In Defense of Disney Princesses - Introduction

For a while now, I've been trying to come up with a new project of things to write about. Something fun, but hopefully a little more thought provoking than my usual stuff. During this time, I've also noticed that a lot of the nerdy websites I visit have been having a lot of fun pointing out what awful lessons Disney movies teach kids. There are ton of articles, videos, parody songs, even battle raps dedicated to this topic. I have even taken a shot or two at these characters back when I was writing about every theatrical animated Disney feature. It was easy and fun and certainly seemed harmless enough at first.

But lately, I've been wondering if there is a different way to view Disney characters, and specifically, the Disney Princesses. Are they all just terrible role models created by a sexist group of men who wanted to teach women that true happiness only comes from finding a man and having pretty clothes? Are they just characters without agency who are acted upon by male characters? I know this is an oversimplification, but I've read enough articles and listicles to know that this is not an uncommon opinion. (side note, I think Listicles is a ridiculous word and it makes me a little sad that my spell check accepts it as a real word.)

I wanted to try (as best as I can from my place as a straight, white male) to watch these movies again and see if there isn't something more to these women, and if they offer us anything more than a vision of outdated and sexist tropes. I will also be trying to separate the marketing of these characters from the way they are presented on film. My belief is that there is more to these character than we allow, and when viewed as a whole, Disney has created a rather incredible group of female characters who represent a very wide range of lifestyles and experiences. I will be viewing the major princess movies (along with a select few non princess movies) in chronological order, and looking at the representation of women throughout. Here are the movies I will be viewing in order:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - 1937
Cinderella - 1950
Alice in Wonderland - 1951
Sleeping Beauty - 1959
The Little Mermain - 1989
Beauty and the Beast - 1991
Aladdin - 1992
Pocahontas - 1995
Hunchback of Notre Dame - 1996
Mulan - 1998
Lilo & Stitch - 2002
The Incredibles - 2004
The Princess and the Frog - 2009
Tangled - 2010
Brave - 2012
Frozen - 2013

As I said earlier, I hope this will be mostly a fun thought exercise and I hope you enjoy it too.