Disney Princess Pictures: Chores, Mirrors, and Chameleons Essay

Gothel learns of Rapunzel’s secret lover in “Rapunzel” when Rapunzel makes a comment about Gothel being much heavier than the prince. In Tangled, Mother Gothel discovers Rapunzel’s disobedience when she returns to the tower, only to find Rapunzel gone and the hidden bag with the crown. Gothel becomes resolved to find Rapunzel and bring her back before she discovers anything that would make her doubt Gothel. When her attempt to convince Rapunzel to return fails, she instead decides to trick Rapunzel, who has fallen in love with Flynn, into thinking he abandoned her in an attempt to regain Rapunzel’s loyalty. This attempt works, and Rapunzel returns with Gothel to the

As a young girl, I remember watching Disney films and falling in love with the Disney princesses. Every Halloween I would dress up as Princess Belle and my cousin would dress up as Cinderella. Today, many people are familiar with Disney films and the Disney princesses. The first original Disney princess was Snow White, which was released eighty years ago in 1937. Since then Disney has created fourteen Disney Princesses. These Disney princesses all had common facial features. They had a tiny waist, defined cheekbones, a thin nose, and light skin. For most of the Disney princesses, except for a few, they were characterized as the damsel in destress who needed saving from Prince Charming. The last princess brought to the big screen in November

Not only do Disney princesses result in bad self esteem, they also encourage passiveness and reliance on others. The feminine and vulnerable side of these princesses, reflect the reliance on their hero and true love. The Disney princess stereotype insinuates that girls should be sweet and submissive, and should fully rely on a male-counterpart. Conversely, new characters, such as Elsa (Frozen), Rapunzel (Tangled), and Merida (Brave), do not express this passive characteristic. At the same time, these princesses continue to need assistance to reach the desired solution. For instance, Princess Rapunzel still needed hero Flynn Rider, in order to navigate her to her parents throughout the movie. None of these princesses independently found a solution to the main conflict in any of these Disney films.

Everyone loves a good fairytale, and nothing is quite as magical and heartwarming as a Disney fairytale. The themes of love, comedy, and morality deem them as more than just little kids' stories, but suitable and entertaining tales for the entire family. This is known by a majority of the stories' readers. However, what one may not be so familiar with is the origin of these tales. Where did the stories of Cinderella, Ariel, and Rapunzel come from? The Disney writers certainly did not create them themselves. The differences in the originals will shock anyone familiar with Disney. And what about Snow White? There are differences between the original Brothers Grimm version of the ebony-haired, white-skinned princess and the Disney movie, believe it or not. Some major differences between both versions are the multiple ways the evil queen tries murdering her stepdaughter, the cause of Snow White's revival, as well as how the evil queen died. Why the story was altered is obvious:

Snow White starts off with a lonely queen who sat sewing by her window one mid-winter night. She pricked her finger and seeing the blood so red made her wish for a child who has cheeks as red as blood, her

Snow White’s predominant attributes are her dark hair, big brown eyes, red lips and slim body. Her signature dress with blue top and yellow skirt underlines her graceful movements while walking and dancing. The bright red hair ribbon and the puffed sleeves match her wide-eyed look and point out her innocence. Moreover, this innocent look, gentleness and immaturity become apparent in every scene of the film. The timbre of her voice is fairly high-pitched and stressing and inflection are those of a young child. This stands in contrast to her romantic longings for the prince when they first meet. Allan finds that Snow White’s sexuality can be seen as “ambiguous because although she is seen as a child … she also has sexually longings for the prince” (39). Evidence can be found in the queen’s envious and jealous reaction when she learns of the first meeting between the prince and Snow White.

The first Disney princess is Snow White. She is in the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; which aired in 1937. The Movie is about a Young beautiful princess who is sent in the forest to be killed, orders by her evil mother, the queen, because she is unhappy that she isn’t the “fairest in the land”. While wandering in the forest she finds the seven dwarfs’ home, after she is released from the huntsman who was sent to kill her. Once the dwarfs arrive home the realize that a stranger is in their home and find Snow White then she explains to them what has happened and they agree to let her stay under the condition of, “If you will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything that you want,” they

The fact that he is first drawn to her voice rather than her appearance seems to suggest an attraction more to who she is rather than anything physical. Her “voice” may be symbolic of Rapunzel’s thoughts and personality. However, the first time the prince finds Rapunzel, he is obviously unprepared to proceed into this facet of his life. He searches for a door through which to reach her but is

Everyone knows that when the queen discovers that Snow White’s beauty is greater than hers, she asks the huntsman to kill her. Finally, we all know that the dwarves take care of her until her death, at which point the prince comes to the rescue and awakens her with a kiss. These are all elements of the story that we come to expect when we hear the name Snow White.

“Through the cheerful music, funny characters, and happy ending, the character of Snow White starts the Disney trend of a domestic woman who becomes a damsel-in-distress relying on a prince to come and save her” (Barber, 2015). The original 1812 tale of Little Snow White by the Brothers Grimm portrays Snow White as a small, naive, self centered little girl who can’t seem to listen to anything she is told, and who has to rely a prince she doesn’t even know to wake her up from the dead. Two hundred years later, in the 2012 movie version Snow White and the Huntsman, the director Rupert Sanders revisits the original tale of Snow White, but decides to change it up a bit. In this version of the tale, Snow White is a strong, independent young woman who seems to be able to do anything she decides to do. In Sander’s version, Snow White not only conquers the cruel queen, but she conquers the labels society often places on women. Unlike the Grimms Brothers, Sanders develops his Snow White's character in a way that fits with women’s empowerment that the current generation now fights for everyday.

Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm also known as the Grimm brothers are historically known for their uniqueness both in their styles of writing and the exceptional illustrations of their works. Their age old literature has been told and retold with the essence of gothic architecture and contemporary children's stories for decades now. This essay will contrast the Grimm brothers story of Rapunzel and Disney's story of Rapunzel, it will also include comparing their illustrations with Molly Bang's theory.

Clarification of her beauty is there to aid the reader in understanding that she is good and valuable. Furthermore, her hair not only symbolizes beauty but fertility and sexuality; proving that she is an object. Once she loses her hair, it is evident that she also loses what makes her of value to men, which in this case is the innocence of her untouched beauty or her virginity (pg. 35). In addition, the story “Little Snow-White,” presents an initial description about Snow-white centered around her beauty: “as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony” (pg. 124). Because of this description, the reader defines Snow-white’s importance with the base of her pure white skin, passionate red lips, and seductive black hair. These three characteristics show the value of Snow-White to the prince, who begs the dwarfs for her coffin. While persuading the dwarfs to give over Snow-white, he attempts to trade objects to compensate the dwarfs (pg. 130). To young women, values defined in fairy tales depict a horrid, demeaning view of

Over the years, Snow White’s story has been told in numerous different versions then its original version in 1812 by the Grimm Brothers. The main basis of the story has remained the same. Only a few minor tweaks to the story have changed. The three versions of the story that are going to be analyzed are the original story “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Disney, and “Mirror, Mirror” by Disney also. They each were created in very different times and the original story has changed over the years to appeal to the audience of that time. No matter how many versions there are Snow White is considered, one of the most cherished fairy tales of all time. They each use different methods to get their

Growing up, all I ever did was watch Disney movies and the Disney channel. Now as I’m older, I can’t help but realize that all the movies are exactly the same. The princess is stuck in a dilemma and then a perfect prince comes along and saves her and then they marry in the end. Other than a similar plot, all the movies have very similar character traits. England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek in Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses explain the characters, “traditionally masculine (e.g., athletic, brave) and traditionally feminine (e.g., helpful, nurturing) characteristics exhibited by the prince and princess characters through

Snow white is an orthodox animation in its narrative that follows the conceptions of realism. Paul Wells that “the kind of film which seems to be the most accurately represent reality is the kind of film that attempts to rid itself of obvious cinematic conventions in the prioritization of recording the people, objects, environments and events which characterise the common understating of lived experience.” The film follow this conception accordingly. The film follows the traditional 3 Act Structure with a beginning, middle, climax and resolution. In the beginning, snow white is introduced as the powerless princess who is oppressed by her evil step