Disney Princesses curiosities

[JeanGreyForever]

Esmeralda wasn't called that in the book because of her eyes. She had an emerald amulet that she was noticeable for so that's why she was dubbed La Esmeralda. From what I remember, that amulet was the only link she had to her birth mother who she is reunited with only at the end of the book. I think there was also a subplot where she was willing to give up her amulet to lose her virginity to Phoebus or if not the amulet, she was willing to give up on finding her mother because she had made a vow to God that she would always remain pure and virginal in order to be reunited with her.

Also in the book, Quasimodo is the real Romani child who is swapped with Esmeralda. Because of his deformities, he is abandoned and they pick out Esmeralda to replace him because she is a beautiful child.

As for the DP Franchise, I'm very upset too Thumper_93 that Esmeralda was removed from the lineup and I think she's a remarkable character and one of the strongest Disney role models. I almost wish they had removed her in this current day and age because Disney would never have been able to get away with it now. She's easily the most popular Disney girl who is not an official Disney Princess (excluding Alice, Tinker Bell, or the Frozen sisters) and she's beloved in Europe and Asia and from what thedisneyspirit told me, she's also well loved in South America as well. I think only in North America, she's not a very big character because Hunchback isn't a very American story. The same reason that Hunchback was a huge film in all these other regions and territories but never as beloved in the U.S.

As for Jane, it's a shame that Disney no longer has the rights to Tarzan (or John Carter for that matter). I'm sure that's why Disney didn't bother making her a princess since those early magazines did introduce her as the latest princess. Esmeralda and Jane both have name recognition, unlike Megara. I've heard at the Parks that when Meg walks around, most park goers have no idea who she is and while Hercules is a universally recognized name, the same cannot be said for Megara.

[Disney Duster]

My guess is because she isn’t a Princess and she’s a secondary character in the film she stars in. It’s Quasi’s movie ultimately and I think if they kept Esmeralda, Meg, Jane, Kida etc. the line could become crowded with too many characters and a little confusing as to having the “Princess” brand full of Disney female characters that aren’t all (technically) Princesses. The bulk of the line includes Princesses with the exception of Mulan (possibly Pocahontas) but they are the starring role in their respective movies and not a secondary character and Disney probably kept them in to keep the line ethnically diverse. Otherwise it would be primarily white Princesses with the exception of Jasmine and Tiana.

It's THIS guys.

All the princesses are actual princesses except for Mulan and arguably Pocahontas.

It has to do with a combination of being actual princesses, being princessy (like being about grace, love, beauty, and poofy dresses), popularity, and ethnic diversity. But above them all is being princessy. Something that feels fits the Disney Princess line.

[DisneyBluLife]

I think the Princess line is too crowded already.

I think Merida you could easily take out of the franschise without people getting angry. And if you look back at how many princesses they have made during these recent years, I think she was an unnecessary member to the line-up.

And maybe they could push the marketing for Rapunzel, Merida and Moana to be their own franschises. I think it was a good thing to keep Elena, Sofia the First, Elsa and Anna as their own franschises.

Charlotte from Princess and the frog is a character that screams "typical Disney Princess member". Quirky, funny, beautiful and love pretty dresses.
Jasmine from Aladdin is an example that a sidekick can be a member of the Princess franschise.

[Thumper_93]

For me Elena and Sofia doesn't deserve be part of any princess line or franchise. They're going to be forgotten in a couple of years and they don't have enought personality. In my opinion Esmeralda is much better than other princesses like Moana, Rapunzel or even Tiana.

About that Esmeralda is not a princess well..that's true but Mulan is not a princess and she is inside. Mulan saved China, Esmeralda made possible that Quasimodo was beloved in paris, she was the cause of a revolution and she changed the mind of all Paris and she did it fighting against a man that corrupted the justice. She deserves being part of the franchise as Mulan did. In Europe we love her so much.
About Pocahontas She's de daughter of a chief. This was the most important rangue in the native-american culture. She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess. Tiana is a consort princess but in the USA there's no monarchy so she's not an american princess, she would be a Princess in Naveen's country like Grace Kelly was princess of Monaco.

Merida should be out of the franchise.

[blackcauldron85]

^ Tiana's as much a princess as Belle and Cinderella, because she marries Naveen. (I did have to look up what consort princess means, and yup, all 3 fit the description.)

[Farerb]

I don't think being in the franchise makes the characters more "worthy" to be honest. It's a financial decision, not who's better than who, especially not their personalities, which the franchise itself sort of disregards.

[blackcauldron85]

She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess. Tiana is a consort princess but in the USA there's no monarchy so she's not an american princess, she would be a Princess in Naveen's country like Grace Kelly was princess of Monaco.

^ Tiana's as much a princess as Belle and Cinderella, because she marries Naveen. (I did have to look up what consort princess means, and yup, all 3 fit the description.)

I had just woken up when I read your post and then replied, but re-reading it, I missed that obviously Cinderella and Belle are not American...but I guess it's like Princess Meghan now, right?

[Thumper_93]

She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess. Tiana is a consort princess but in the USA there's no monarchy so she's not an american princess, she would be a Princess in Naveen's country like Grace Kelly was princess of Monaco.

^ Tiana's as much a princess as Belle and Cinderella, because she marries Naveen. (I did have to look up what consort princess means, and yup, all 3 fit the description.)

I had just woken up when I read your post and then replied, but re-reading it, I missed that obviously Cinderella and Belle are not American...but I guess it's like Princess Meghan now, right?

Meghan was princess in England, she's not a princess in USA because there's not monarchy in the USA. She's american but she's not an American princess, She's princess of england, that's all. A consort is a person that get married with someone who's part of the monarchy. This person is part of the monarchy, a princess or a prince, but this person is not so important. Tiana is a consort princess, she's not part of a royal family, she's just get married with naveen. This marriage makes her princess but she's not an american princess, she's an american that's a princess of another country. Pocahontas is the only american princess. She's part of a "royal" tribe, the daughter of the ruler.

These are the princess that are princess because of her marriage: Cinderella, Belle, Tiana.

[Thumper_93]

Sorry, I forgot that Meghan is not a Princess. She's a duchess but she's also a consort duchess because She wasn't born as a duchess. Kate for example is the duchess of cambridge but she's also a consort. It means that the ruller will be William and not her.

[Farerb]

Sorry, I forgot that Meghan is not a Princess. She's a duchess but she's also a consort duchess because She wasn't born as a duchess. Kate for example is the duchess of cambridge but she's also a consort. It means that the ruller will be William and not her.

She also has the title "Princess of the United Kingdom".

[universALLove]

I don't think being in the franchise makes the characters more "worthy" to be honest. It's a financial decision, not who's better than who, especially not their personalities, which the franchise itself sort of disregards.

I agree. Especially in terms of popularity. As much as I love Esmeralda (as you can tell from the avatar ) and would like for her to be apart of the lineup as we’d get more merchandise etc. of her which would be appreciated, I sort of understand why she’s not included. You have to bare in mind as well that all of the Princesses included in the line are instantly recognisable and whilst Hunchback does have it’s fan base (myself included), especially for the generation growing up during the Renaissance but it’s pretty much swept under the rug and forgotten about because of its adult themes and is more controversial than the bulk of the Disney Princess films included in the line. It’s overwhelming underrated in the cannon in terms of promotion and mass popularity. Would young audiences born in the mid millennium recognise her or Megara etc. as much as say Tiana or Rapunzel for instance or the more popular Princesses like Ariel and Cinderella that have had multiple home releases. Disney seems to forget about Hunchback and Hercules which is sad, both have only received 1 release pretty much on each format (1 VHS, 1 Laserdisc, 1 DVD, 1 Blu-Ray) and that’s it. Even the not so popular Princesses like Pocahontas has had numerous home releases, a special anniversary edition in 2005, musical masterpiece (in the U.K.), standard releases again on each format, two movie collection in North America and re-released without the sequel but with digital code. Hunchback hasn’t had any of that treatment, not even a re-release in 2006 for a 2-disc anniversary edition.

[DisneyBluLife]

I think Disney for a very long time did not make any efforts to educate children as to why you should have the princesses as rolemodels, their values that they can teach them besides "be kind". In recent years from around 2016 and onward they have realised this and are trying to push it, with "everyone can be a princess" campaign. With values like "brave, bold, curious, out-spoken". Words you never heard from the franschise during the 2000s.

I think the Princess brand would have been more positive if Disney had that mind set from the very start.

But for a very long time it was just "look how pretty they are, girls", "nice dresses", "pink and glitter" .

[Disney's Divinity]

I think the Princess line is too crowded already.

I think Merida you could easily take out of the franschise without people getting angry. And if you look back at how many princesses they have made during these recent years, I think she was an unnecessary member to the line-up.

I agree completely on both of these things. Merida is the one they could most easily remove from the lineup. They already have characters that are tomboys like she is and they also have a redhead, too. I would be surprised if Merida was popular enough to justify keeping when the line is so crowded. Before this thread, I would have expected Pocahontas to get phased out over time, too, since they already have more diversity thanks to Tiana and Moana from the Revival now (and Raya to come soon), and Pocahontas (the film) has always been controversial. Finding out the character sells pretty well explains why she's still around now.

If Disney were just to accept the fact the line is going to be crowded now regardless and embraced it, I'd love for Charlotte (and some others like Meg, Alice, Lilo, Kida, etc.) to be in it, too.

[Disney Duster]

I think the Princess line is too crowded already.

I think Merida you could easily take out of the franschise without people getting angry. And if you look back at how many princesses they have made during these recent years, I think she was an unnecessary member to the line-up.

And maybe they could push the marketing for Rapunzel, Merida and Moana to be their own franschises. I think it was a good thing to keep Elena, Sofia the First, Elsa and Anna as their own franschises.

Charlotte from Princess and the frog is a character that screams "typical Disney Princess member". Quirky, funny, beautiful and love pretty dresses.
Jasmine from Aladdin is an example that a sidekick can be a member of the Princess franschise.

It is too crowded.

I think Merida should never be in. She's not Disney she's Pixar.

Charlotte is not a serious character. I forgot to mention the princesses have to also be serious characters.

For me Elena and Sofia doesn't deserve be part of any princess line or franchise. They're going to be forgotten in a couple of years and they don't have enought personality. In my opinion Esmeralda is much better than other princesses like Moana, Rapunzel or even Tiana.

I forgot to say that, like Sotiris said, they have to be a certain age, at least teenagers. Oh, and also they have to be from movies.

About that Esmeralda is not a princess well..that's true but Mulan is not a princess and she is inside. Mulan saved China, Esmeralda made possible that Quasimodo was beloved in paris, she was the cause of a revolution and she changed the mind of all Paris and she did it fighting against a man that corrupted the justice. She deserves being part of the franchise as Mulan did. In Europe we love her so much.

Mulan should not be in the franchise. She is just in to represent Asian diversity.

About Pocahontas She's de daughter of a chief. This was the most important rangue in the native-american culture. She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess.

Well being the daughter of the President doesn't make you a princess either.

[Sotiris]

I think Merida you could easily take out of the franschise without people getting angry.

People would definitely be angry. You're underestimating online outrage culture. I think it would draw a huge backlash. People would accuse Disney of being sexist for removing the only princess who's a tomboy, doesn't sing and doesn't have a love interest. It would open a whole can of worms.

And maybe they could push the marketing for Rapunzel, Merida and Moana to be their own franschises.

They already tried that with Moana and failed. After Frozen became its own franchise, they wanted to see if Moana could do the same. That's why it took them so long to add her to the line-up. The timeframe from the film's premiere to induction was much longer than all of the other recent additions (Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida). What's weird is that they never gave her a coronation ceremony. It was planned according to some tie-in books, but apparently they opted against it. I never understood why they didn't follow through with it. It would have been great promotion for the new DP products that featured her.

I think it was a good thing to keep Elena, Sofia the First, Elsa and Anna as their own franschises.

As you may know, Disney initially had plans to include both sisters in the line-up until the movie became a phenomenon and a merchandise juggernaut. To my knowledge, there were never plans for either Sofia or Elena to join. It must have been because they were characters from TV shows and not theatrical films. I'm glad they weren't added as that would have created even more inconsistency within the franchise.

About that Esmeralda is not a princess well..that's true but Mulan is not a princess and she is inside. Mulan saved China, Esmeralda made possible that Quasimodo was beloved in paris, she was the cause of a revolution and she changed the mind of all Paris and she did it fighting against a man that corrupted the justice. She deserves being part of the franchise as Mulan did. In Europe we love her so much.

Agreed. From all the characters that could have joined the franchise, Esmeralda is the most suitable one. If it were up to me, I'd include her, Kida, Megara, Jane (and maybe Nani). For me, it's not that important for the characters to be royalty.

About Pocahontas She's de daughter of a chief. This was the most important rangue in the native-american culture. She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess.

Yes, I always find it low-key racist or at least Eurocentric when people dismiss Pocahontas as a princess. Just because she doesn't have the markers of Western princesses like palaces, tiaras, and puffy dresses, doesn't mean she isn't princess. Powhatan was given the designation of chief instead of king by the colonizers solely for political reasons. It was done so to assert the power of the King of England over them. And despite that, he was still referred to as king and Pocahontas as princess in some texts of the time. Unlike some other chiefdoms that elected their leaders, Powhatan inherited his tribe from his father making him a de facto monarch.

I think Disney for a very long time did not make any efforts to educate children as to why you should have the princesses as rolemodels, their values that they can teach them besides "be kind". In recent years from around 2016 and onward they have realised this and are trying to push it, with "everyone can be a princess" campaign. With values like "brave, bold, curious, out-spoken". Words you never heard from the franschise during the 2000s. I think the Princess brand would have been more positive if Disney had that mind set from the very start. But for a very long time it was just "look how pretty they are, girls", "nice dresses", "pink and glitter" .

That's true. They should have focused on the characters' positive qualities from the start. It would have helped minimize the criticisms hurled against the franchise, especially during the mid '00s. I remember in particular the New York Times article "What's Wrong With Cinderella?" being quite influential and the subject of heated discussion in online communities.

[Farerb]

That's a shame cause I think you can learn a lot from Cinderella about how to keep being good natured and kind while people treat you terribly. There's more strength in that than in devolving into being petty and spiteful.

[DisneyBluLife]

They are so many princesses that you can't get them all in one gift set. I thought Merida would be the easiest to take out, because I do not hear any complaints from products like this one.
https://www.shopdisney.com/disney-princ ... 24000.html

[blackcauldron85]

^ They let Tiana wear her blue dress there! I'm almost surprised they didn't let Aurora have her blue dress there, too!

[JeanGreyForever]

They are so many princesses that you can't get them all in one gift set. I thought Merida would be the easiest to take out, because I do not hear any complaints from products like this one.
https://www.shopdisney.com/disney-princ ... 24000.html

A lot of recent Disney Princess merchandise such as that doll set features Moana replacing Merida. If there wasn't a big proclamation about it like with the redesigns, Disney could probably get away with phasing out Merida especially if they continue to make products of her from Brave alone rather than Disney Princess products with Merida featured alongside the other girls.

For me Elena and Sofia doesn't deserve be part of any princess line or franchise. They're going to be forgotten in a couple of years and they don't have enought personality. In my opinion Esmeralda is much better than other princesses like Moana, Rapunzel or even Tiana.

About that Esmeralda is not a princess well..that's true but Mulan is not a princess and she is inside. Mulan saved China, Esmeralda made possible that Quasimodo was beloved in paris, she was the cause of a revolution and she changed the mind of all Paris and she did it fighting against a man that corrupted the justice. She deserves being part of the franchise as Mulan did. In Europe we love her so much.
About Pocahontas She's de daughter of a chief. This was the most important rangue in the native-american culture. She is a "Princess" like Moana and She's the only and truthly North-american Princess. Tiana is a consort princess but in the USA there's no monarchy so she's not an american princess, she would be a Princess in Naveen's country like Grace Kelly was princess of Monaco.

Merida should be out of the franchise.

I completely agree with all of this. If Mulan can be in the lineup, then there's no excuse to exclude Esmeralda for not being a real princess. Especially when some live-action adaptations of Hunchback had Phoebus presenting Esmeralda as a princess to the royal court. And I especially agree that Pocahontas is the only "American princess."

[JeanGreyForever]

I don't think being in the franchise makes the characters more "worthy" to be honest. It's a financial decision, not who's better than who, especially not their personalities, which the franchise itself sort of disregards.

I agree. Especially in terms of popularity. As much as I love Esmeralda (as you can tell from the avatar ) and would like for her to be apart of the lineup as we’d get more merchandise etc. of her which would be appreciated, I sort of understand why she’s not included. You have to bare in mind as well that all of the Princesses included in the line are instantly recognisable and whilst Hunchback does have it’s fan base (myself included), especially for the generation growing up during the Renaissance but it’s pretty much swept under the rug and forgotten about because of its adult themes and is more controversial than the bulk of the Disney Princess films included in the line. It’s overwhelming underrated in the cannon in terms of promotion and mass popularity. Would young audiences born in the mid millennium recognise her or Megara etc. as much as say Tiana or Rapunzel for instance or the more popular Princesses like Ariel and Cinderella that have had multiple home releases. Disney seems to forget about Hunchback and Hercules which is sad, both have only received 1 release pretty much on each format (1 VHS, 1 Laserdisc, 1 DVD, 1 Blu-Ray) and that’s it. Even the not so popular Princesses like Pocahontas has had numerous home releases, a special anniversary edition in 2005, musical masterpiece (in the U.K.), standard releases again on each format, two movie collection in North America and re-released without the sequel but with digital code. Hunchback hasn’t had any of that treatment, not even a re-release in 2006 for a 2-disc anniversary edition.

Which is also why I find it so astonishing that Esmeralda is as recognizable and iconic as she is when Disney has made every effort to undermine her existence and her film's existence. And while she's not a huge character in America (although Disneyland replaced Tiana in Fantasmic with Esmeralda), she's very popular in other regions like Europe and Japan. You can find merchandise for her in Japan's Disney Store whereas you'll never see anything with Merida, Mulan, or Tiana. Esmeralda also has name recognition for being an iconic literary character so even if your mind doesn't jump to the Disney character first, you'll still likely know who she is based on the book, film adaptations, musical, ballet, and Notre Dame itself. When Notre Dame had that tragic accident sometime back, Disney's Hunchback was the #1 streaming movie so clearly there is an audience for this film and Esmeralda. Meg has never had the same level as recognition which is why even in the late 90s/early 2000s, she was rarely ever featured alongside the other princesses. Pocahontas gets flack as a film but it's still fairly popular and iconic even if not outright beloved. Hunchback may not have gotten as many North American releases as Pocahontas but it's pretty consistent in other countries which once more goes to show that Hunchback and Esmeralda are beloved properties if you look globally rather than just at the US.