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Thread: I pit Disney and their princesses.

  1. #1
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Default I pit Disney and their princesses.

    OK, far be it from me to scoff at big business or at marketing...my livelihood depends on both. But this whole "Disney Princess" thing just chaps. my. hide. It's always kind of annoyed me...I mean, really, can't little girls aspire to anything else these days? The characters IN the movies are empowered characters, but then when it comes to the merchandising, they are watered down to just another face in the Princess Pantheon.

    Which leads me to this OP. The latest Disney movie actually sounds like an interesting film with a great female character...a young African-American women who doesn't WANT to be a pampered princess like her friend, she wants to be a strong, successful woman who owns her own restaurant. Good for her. The thing that annoys me is that the fact that she's African-American is so blatant in it's true purpose: to get a Black princess into the set. I mean, think about it...there are white princesses, a couple Asian princesses, a Native American, even a MERMAID for fuck's sake, but no Black princess! Leaving an entire untapped market out there, of course. If they hadn't come up with this "Disney Princess" merchandising gimmick, I'll bet dollars to donuts that we'd still be waiting for the first African-American Disney heroine.

    Watch...the next Princess will be Hispanic. Mark my words.

    Giving minority children (or any children) good, positive role models =

    Pandering to minority children with your marketing schemes: =

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    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Ugh, yes. I had much the same feeling about the whole thing. Particularly obnoxious to me was that Mulan was a warrior, not a princess. So not only did they strip everything awesome off of that character, they're not even being accurate! Her romantic interest is another soldier. Aside from briefly meeting the Emperor there's nothing remotely royal about her story.

    Princesses are baby machines and political pawns for nobility. I don't want my Hypothetical Daughter to think that's all she can aspire to. Jesus.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt
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    You know, Mulan is my very favorite Disney character ever, and I was entirely annoyed on my trip to Disney World a couple of years back because I couldn't FIND anything with her on it. I spent the whole time railing at my friend about how Mulan gets the shaft because she's not "princessy" enough.

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    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    I'll bet my right arm that the reason you don't see Mulan on the licensed merchandise is that Asian-American parents aren't buying into the Princess thing nearly at the rate as everyone else, so her stuff dhoesn't sell.

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    Miss Entropy Angua's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Zuul View post
    Princesses are baby machines and political pawns for nobility. I don't want my Hypothetical Daughter to think that's all she can aspire to. Jesus.
    Damn effing right! And I hope that I and the women I know would provide enough good female role models, that Disney Princesses would be laughed at. But its still not good for society as a whole, and really doesn't help the perception of women at all.

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    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    I think that princess form Aladdin is pretty funny.

    "But Father, I want to marry for love!"
    "You will marry to secure a decent alliance for me. You want love, you get it on the side. I'm not wasting my own daughter on some powerless streetrat!"

    Marry for love? Not on the agenda, sweetheart.
    Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.

  7. #7
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Angua View post
    Damn effing right! And I hope that I and the women I know would provide enough good female role models, that Disney Princesses would be laughed at. But its still not good for society as a whole, and really doesn't help the perception of women at all.
    No kidding. There is nothing wrong with enjoying being pretty or liking to play make-believe about romance and being rescued, but there is a hell of a lot more to being a girl than that. Yet, it seems as though all of the "girl toys" out there (and they are so clearly marketed along gender lines) are made for preparing little girls for a life of primping, cooking and taking care of babies.

    My darling, awesome five-year-old niece loves building things, finding out how stuff works, and going on adventures. This is a kid who gets on a sled, goes barreling down a steep slope, hits a bump, flies into the air like a rag doll, lands face down in the snow, and laughs. And there is not a damn thing unfeminine about that, but if you look at what the toy companies peddle she should instead be playing with baby dolls (she's indifferent to them) or dressing Barbies up as princesses (I'm not entirely sure she knows what they are).

    Why do we have to market toys on such clear gender lines, when children don't follow those lines? Sadly, I think it's more for the parents than anything else.

  8. #8
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Yeah, my 5-year-old daughter has never been too interested in the girly stuff, either (although she told me recently that she's "starting to like the Princesses"). This is a girl who told me that she wants to be a doctor, and astronaut, and a baseball player when she grows up! And it's not that I'm against her wanting to have babies and do domestic-type stuff, but is that all life is about? And the primping stuff, well, don't get me started on that.

    She really loves art right now, and even the art supplies seem slanted towards girly stuff (make sparkly bracelets!) I try to counteract it all by giving her other options, and encouraging her to do the things she wants to do, and trying not to put girl or boy labels on things. I feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle, though.

  9. #9
    MOON GIRL FIGHTS CRIME Myrnalene's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Zuul View post
    No kidding. There is nothing wrong with enjoying being pretty or liking to play make-believe about romance and being rescued, but there is a hell of a lot more to being a girl than that. Yet, it seems as though all of the "girl toys" out there (and they are so clearly marketed along gender lines) are made for preparing little girls for a life of primping, cooking and taking care of babies.
    It is so hard to go Christmas shopping for younger kids without falling into these stupid gender roles! My youngest niece is 3 and my nephew is 6 and when I went to buy their gifts I was angry and disgusted with myself for falling in with it, but everything for kids that age is gender coded. It's either pink, pretty glittery crap with Tinkerbell or the Disney princesses, or (frankly ugly) green and dark yellow cars, trucks and guns with Transformers logos all over it. And you're right, most of the stuff for girls is geared toward make-up or domestic arts. Now, I love make-up, but it does make me pissy to see that the choices for how little girls are supposed to play are so limited.

    My sister and brother-in-law fell right in step, too. Boy child got a big race track and girl child a big fake kitchen. To be fair, girl does at least try to play with the race track (she's a bit too little) and brother does play with the kitchen set - or rather with the fake outdoor grill that comes with it. Because grilling, of course, is acceptable for boys.

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