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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White is the first Disney in the Disney Princess lineup. She portrays a damsel in distress throughout the movie which ends up being a major theme in all of the Princess movies in the portrayal of women. She is pictured as pure, gentle and as a woman waiting for her dreams to come true.
(Source: RebeccaHains.com, IMDb) -
Cinderella
Cinderella was very similar to the concept of Snow White. In this movie, Cinderella gets the help from singing mice and a fairy godmother to win the heart of Prince Charming to find her happy ending which became a Disney trademark in their Princess movies. Cinderella was one of Disney’s best grossing features.
(Source: History.com, IMDb) -
Aladdin
Jasmine became the first ethnic Disney princess after several more movies. Jasmine is of Middle Eastern descent and is the first Princess to marry someone that wasn’t a prince. She is the first princess to wear pants instead of a gown. The arrival of Aladdin expanded the visions of what the Disney Princess could be.
(Sources: TheWeek, HubPages, DailyMail, IMDb) -
Pocahontas
Pocahontas became the second nonwhite Disney Princess after Aladdin’s Jasmine. She is of native Indian descent, a first for a Disney Princess. Pocahontas was also the first Disney Princess movie that involved the issue of race as a source of conflict. This movie was also a first for Disney to have an interracial romance.
(Sources: IMDb, TIME, HubPages) -
Mulan
Mulan is the first true action Disney movie. She showed that the Disney Princess could also be a fierce warrior. This expanded on the typical damsel in distress stereotype. However, she has to disguise herself as a male in order to protect her family and fight for her country.
(Source: RebeccaHains.com, IMDb) -
Disney Princess Franchise
The Disney Princess Franchise showed the lack of diversity in their Princesses. Almost every Disney princess received a redesign when entering into the Disney Princesses Line which made her look more like the others. Not only did they get thinner waists, larger eyes, and smaller jaws; the princesses of color received a more drastic redesign.
(The Week) -
The Princess & the Frog
Tiana became the first African American Princess after almost 72 years. However, controversy still rose over the fact that Tiana’s prince had white skin. It was mentioned that Disney didn’t believe a black man was worth the high title of a prince.
(Sources: IMDb, TIME, The Week) -
Brave
Merida showed great changes in Disney breaking their stereotypes. It was the first movie without a love interest. In fact, Merida was against marriage and showed strength and independence as a woman. She is unlike other Disney Princesses as she follows her passions as an independent, adventurous archer. She also breaks beauty stereotypes.
(Sources: IMDb, RebeccaHains.com) -
Merida Makeover
Merida from Brave was given a makeover before her official induction into the Disney Princess Collection. She appears now to be slimmer, older, and sexualized. There was a lot of controversy over this because she was the first princess to look like a real girl. It pulled back on all the progress this movie showed Disney to have.
(Source: Disney.wikia, The Guardian) -
Frozen
The characters in this movie were depicted as heroines who were stronger and more independent as they didn’t rely on princes to save them. Even though the plot changes to break the idea of a damsel in distress as well as a woman needing a love interest, there is an unchanged image of female ideal beauty.
(Sources: IMDb, Examiner)
