Disney Princesses

[GuybrushThreepwoodMightyPirate]

I'm trying to organise my thoughts on Disney Princesses. I have two young girls and am trying (sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing) to do a decent job of raising them feminists.

Because we don't live in a vacuum - and because I don't want them to feel 'left out' of conversations with their peers - they have had plenty of exposure to the Princesses. I feel that - whilst none of them is perfect from a feminist perspective - some of the films are far 'worse' than others so I have endeavoured to avoid these ones.

My main point of thinking about the films as a group came when I saw some research on films aimed at adults which had female leads and the fact that Hollywood seems to be cottoning on to the fact that women will spend money at the cinema to see films with strong female characters. So, in a very roundabout way, my point is: surely a large part of the pervasive universality of the disney princess films is down to the fact that they are the most readily available source of leading female characters for young girls, and they (like adult women) prefer to see themselves reflected onscreen. So to at least some extent, the Princess element is secondary at best and a result of the fact that little else is available to them.

I am aware that I may not have put my point across clearly but I am aiming to organise my thoughts on this. I am also keenly aware that it is problematic and undesirable to denigrate typically 'girly' pursuits from a feminist standpoint so I want to avoid this.

I'm really interested to hear other perspectives and thoughts on this if anyone's willing to share.

Yes, it's a massive problem, and true of theatre as well, which is mad as women are a much bigger percentage of the audience.

I think the Disney Princess thing is really more about merchandise - they include Mulan on there, and she doesn't even marry royalty. I think the films in general are enjoyed by girls and boys, although boys seem to be discouraged away from them earlier, and assumed to not be interested in a film with a female lead. This was not true of my friends growing up, my male friends didn't even register it, just enjoyed the stories. Films with songs are often seen as not appealing to boys, which is perverse.