Disney happily ever after

[80skid]

I really don't follow Disney, my kids aren't interested (although I did love the original Lion King myself!) so apologies if I'm way out of touch.

I just wondered is there a Disney plot where the leading lady finds her hero, but then realises it or he is not for her and she would rather embrace a happy and fulfilled life as an independent single woman? Or where she is unhappy with a male partner because he is not fulfilling her needs/causing her unhappiness in some way and chooses to leave an unhappy relationship?

I just wondered if we're still being sold the happily coupled every after or if Disney allows single women to be happy without being old crones.

I don’t watch much Disney but in frozen it can be all solved by finding true love and in the end it turns out that sisterly love is the true love not the romantic love interest.

Elsa is very much a single lady.

Mirabel in Encanto doesn't have a love interest at all. Her sister Isabela is about to enter into a marriage she isn't happy with and has a whole song and dance about finding herself and being happy without him, iirc.

Coco has no romantic love in it but it does have strong family love.

Luca is the same

No romance in wish. Queen sacks off the king too

I think your view of Disney is a bit outdated.

Not Disney, but you might like the book ‘Paper Bag Princess’ where a princess is the hero and saves a prince but he is horrible so she ditches him.

The more modern heroines in Disney are Merida in Brave, Anna and Elsa in Frozen, Moana, and even Rapunzel to some extent. There are male characters but the females are the strong ones (my favourite is Merida). I also love Anna as she's very relatable, she almost ends up with an idiot but luckily that fate is diverted.

In some other reasonably recent movies what would have been the traditional heroes are pretty much nonentities - Princess and the Frog, say. Tiana functions just fine without him - arguably better even.

I'm totally out of date then!!! The only Disney fans I know are little girls who like to dress as princesses and want their prince to arrive 😂.

Nothing wrong with girls liking to dress as princesses mind, I just think that they shouldn't be taught that waiting to be saved by a prince is the way for a happy life. Love is great, but single life is often better than settling for an unhappy relationship.

Very!

I'll try and get my kids to watch Brave with me or watch it when they're in bed

There are plenty of Disney films now that focus on love for family / friends and centre around finding and using one's own inner strengths and accepting flaws / weaknesses: Frozen, Moana, Big Hero Six, Coco, Encanto, Wreck It Ralph, Luca, Turning Red etc

I was going to say this too. The love story is between sisters.

Frozen (Anna’s first happily ever after = disaster, Elsa learns the value of sisterly love and then to love herself in Frozen 2 (not literally)), Encanto (as above, Mirabel doesn’t have a love interest, Isabella ditches hers), Moana (no love interest, all about family, responsibility and ancestry), even things like Pocahontas and Tangled are not really true happily ever after movies, as well as Elena of Avalor and Sophia the first.

Encanto is also very much about the female characters, not just Mirabel but her sisters Luisa and Isabel, her mum and her gran. In Moana the most important family relationship is between her and her gran. All examples of strong women (Luisa quite literally- she’s my daughter’s favourite).

I agree with Frozen.

Disney's recent film 'wish' also fits this theme. Not the main character but the Queen realises her husband is evil and supports the heroine in fighting back. At the end, she send her husband, trapped in his staff, to spend the rest of eternity in the castle dungeon while she happily rules alone. 💁‍♀️

"... you look like a real prince, but really you are a toad."

They didn't get married after all.

(Fabulous pic of her dancing into the sunset)

Wow, that sounds fun!