Are the Disney Princesses Bad for our Children?

[Ariel'sprince]

Well,the Princesses are heroines of animated films,not role models for little girls,they"re not Barbie or Miss Universe,but they"re better role models then Bratz or celebrities.
Anyone knows about the What's Wrong With Cinderella artical? (It's similar,thought more annyoing sometimes ("When Mulan shows up she's dressed in a dress that made her miserable","I"m worried what playing Little Mermaid might teach her" and "What on earth is that covring Cinderella's ears?").

[Someday...]

Cinderella's hair is covering hre ears, the circle in the headband is lower than the ears
as far as I can see from the movie

[Ariel'sprince]

I don't think she knows that if she's afraid that her daughter is dressing up as Ariel.

[Someday...]

Ive always wondered why people assume Cinderella is dumb.

I imagine, as the child of a nobleman, that cinderella would have had some form of tutering. She seems to know some history (she calls gus octavius, a roan emporor), and actually uses sarcasm.
But then advertising cinderella does seem to be in the public eye more

[UmbrellaFish]

I was five before I even saw the movie, so I always assumed she was rather dumb... I think her sarcasm is probably my favorite character trait of any of the princesses.

[Ariel'sprince]

Because they never seen the movie.
Cinderella is really smart,she used her brain to get out of her locket room,she kept the slipper and persevered to get her happily ever after.

[Disney Duster]

Because they never seen the movie.
Cinderella is really smart,she used her brain to get out of her locket room,she kept the slipper and persevered to get her happily ever after.

Yay! Thank you! You know I guess people could say Cinderella just remembered Bruno because of Lucifer but I think she was trying to think of a way to get out. And she couldn't just remember he hated Lucifer she had to think of how he could help her.

[Ariel'sprince]

Because they never seen the movie.
Cinderella is really smart,she used her brain to get out of her locket room,she kept the slipper and persevered to get her happily ever after.

Yay! Thank you! You know I guess people could say Cinderella just remembered Bruno because of Lucifer but I think she was trying to think of a way to get out. And she couldn't just remember he hated Lucifer she had to think of how he could help her.

You"re wellcome I don't why,some people think that the Walt era Princesses (Or just Snow White and Cinderella and not Aurora) are dumb but they haven"t seen the films.
I also think she was trying to figure out a way escape .

[Chernabog_Rocks]

*Prepares to get flames*

Honestly the Princesses themselves aren't bad for the kids, however I do think that the agressive approach Disney takes towards pushing the Princess Merchandise is *somewhat* bad.

To extrapolate on that, I think that it wouldn't hurt to cut back a bit, I think the Princess line is in some ways rather sterotyped with all the pink, and with the empthasis on things like dresses and glamor (mainly the new Jeweled Princess stuff or whatever it was called). I think it's a shame that Disney neglects to show the Brainy side, Belle was a bookworm in her movie and now she's a glamorous princess and it seems like she's lost a few IQ points along the way. I think that Disney should start showing that Yes you can be a Princess and live in a castle and everything but that you can also be intelligent and know about a wider variety of things other than clothing and makeup etc.

Now I'm not saying that the Princesses are just a bunch of idiots, in each of their movies, yes, they are smart but it would be nice to have that intelligence reflected in the merchandise somehow as well.

So again, I think Disney needs to make a few changes to the Merchandise line because right now all I see is sterotyped princesses. The least they could do is have something that shows all the hard work it is running a country/kingdom.

*Promptly takes cover and awaits the responses*

[Siren]

Well said Chernabog! Disney rarely does anything with the princesses other than help girls play dress-up. Though that is a good thing, imaginative play is always good...Having Belle and other princesses push reading is a great idea. NOT just reading Disney Princess books either.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

Thank you Siren

I agree with what you said about not pushing Princess Books (wish I thought of that at the time I posted) glad you pointed that out.

I do think that imaginative play is a good thing, it lets us express ourselves in our own way. But like I said before Disney seems to focus too much on it in stereotyped ways. Perhaps there is a way to promote smart imaginative play? It might be worth having each Princess promote certain areas, Belle could push Reading, Snow White another thing, Cinderella something different etc. Something that suits their personality while still retaining the core theme of being a Princess. Wouldn't hurt to examine that as a possible thing to try, it would probably be a step up from having all of them promote the same thing.

Eh, but knowing Disney I can't see anything like that happening. Although Ariel does seem to be pushing keeping the Oceans clean, which is a good start but it seems limited to only the website currently if it's even still there. I can't understand why Disney doesn't build on this.

[Ariel'sprince]

Ariel should promoted keeping the oceans clean more.
Cinderella promoted seatbelts in cars (Like her carrige).
For the others-
Snow White loves to clean so she can promote helping parents in the house? .
Aurora can promote keeping the forests clean or something else.
Belle can promote reading books.
Jasmine can promote something about other countries.
And I have no idea what Giselle,Pocahontas and Mulan can promote.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

Based off the movies I'd have to add:

Pocahontas - Acceptance of other cultures
Mulan - Being true to yourself

For the most part with some of them it would just be empthasizing on the messages of their movies in ways for the above two examples.

To add to your Snow White idea AP, perhaps Responsibilty?

I can see Cinderella in an advertisment now:

"When you go to the ball make sure you buckle up or your carriage just might turn into a pumpkin" *Jump to a picture of the squished pumpkin*

Hm, probably not as funny as I could have made it, but I don't have Scaps talent for jokes

[Ariel'sprince]

And Giselle.... love for other people?.
Yeah,Responsibilty is perfact Snow White she loves to help people .
Actually Cinderella really promoted that when the Platinum Edition was released (Like Ariel promoted to keep the oceans clean).
I hope that Aurora will promoted something with the Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition will be released.

[pap64]

Ironically, Belle WAS used to promote reading back in the mid-late 90s. Remember "Belle's Read Me a Story"? That show featured a live action Belle running a book shop with some of her friends, which included a cat and a talking book.

In the short, an old Disney short was used to tell a story. It would emphasize on the story's significance in modern times, its message and even some grammar and phonetics. At the end of the show they would recommend some books if the viewer enjoyed the day's story.

And Belle wasn't even presented as a princess, but as the lovely bookworm that captured a Beast's heart.

Weird how times change, no?

And what can Aurora promote? The importance of healthy sleeping habits? XD

[Ariel'sprince]

Beast was in that series? I forgot about it (Well,I never seen that series,I only found out about it last year).
There's the dictionary in Belle's Magical World and I think there's many merchandise of her holding books (Thought I heard about a Princess book with Belle wirting a secret dairy while she's in the castle and she drew hearts on the Beast's name ).
Aurora promote cute animale friends and she got a magic wand (In Enchanted Tales she got a wand,in the Princess GBA game she gets her own wand in the second chapter and she kills Maleficent on her own in the third chapter,in the Princess Royal Adventure game after Lily finds the owl she gives her the wand).

[musicradio77]

Ironically, Belle WAS used to promote reading back in the mid-late 90s. Remember "Belle's Read Me a Story"? That show featured a live action Belle running a book shop with some of her friends, which included a cat and a talking book.

In the short, an old Disney short was used to tell a story. It would emphasize on the story's significance in modern times, its message and even some grammar and phonetics. At the end of the show they would recommend some books if the viewer enjoyed the day's story.

Yep! That show was called "Sing Me a Story (with Belle)", I remember that!

[Sky Syndrome]

Pocahontas - Acceptance of other cultures
Mulan - Being true to yourself

Yeah, they'd promote those and these too: Mulan promoting self defense and Pocahontas promoting choosing the right thing to do even if it isn't easy (ex: don't give into peer pressure to do stupid harmful stuff) and also respecting nature.

Giselle can promote being a nerd and loving it even if disapproving people look down on you. I've been hearing a lot lately about people being put down for being a fan or collector of something. Some are even put down by their own families and friends.

Snow White can promote visiting or doing special things for the elderly at nursing homes. She took care of the dwarfs like a nurse at a nursing home so that's what made me think of it.

Aurora can promote performing arts.

Cinderella can promote gardening.

Jasmine can promote cuisines.