The Cinderella Perplex
Earlier this week I read an open letter to Pixar by Linda Holmes on the NPR website. Although her plea on behalf of girls everywhere was appreciative and polite, I was reminded of the Disney backlash last year, when reports of the initial details surrounding the conglomerate’s return to 2-D feature animation caused a collection of disappointed head-shaking everywhere. A lot of my own frustration was about the fact that it seemed Disney took many liberties with a reimagining of a Scottish fairy tale about a frog that retrieves a gold ball from the bottom of a pond, and expects a little something in return—and yet, somehow, they didn’t bother selecting those arbitrary details with much sensitivity.
I hadn’t really thought about the Disney Princess Dilemma any further than that, but, as Holmes points out, “of the ten movies… released [by Pixar] so far, ten of them have central characters who are boys or men, or who are anthropomorphized animals or robots or bugs who are voiced by and imagined as boys or men.” Two more features with male-centered plots are slated for release before Pixar ventures into female adventuredom, and yet, surprise! It’s about a princess.
Some could ask, who could blame them? The Disney Princesses alone rake in about 4 billion dollars internationally. The ways are (horrifying and) endless. In fact, despite Disney’s apparent refusal to take into account the sociological implications of their fantasy-fueled Princesszilla machine, they are more than willing to hire anthropologists if it will help them cash in as much money with their weaker demographic: boys. They’ll ask the smart people for input, but only for more cash!
I don’t have a daughter (or any children, for that matter), but I cringe when I read pieces like Holmes’ and Barbara Ehrenreich’s, the latter who asserts that the princesses’ appeal is that “they’re sexy little wenches… Snow White has gotten slimmer and bustier over the years…” What is heartbreaking about Ehrenreich’s piece, however, is that she wrote it in 2007, and mentions Dora the Explorer as a feminist alternative (if one’s daughters will even accept it as one). But in 2009 even Dora too has experienced a sexy, slimming makeover![1] She isn’t the only one.
I don’t have very nice ideas about what this says about our culture and women, and I don’t have a clue as to how it will actually affect little girls everywhere (will there simply be more smartly-dressed, well-coiffed female lawyers and doctors in spite of these messages, or will they, after everything, take their cue from the ones that “have daddy issues” and can be “simple in the head” as Sarah Haskins puts it?)
Whatever the case, just don’t show them this.
[1] My reaction was almost beyond silly, as I gather it was as intense as someone who HAS had children seeing their daughter with makeup for the first time. But Dora La Exploradora has a special place in my heart, for the possibilities she signified and because I loved that it took a Latina to break the mold. Still, I don’t understand why they couldn’t avoid putting her in a dress and ballerina flats. What about jeans? Boots or sneakers? Sigh. Her Bermuda shorts and round belly were already perfect. :(
