Rambles, Musings, and Other Attempts of Writing

In Defense of the Princesses

The internet seems to love bashing on the Disney Princesses for every little thing, from Belle and her "Stockholm Syndrome" to Tiana falling in love. So I, Emerald Ephemeral, the ultimate Disney knight, has come to slay the dragons of misinformation and set things straight. And if you listen really closely, you'll be able to hear how done I am with some of these theories.

(I'll be referring to the original Princess movies, by the way, not the live-action remakes.)

Snow White

Yes, she was fourteen when her movie took place, but most people seem to assume that her prince is in his twenties. His age was actually never confirmed, so for all we know, he could be the same age as Snow White. The young princess's age can also explain her actions and naivety. Snow White's barely a teenager and she's never had a real role model to teach her stuff like don't take candy from strangers. She doesn't know any better, and she's at the mental stage in life where teenagers are ruled by their feelings and almost never listen to their heads, much like Romeo and Juliet.

So yes, Snow White did make some bad decisions like letting strange women into her home, but she's also the Disney Princess equivalent of a high school freshman: overeager, confused, and far too trusting. So cut her a little slack, she's doing her best.

Cinderella

Cinderella is one of the most popular princess for people to trash.  A more common claim against her is that she waited around for a man to rescue her, that she went to the ball with the sole purpose of meeting the prince. However, never once did Cinderella mention wanting rescuing or a boyfriend/husband. She went to that ball with the sole intention of having a night off.

The only reason Cinderella even mentions the Prince is to say that she's never seen one before and that it would be interesting to lay eyes on him. She had no clue who her dance partner was at the ball; she tells the Prince when the clock strikes midnight as an excuse to get away "Oh, the Prince. I haven't met the Prince." All Cinderella wanted was a night of fun; the cute boy that she danced with was just a bonus for her. She was not waiting around for someone to rescue her from her terrible life.

Aurora

It's kind of hard to be a good role model to young girls if you're only on screen for less than twenty minutes, isn't it? It's implied that the dreams that both the Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip had were some type of magical connection between the two of them, which explains why the two felt so comfortable around each other during their first real life meeting.

As for her "being weak" in falling under Maleficent's dark magic, have you ever tried resisting the curse placed on you by an extremely powerful faerie that's had sixteen years to manifest inside of you? Yeah, it's not so easy, so excuse Aurora being powerless to fight against her curse.

Ariel

Yet another popular Princess for people to talk smack about, so let's get some things straight. Ariel wanted to visit the human world before Eric even became a part of her life. She sings her famous song "Part of Your World" before seeing and saving Eric on the ship.

(On that note, "Part of Your World" is NOT a love song. Ariel sings that song to the humans, to us, of how she admires us and our culture and wishes to be a part of it. She doesn't sing it for Eric or any other man. If you want to consider to be a love song, then say it's a love song for humanity, but NOT for Eric.)