History Headscratchers / DisneyPrincess

** Frozen hit the perfect spot of being a cash cow franchise appealing to little girls but also having the approval of parents. For years many parents thought the traditional Princesses held bad morals or questionable feminist figures, yet many of these parents praised Frozen for its deconstruction of classic Disney "cliches" that they felt were problematic as time went by (the evil queen, true love's kiss, Prince Charming, love at first sight...). Disney can kill two birds with one stone with this movement: keep promoting classic characters and keep sales afloat yet raise no controversy of promoting "sexism" or such. Keeping Elsa apart of the line will ensure the feminist mothers will still buy her dolls without raising a stink, but they can still sell Cinderella dolls for the parents that don't mind the old princesses.

** On the other hand, the first ever Disneyland castle built with more than one princess in mind, the Enchanted Storybook Castle in Shanghai, have a seasonal theme with Tiana representing Spring, Rapunzel representing Summer, Merida representing Autumn, and you guessed it, Elsa representing Winter. So watch for coronations during the first month of opening of that park.

** GirlShowGhetto is really not something Disney want to get Frozen into.

* Why isn't Nala, the lioness from WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}, completely ignored as a Disney Princess, she being royalty now and all?

*** [[UnfortunateImplications Because wearing a dress automatically makes a girl weak and stupid, amirite?]]

* Is it me, or are the princesses so much paler in the merchandise than they are in their movies? Rapunzel and Aurora, especially.

* I read somewhere (probably on this wiki) that Giselle wasn't included in the line because they couldn't get the rights to the actress' image. Why couldn't they just use the cartoon version from the beginning? Sure it's not how she is through most of the movie but hey, Rapunzal isn't 2D (I heard they're using 2D pictures in the line) and Mulan isn't a princess. It wouldn't be the first time they stretched to make someone fit.

** It's not just you, and it's not just Rapunzel and Aurora. [[http://images.wikia.com/disney/images/8/8e/554512_10151273014302620_1182212377_n.jpg Mulan and Belle, as well as Aurora, both appear to be paler than ''Snow White'', who was named for her very pale skin.]] Backlash did cause Mulan to get a recoloring to her origanal skin tone, though.

*** This troper blames it on a disconnect between the marketing people and the people who made the actual movie. The latter were interested in making an good movie with an enjoyable heroine who teaches kids a valuable lesson about gender roles and being yourself. The former probably were told "Find as many ways to sell dolls of this character to kids, or your fired".

*** Disney was planning on doing an Asian fairytale, and the choice was between "Mulan" or "Journey to the West". If they had gone with "Journey to the West", Disney would have been put in the unusual position of having a princess who was a villian: [[TheDragon The Iron Fan Princess]]!

** ... Uhm. Pocahontas isn't a princess either, and she's still in the Franchise/DisneyPrincess line. Also, several things said in this thread seem to be either blatantly false or based on trying to project VERY gender-essentialist views (of the "FEMININE BAD, MANLY GOOD" kind) on Mulan's character. U nlike what one of the tropers above claims, Mulan herself NEVER despises anything girly or feminine: she actually likes being dolled up up until trouble starts at the matchmaker, willingly puts on a more practical but still girlish dress at the end, and gets along relatively well with very feminine women like her mother. She is '''''NOT''''' less independent and strong merely for putting on a dress.

** Lets set the historic facts straight. The head of state in China during Mulan's time period was Emperor, one level higher than kings, and military achievements are highly regarded and can earn you all nobility titles, hereditary or not, except the imperial ones reserved for the emperor and his immediate family. Mulan's achievement, beheading of Shan Yu, the emperor of an opposing and hostile force, will earn her a Queen Regent title ruling practically half of the country, all on her own right. So Mulan is not just a princess, she is a women created her own kingdom single-handedly.

* Why is so Mulan so heavily misunderstood, even (especially!) by her own fans? People generally seem to have this idea Mulan is a tough, ball-busting tomboy who despises girly crap and would hate to be next to Cindy or Aurora on the merchandise (seriously, there was a tumblr post suggesting this). The Classic 3 are badly misunderstood enough but almost no one seems to understand Mulan's personality. She isn't masculine or aggressive in the slightest- she has a strong feminine side and is actually a very sweet and obedient daughter. Yet she is always pitted against the old princesses, especially Aurora, like they are opposites.

*** If anything, Mulan shows disgust against the gross habits that she sees on the men on the training camp when she arrives. So she's not exactly a tomboy anyway, she just did what she had to even if that meant to dress up as a man. And she only fights again on the second movie because the Emperor asked her to do that, if he didn't asked, she would had live a very pacific life with Shang until a war happens or she dies due of childbirth or sickness but without having to fight again. And Mulan would be happy anyway because as another usser stated, she's practically a Queen-by-her-own-hand of half China.

* Is the Disney Princess franchise basically over, now that all new princesses have been excluded from it?
** Since the success of Frozen, any new princess is expected to hold up their own franchise. Hence no more princesses being added to the line.

* Why haven't Disney started a Disney Prince brand, even as a spin-off brand to Disney Princess? It would be good marketing, plus the princes would have more prominence than just being accessories for the Princesses to hang around with. And yes, I do get that there was once a "Disney Adventurers" franchise that was a huge flop, but it had a tiny 5 characters, and a villain (Captain Hook) was part of that lineup anyway. How 'bout a "pretty boy" saga starring Aladdin, the Beast, Naveen, Eric, Flynn, Shang, maybe Kristoff, and very possibly Tarzan and Hercules?

** Frozen hit the perfect spot of being a cash cow franchise appealing to little girls but also having the approval of parents. For years many parents thought the traditional Princesses held bad morals or questionable feminist figures, yet many of these parents praised Frozen for its deconstruction of classic Disney "cliches" that they felt were problematic as time went by (the evil queen, true love's kiss, Prince Charming, love at first sight...). Disney can kill two birds with one stone with this movement: keep promoting classic characters and keep sales afloat yet raise no controversy of promoting "sexism" or such. Keeping Elsa apart of the line will ensure the feminist mothers will still buy her dolls without raising a stink, but they can still sell Cinderella dolls for the parents that don't mind the old princesses.

* Why is it that whenever the princesses are shown with their respective princes, [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]] is always shown with Prince Adam in beast form? She wasn't a princess until they married after his transformation. Why would she still get an invite to whatever tea party, Christmas DVD, or other merchandising venture if she isn't a princess at that time? Does she have some sort of deal with the Enchantress if he misbehaves, as an alternative to making him sleep on the couch?

* Why isn't Nala, the lioness from Disney/TheLionKing, completely ignored as a Disney Princess, she being royalty now and all?

* Why shouldn't Disney include [[Disney/BigHero6 Honey Lemon]] as one of the Disney Princesses? She's feminine, is an ActionGirl, and she's kind and gentle, always trying to stay positive.

* Frozen hit the perfect spot of being a cash cow franchise appealing to little girls but also having the approval of parents. For years many parents thought the traditional Princesses held bad morals or questionable feminist figures, yet many of these parents praised Frozen for its deconstruction of classic Disney "cliches" that they felt were problematic as time went by (the evil queen, true love's kiss, Prince Charming, love at first sight...). Disney can kill two birds with one stone with this movement: keep promoting classic characters and keep sales afloat yet raise no controversy of promoting "sexism" or such.

** Elsa was a princess before her coronation. Belle, Cinderella, and Tiana were, respectively, a tinker's daughter, a nobleman's daughter, and a waitress before they married princes. If we were to stick only to characters who had the explicit title "Princess" for the entire movie, we'd have precious few in the line...

** The criteria seems to be a) popular heroine from a popular movie and b) someone who can appeal to multiple demographics. Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and Rapunzel are all from very popular movies and instantly recognisable. The others are from less popular movies but do have that minority demographic appeal. Tiana of course is the first black princess, Mulan appeals to the Asian demographic and Pocahontas to the Native American. Merida seems to be the odd one out but she's Scottish and more of a tomboy than the others, so that's demographic appeal too. With other characters, their movies weren't that popular - Esmerelda and Megara are considerably less known than say Ariel or Belle. Also they don't have any apparent ethnicity - Esmerelda just looking AmbiguouslyBrown and Meg only appearing to be another Caucasian brunette. Pocahontas and Mulan are easily identifiable as Native American and Chinese, so they get in for diversity's sake. That's probably the reason Jasmine is in there too, as she's the only princess who isn't the main character in her film. Likewise they're not human - Nala, Maid Marian. Or perhaps too young - Alice and Wendy.

** On the other hand, the first ever Disneyland castle built with more than one princess in mind, the Enchanted Storybook Castle in Shanghai, have a seasonal theme with Tiana representing Spring, Rapunzel representing Summer, Merida representing Autumn, and you guessed it, Elsa representing Winter. So watch for coronations during the first month of opening of that park.

*** Disney was planning on doing an Asian fairytale, and the choice was between "Mulan" or "Journey to the West". If they had gone with "Journey to the West", Disney would have been put in the unusual position of having a princess who was a villian: The Iron Fan Princess.

** OP was most likely referring to the fact that Mulan was a strong, independent character in her film. It sends a message that [[TomboyGirl girls don't need to be girly/feminine]] if they don't want to. And yet in merchandise, she is either wearing the kimono she wore to the matchmaker (something she despised doing), or wearing a frou frou dress that ''didn't even exist'' in ancient China.

** OP was most likely referring to the fact that Mulan was a strong, independent character in her film. It sends a message that girls don't need to be girly/feminine if they don't want to. And yet in merchandise, she is either wearing the kimono she wore to the matchmaker (something she despised doing), or wearing a frou frou dress that didn't even exist in ancient China.