Elsa shows herself as willing to murder to protect her heightened sense of self-preservation, and judging from the look of shock on her face every time she loses control, she is clearly more prone to violence than she thinks. Elsa often feels threatened, codes the world as black and white, and runs into trouble a number of times because of her ambiguous moral compass. Anna embarks on a dangerous quest to find her sister when Elsa’s prodigious powers get out of control and, ultimately, the kingdom is saved though the true love of her sister rather than her suitor. This is the first Disney film in which a princess makes an egregious error that negatively affects everyone around her-Elsa freezes her kingdom-but is still able to receive forgiveness and respect by the end of the movie.Įlsa is given opportunities to make mistakes that Disney Princesses have not been given in the past. Frozen subverts these ubiquitous tropes with its main characters, Anna and Elsa, who-despite physically fitting the profile of classic Disney princesses by being white, rich, and shockingly thin-display agency in ways that past princesses have not. However, in the most recent film, Frozen, Disney seems to have heeded some of these gendered critiques. While there are exceptions to this rule, the majority of the princesses are presented as lacking any vision of themselves without a man to provide it for them. They sacrifice integral parts of themselves for men (for example, the loss of voice in The Little Mermaid), are forced to work for ‘evil’ stepmothers for years ( Cinderella and Snow White), and are featured in only seventeen minutes of the movie named after them ( Sleeping Beauty). The Disney Princesses possess little agency. Even with this inclusion, the racial representation is problematic because Disney princesses continue to be presented as stereotypically inadequate regardless of incorporating racial difference. Disney has failed to represent women of color as princesses despite the recent inclusion of Tiana from The Princess and the Frog into Disney’s line of aggressively marketed iconography. These stories enforce patriarchal views towards women that instate an impossible standard of beauty in the young female characters who serve as role models for children. The Disney Princess franchise presents misogynist and terrifying fairy tales for profit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |