This is a fabulous response from Brenda Chapman (@brenda_chapman), one of the main writers behind Brave, whom I discovered when she started following me on Twitter (small world), where she answers the question of whether princesses are bad for girls:
In the past couple of decades, in an obvious effort to toughen up those princesses in filmic versions, there have been varieties to that plot. We’ve seen that in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, as well as DreamWorks’ Fiona in Shrek, to name just a few. But in the end, their adventures (and the plot still) mostly revolves around the age-old beloved prince or love interest, who invariably saves them from some foul fate in the end.
But if you look at real princesses, they were basically working girls. Pampered in their times maybe, but nonetheless, they had a job to do for their kingdoms, whether it be as a diplomat or as a bargaining “tool” to bring kingdoms together in alliance. I think there was little waiting around for true love and eternal happiness in their lives. And back in the days in which the fairy tales of old were written, marriage was one of the most important jobs of a princess. It was part of their job, not simply a romantic notion.
When I came up with the idea for Princess Merida in Brave, that was how I looked at the story. The Queen was a working mom trying to prepare her daughter for her “job” in the kingdom. I wanted to break the stereotype of the princess, as well as the princess plot. There were princesses that were trained for battle in some kingdoms. They knew how to wield a sword, knife and bow and arrow because they had to. They also had to know how to deal with the politics of a kingdom and hold their own as a royal. No romantic princes or love interests in Brave—I at least made sure of that.
My daughter, Lauca (aged 7) went and saw the film tonight with Bill, her dad. I asked her if she thought it was feminist and she said, yes, VERY. Then she gave me a long, favourable review and a discussion of the major plot developments, which involved lots of bears. Bill said, feminists are bears, or that is what I took home from this film, anyway. I punched him in the arm.
I don’t think princesses are inherently bad for girls. I think there are a variety of things you can teach using Disney characters. What I do think is bad for girls is Disney Princesses: The Marketing Phenomenon. As far as I can tell, that campaign removes the individual personalities from each of those characters and reduces them to Girls in Pretty, Pretty Dresses. And that’s what we’re trying to keep from our daughter for as long as possible.
We’ll show her Disney movies, and we’ll talk about them. She’ll take away what speaks to her. But I want to provide her with context, whether or not she absorbs it at the moment. And DT:TMP doesn’t do that.
I’ve been helping a friend write a story about the intersection of love and duty. Long story short, but we had seen that many young women thought that duty tainted love, probably in part because many modern fairy tales ignore the duty aspects of princesses. I recall, as well, many discussions about how lucky Kate was to marry Prince William without much thought for the burdens that she faced–everything assumed that she had to convince him but as I posted at the time, it was probably the opposite. Anyway, if duty was a part of a relationship, then young women tend to think that it isn’t true love. Ivy, my friend, and I think that love is at its best when it merges duty and love. Regardless, it is nice to see that Brave has a more honest portrayal of a princess.
I haven’t seen Brave yet, we’re planning to but getting to the cinema is an expedition from here. Like anything offered to kids, I don’t think Princesses are inherently bad, the problem is when one thing is offered to the exclusion of everything else. Girls who have princess frocks turn out fine if they are also provided the opportunity to climb/jump/make stuff out of lego/read books about other types of women and girls etc.
I’d love to see a film about the (Irish legend) Queen Maeve – she was into cattle rustling.
She was also into cuckolding her husband so Disney would probably have to do some editing.
I really loved Brave for exactly that reason – that Merida is a princess, yes, but that the movie isn’t about (or at least not about about) her marrying a prince, but rather, that the focus of the film was on her relationship with her mother, and that she eventually solves the marriage problem using the things she has been taught about what being a princess actually is. Tangled could have taken the same route, if they had wanted it to; I think it would have been just as compelling a film if the relationship between Rapunzel and Mother Gothel had been more complex and reciprocal (and, yanno, not abusive), and Flynn Rider had never showed up.
[…] among a other smashing things this film does. It turns out this is accurately what was intended, as I review on Blue Milk […]
Brenda Chapman wasn’t just the writer, she was the director until she was replaced during the production (boo, hiss), which I think is worth remembering. This really was her baby. Our family adored the movie, the wee fella for the archery and the magic, the grownups for the subtlety of Merida’s relationship with her mother. What’s miserable is that if half a dozen movies with girls at the centre were coming out this year, it simply wouldn’t matter whether this one has a princess in it or not. It’s so unfair that any movie with a female protagonist is forced to be all things to all people, because there are so few to choose from.
Some princesses may be better than others, but I wish there were more non-princess sheroes.
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