When Disney Princess becomes Maid in Real Life

The Walt Disney Company produced the very first animation cartoon in human history, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf based on Grimm’s classic fairy tale. The film was not only a big hit but also initiative, later on, the Academy Award even conferred on the film an Honorary Award in 1939. Following princess series Cinderella and the Little Mermaid had promoted the Disney Industry into another golden period and were widely supported all over the world. Little girls all over the world are crazy for these colorful animations because these fairy tales discovered the princesses in them. They believe Prince Charming will come to them and then live happily ever after just like how the story goes.
As the prosperity of technology, young girls nowadays receive information about princess fairy tales very often no matter from reading books, watching television or movies. There are even a lot of related products of the Disney Princess series. Experts believe that though it is very common for young girls to imagine they are princess, it is not a good thing for them to establish a concept of pursuing only material enjoyment and being pretty. The Disney Company has earned three billion US dollars from products of princess collection last year, as a result, it is difficult for little girls to remain ineffective when an average of twenty five thousand kinds of commercial and information of princess products around them every day.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarf and Cinderella are considered as two female-focused movies which reflect the contemporary culture and philosophy perspective. They had set the images of women as damsel in distress, and men as knight in shining armor or prince charming. In these films, Disney princesses serve as passive and fragile victims, who can only patiently waiting for benevolence and rescue from their prince. Undeniably, these Disney animations achieved the capability of entertaining, yet, since the audiences of these adoptions are mainly little girls, it raises questions which are far more important than the enchanted romance: are they really educational? Do they reveal the positive massage to children? Further more, what negative influence will they make on innocent and juvenile female audience?
Snow White and Cinderella are very alike. The former one is an anathema to the Queen because of her distinguished beauty and charm, as a reason, she has to flee from the palace into the woods. The latter is bulled by her stepmother and stepsisters; she has to do all the housework in a ragged outfit like a maid. Their only salvation is the prince, who represents hopes of these unfortunate girls. Moreover, the prince is also a symbol of fair justice and savior who will rescue these princesses from the evil power and make them a real princess through marriage in the end of the story. What young girls absorb in their childhood will influence them in their womanhood. Through these Disney Princess movies, children receive inappropriate information which can be easily found in the lyrics and dialogues. These can be directly naturalized by children and imperceptibly influence their perspectives that men can save them from all the misfortune and hardships, and will make their dreams come true in the end.
Dreaming is beautiful, however, in these two stories, dreaming can be regarded as a way of escaping from the reality. “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true.” This is what Cinderella sings at the beginning of the movie, when she gets up and shares her feelings with her animal friends after they woke her up in her tiny bedroom up in the garret under the roof of the house. It is harmless to bear a dream in heart, but reality requires more than fairy tales—wishing is not going to change an unfortunate girl’s life and dreams do not come true all the time. A kind and sweet girl does not have to accept everything and acting as meek as a lamb. It is self confidence and courage instead of tolerance and groveling that add her beauty.
Other than the love of prince and marriage, these Disney princess stories convey a passive attitude of females when they are facing difficulties and unequal treatment. In these movies, females do not take action to defend or make definite rejections. They unconditionally surrender themselves to fate; these princesses hardly have thoughts. Although they all have one thing in common, which is, they are all dreamers who believe if they consistently holding their wish, it will somehow come true in the future. For instance, Snow White dreams about reencountering Prince Charming, she does not fight for herself when the guard confesses to her that the Queen wants to kill her; she does what the guard told her to do—flee and hide in the woods and never come back. Cinderella dreams about dancing and fall in love with her prince in the ball, but when she realizes she can not go o the ball because it is impossible to finish the work her stepmother delivered, she has nothing to do but crying heartbreakingly at the fireplace.
Fairy tale animations are the extension of the people’s imagination and creativity. To make the story more interesting and attractive, princess who has been excluded turn to invoke the companionship of animal friends such as cats, dogs, mice, birds and so on. It looks cheering and happy when the princess and animals singing and playing together, but it could be a crisis if children imitate the princess and befriend animals in real life. Children may catch fleas from playing with stray cats and dogs, more over, they may be bitten and injured by hostile dogs or scratched by neurotic cats. Playing with mice and birds may cause infection of ague and bird flu. Other than befriending animals, young kids may want to keep pets as well as the characters in the cartoon. This may cause problems of irresponsible breeders and even abuse after they lost their interest in the pets.
Through the stories of Disney princess, not only children but also grownups have fulfilled their most romantic fantasy. Every girl can be a princess in her own wonderland, but if she follows the passive attitude toward difficulty and unequal like these Disney princesses, she may forfeit her happiness and unfortunately become a maid off screen in her real lives. Life is not another adoption of fairy tale; only positive attitude and facing the hardships aggressively can young girls create their own sublime wonderland and become a real princess in their life.

Melissa Wong 95540455