1937 - Snow White - There simply could not be a more helpless woman than Snow White. A serious victim complex, she'll simply wait for a man to show up and save her. In the meantime, she'll happily clean and cook for the seven half-sized men. Oh yeah, the only other woman she's ever known is trying to kill her. Feminist Score: 0 
1950 - Cinderella - Cinderella is also pretty lame. Her life sucks because her father died. What's a girl to do without a daddy? But she doesn't worry too much because she knows a man will find her and save her (which of course, he does). I'll give her props for growing a pair and going to the Prince's ball - but I'd hardly call her a role model for young women. Oh yeah, and besides for the old magic lady, every woman she knows is trying to enslave her, force her to sleep by the fire, and call her stupid names like Cinderella. Feminist Score: 1
1959 - Aurora - She's in the movie for less than 18 minutes or something and all she manages to do is dream about a man who eventually will save her from the utter boredom that is her loser life, because she is incapable of doing something herself. Then when she finally gets out, she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel and has to wait (albeit, this time unconsciously) for a dude to tongue rape her. Awesome, Aurora. Nailed it. The movie gets one feminism point because the fairies didn't know how to cook or sew. Feminist Score: 1No one even went to see that stupid Princess. The box office was so low that the Disney Princess idea was boxed for twenty years.
1989 - Ariel - Finally we get to see a fish with a little spunk. She has the guts to disobey her pops and seek the fat purple sea witch (4th female villain for anyone who is keeping count) for a pair of legs, but at the end of the day she's just as bad as the others. Short of sewing her mermtwat shut, Ariel does everything for her beau even gives up her family, home and friends - for a guy she met for about 6.7 seconds. Feminist Score: 4
1991 - Belle - Compared to some of her predecessors, Belle was straight up femme-nazi. She pushed the town hottie into a puddle of mud, she liked to read, and is all about needing "more than this provincial life". Belle bravely stands up to the Beast and saves her father's life... oh yeah, but then falls swooning in love with her captor. Disney just can't help themselves but to make these women pant like a dog in heat. Feminist Score: 8
1992 - Jasmine - I'll go ahead and give Jasmine a perfect score for rocking the sensible pant suit. Feminist Score: 10
1995 - Pocahontas - To be honest, I don't really remember this movie that much. I feel like she was pretty awesome, though. She was brave and stood up for herself and her people and her land. She educated the white man and had a good relationship with her dad and stuff. I'm pretty sure she ended up single in the end right? Anyway Feminist Score: NA
1998 - Mulan - Mulan was radical bra-burning lesbian... well, sort of. Not feeling the Geisha thing, she was not about to sit idly by and let her old father go to war, so she cut her hair (so G.I. Jane) and dressed up like a dude and joined the army. She trained with the men and fought alongside them. She single-handedly defeats the Hun Army not once, but twice, and proves that women are equal to men - if not a little better, actually. Feminist Score: 13 (Out of 10)
2009 - Tiana - This girl was the first black Princess and the first to have a job - unless you count being a Princess as a job, which I do not. And even when she did become a princess, she still had a job - albeit a bit more kushy. You go, girl! Feminist Score: 102011 - Rapunzel - Guys, this movie was freaking awesome. If you haven't seen it, what the hell are you doing reading my blog? Go. See it. Now.
I desire to make a point about little girls and role models and movies they watch and feminine characters, but I can't seem to find the words and more to the point, I don't feel like locating them. After reading all of this perhaps consider yourself armed, at least a little, to find the your words and pass it on yourself.
And I'll leave you tonight, with this: Tinkerbell, while not a Disney Princess, was fashioned to look like Marilyn Monroe.
"Happy Birthday, Mr. President."
I don't quite remember the Pocahantas movie either (only saw it once). However, in real life, Pocahantas married John Rolfe in 1614. Here's what the Historic Jamestowne website (http://➡.ws/pocahantas) says about the marriage:
ReplyDelete"Pocahontas, 'dearest daughter' of Chief Powhatan, was kidnapped and brought to Jamestown to be traded for English prisoners and weapons that Powhatan held. The exchange never took place. Pocahontas was taken to the settlement at Henrico where she learned English, converted to Christianity, was baptized and christened Rebecca. It was about this time that she presumably came to the attention of John Rolfe.
Rolfe was a pious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry a 'heathen.' He composed a long, laborious letter to Governor Dale asking for permission to marry Pocahontas. The letter reflected Rolfe's dilemma. The tone suggests it was intended mainly for official records, but at some points Rolfe bared his true feelings. 'It is Pocahontas,' he wrote, 'to whom my hearty and best thoughts are, and have been a long time so entangled, and enthralled in so intricate a labyrinth that I [could not] unwind myself thereout.' The wedding took place in the spring of 1614. It resulted in peace with the Indians long enough for the settlers to develop and expand their colony and plant themselves permanently in the new land.
In 1616 Rolfe took his wife and infant son Thomas to England; Pocahontas died at Gravesend seven months later, just before returning to Virginia."
As presented, this would put Pocahantas in the same league as the earlier Disney Princesses. However, growing up near Jamestown and being immersed in Virginia history, the story told about Pocahantas that I heard was that she was the person who negotiated the peace between the Native Americans and the settlers. Given that, I'd give her a feminism rating of 5 based on your other rankings.