sungirltan - I see that more as lazy parenting than the fault of Disney, though. All those girls could easily have been dressed as princesses from the home dressing up box rather than a Disney outfit.
If it were my dd2, I would have at least made her tiara, for eg. and probably made jewellery too. no need for it to be a Disney bought costume.
I do agree that the Disney sanitisation of stories is annoying, but it is not just Disney that this happens with - I can't think of a film I've seen, where I have also read the book, where I have not been annoyed/disappointed.
my dissertation was on language use/stereotyping of gender via language use, with emphasis on children's stories.
it was interesting, and I learnt a lot. does it mean I now avoid the stories I studied?
no.
it just means I am more aware of what to try to balance out.
all fairy tales are grim, and most are particularly grim where women are concerned. but I do read them to my dds, and we talk about how things could be done differently/how the world has changed (or not!) etc.
I don't understand why everyone objects to the whole merchandising thing - it is easy enough to say "no".
I rememeber having a Postman Pat lunchbox, and writing paper to write to my dad when he was abroad - no one objected to that then, and I don't see why anyone would object to a child haivng eg an Alice band with tinkerbell on it.
the make up/perfume kits etc I do object to - but then Disney are hardly the only offenders here - also found in Claire's, M&S, and all the supermarkets. the only way to stop things like thatbeing produced for small children is to not buy them, which just goes back to my point about saying "no"