Cinderella is a loser

I listened to British Radio 4's Woman's Hour today on a podcast whilst running. It's been a while since I tuned in (or downloaded in this case), but it didn't disappoint. If you've never listened to Woman's Hour, you should. It is probably the most empowering, interesting and insightful programme that exists for us today.

Yesterday's programme was no exception. A discussion of the 'Disney Princessification' of Merida (Brave) ensued. Finally, the backlash to the Disney Princesses may have become too loud for Disney to ignore. A petition against the new imagery has gained over 200,000 signatures in a few days. Feelings against are strong. I agree. I am raising a daughter. I hate the Disney Princesses, especially Cinderella.

I think we forget how old some of these Disney images are. Snow White was made in 1937, Cinderella in 1950, Sleeping Beauty in 1959. Each of the stories are re-interpretations of what the Brothers Grimm had written or recounted a century before. These are not happy stories, they are a mixture of morality, warning and horror. But they were 'Disneyfied' for a mass audience born 60-80 years ago. The films have been digitized but not re-made. They belong to an era when the role of women was very different and should be saved for courses in popular feminism not held up as icons to our young girls.

It was easy to get my daughter to question the intelligence of the 'Princesses' as my early life reads a bit like Cinderella....mum died, father with someone else, chooses her, I get adopted. This makes me more (over?) sensitive to the Cinderella story. First she's a victim of fate, then her father's marital choices, then her step family and then the Prince. But essentially by most modern criteria, Cinderella is a loser...unable to do anything for herself. She is not able to convince her father, find a lawyer or anyone in her mother's family to help her. By the time we meet her she has completely submitted to her step family's enslavement and her only hope is that the Prince will save her. LOSER!

Being saved by the 'Prince' is, of course, at the heart of all of the Disney Princess's stories. But the traditional Princesses are neither lucid, pro-active in their misfortunes or capable of fighting back. Thankfully the modern Princesses are better (a bit). Belle, for example, can read (hallelujah), she consciously exchanges herself for her father, she rejects the local hunk and saves the Beast (who, of course turns out to be a Prince - it is still Disney). But at least she has a personality.

I think Disney is finally going to have to re-think its imagery of girls. The stupid Princesses are replaced by those spoilt, ill-mannered, pig-headed and generally disgusting, albeit thin and well-made-up, creatures which grace our TV screens on the Disney channel 24 hours a day. One reason I haven't bought a TV since we moved is that I can't stand them. No TV, no arguments.... I also know lots of parents who are changing their cable subscriptions to get rid of the Disney channel or have put parental controls in place to restrict viewing. I realize I sound like my mother here. But here's the thing.... I could accept my child watching half an hour of this turgid, non-sensical, rubbish a couple of times a week. It's the constant bombardment I object so passionately to.

Disney should have a re-think. Appealing to children who constantly whine at their parents for whichever Princess doll (and the billions of Princess products that exist) or to watch 'whatever' pulp they are currently broadcasting is one way. But at some point, parents put their collective 'foot' down. Perhaps this is the start...I hope so....

You can sign a petition against the 'princessification' of Merida at:
https://www.change.org/petitions/disney-say-no-to-the-merida-makeover-keep-our-hero-brave