have always been comments about fairy tales in general, I think they attack the Disney Princesses because of the princess stigma that has been attached to them.
Like... raise your hand if any of you guys loved the likes of Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Pocahontas and Mulan BEFORE they were princesses...
Exactly. We knew these characters long before they were "princesses", and we loved them for their virtues, passions and likability. Heck, the famous princess gowns they now constantly wear only appeared in small scenes (though pivotal ones), and we knew Belle mostly as her blue wearing bookworm, Ariel the rebel mermaid, Cinderella the chambermaid with a dream and Mulan as the lovely warrior. Putting the princess title on them, and then advertising them as princesses, it is no surprise that many attack them because of the princess stigma.
