General Disney Princess Discussion

I didn't think Ariel's dress was that bad. Though I prefer the sea green dress she now has.

Briar Rose should wear the dress with the blue and pink mashed together, that's so wicked.

It's kinda sad we'll never see the Princesses in each other's clothes. That would be... interesting.

I'd like to see more Princesses wearing bold or dark colors for their Official Pimped-Out Dress.

Oh no? ;P

Thanks, although I was thinking about official art.

Sorry.

Cinderella was thought of as blonde with a blue dress at least by the time of House of Mouse, so it's not a 'new' thing. Disney even edited the original movie on DVD to make her dress more blue and her hair more blonde (and they dulled tons of the colors and removed a ton of fairy dust in the process :( )

What's really weird is that they used the original version of the transformation in a singalong on one of the Disney Princess DVDs, so it's not like they didn't have it.

I found a comparison. http://myanchoronthisship.tumblr.com/post/64796562839/exprincesszara-this-came-to-my-attention-and

edited 6th Nov '14 7:06:30 PM by lalalei2001

Rapunzel looks surprisingly cute in a witch hat.

Today is the anniversary of Ariel's movie.

So now Ariel is 25,and still perpetually spunky.

Well she is a mermaid, after all. ;)

Remember those racebent Princess designs I linked to a while back?

Have the complete set.

(Character and ethnicity IDs are listed at the bottom.)

I think changing Elsa's hair to brown misses the point a bit but otherwise really good art.

So, today's the anniversary of the movie that saved Disney. The Little Mermaid is an accomplishment, one of Disney's most popular movies, one of the surprise hits of 1989... and I can't stand a frame of it. Putting aside the technical-type aspects, the acting, animation, and music are all first-rate, but in service of a terrible story with a horrible moral. "Sell your soul to get the man of your dreams and you will never face any consequences". Ariel is pretty much the modern American teenage girl embodied, and as such, she is a dreadfully annoying character; she's entitled, whiny, disrespectful, completely controlled by hormones, and so shortsighted it's a wonder she doesn't bump into the door every day. And the killer part is that she never grows past this; Ariel makes no growth as a character and is handed everything she wants at the end, despite having done nothing to earn it. And the scary part is how she's still an incredibly popular character, even a sort of role model to some young women over the past 25 years. It frightens me that this living embodiment of Bush/Reagan-style "feminism" is held up as a hero for women even today.

Surface reading of the movie.

You know, the actual theme of the movie is that Ariel is in an age, at which she wants to stand on her own feet so to speak. Triton should take her by the hand and guide her, but he doesn't because he doesn't agree with her dreams. And because of this Ariel runs afool of someone who uses her naivety for their own gain...in real live it might be someone offering a young girl a "model contract"...and goes on the path of self-destruction. What all those "she doesn't face the consequences" crier overlook is that she does. She doesn't get her kiss in time, she ends up trapped, and the only reason she does escape a horrible fate is because her father intervenes. In the end of the story, Ariel escapes through sheer dumb look (and I think no child would confuse what happens in a way that going to the "evil sea witch" is a good plan), and she has to accept that she has to give up Eric (note that she is not on the beach with him, but already watching from the ocean). What leads to a happy end is that Triton is finally accepting her dreams and is giving her the guidance she needs.

Ariel is not a good role-model, but she is not supposed to be. She is supposed to be a teenager, and she is supposed to be a cautionary tale NOT to listen to the sea witch, NOT to give up your most precious possession for what might be a pipe dream, NOT to be reckless and to NEVER EVER give up your voice for anything. It also basically says that the idea that men want woman with no voice BS, considering that Eric overlooks Ariel because of her lack of voice and only falls in love with her when her personality shines through regardless.

I rather watch The Little Mermaid than a movie which tries to tell me that whatever you did, everything will be okay if you just say sorry.

Why? White hair was used as a mark of being touched by ice magic in the movie, but it didn't have to be.

So you'd rather watch a movie that tells you you don't even have to say sorry, that your stupid mistakes will be fixed and everything will work out for you because the more powerful people in your life will step in and take care of it?

If Ariel is meant to be a cautionary tale, she's not a very good one because she ultimately gets everything she wants with no permanent negative consequences. That said, since the movie is pure fantasy, it's not likely that anyone will learn foolish behavior directly from it. Whatever dumbass things a young girl might do to be closer to her "true love," striking bargains with a Sea Witch—or real-world equivalents—is highly unlikely.

edited 17th Nov '14 2:39:10 PM by Karalora

Real life doesn't step in and takes care of it. Ariel has to fight for her survival in the end. To me, those are really big consequences. She even does say sorry (shortly before Triton signs the contract), but in this case, sorry doesn't cut it. It works with the people who love you, but not with the sea witches of this world.

edited 17th Nov '14 2:54:50 PM by Swanpride

Ariel was far from being a perfect heroine, but she's still a step up from the previous Princesses, who held a tiny amount of agency and say-so in their own stories (Aurora in particular was a huge Pinball Protagonist). I think she must be seen in that context.

Anna's hair turned white under the effect of the same ice magic. It clearly has nothing to do with genetics. Without that visual clue, Kristoff (Inuit equivalent obviously) has no reason to notice something's wrong with Anna which triggers the third act of the movie.

Could it be streaked with blue magic?

Damn straight, which is why we should avoid giving people the idea that it does.

But not permanent ones.

...yes? Are we even arguing, really?

For that to be true, she would have to be the protagonist of that movie. (She wasn't; the three fairies were.)

I agree that she's a lot better than the previous princesses, but that doesn't mean we can't criticize her on other grounds.

@Rhyme Beat: I'm not sure what you're getting at. I didn't even mention genetics. I can accept that Elsa has white hair as a side effect of her powers, which also gradually turned Anna's hair white when she was infected. That seems pretty obvious. But that's not the only possible tell they could have used.

edited 17th Nov '14 3:51:40 PM by Karalora

On that note, have you noticed that the studio keeps getting saved by princesses? ;)

"Better than the last three princesses" is still Damned by Faint Praise at best. Ariel still doesn't have much agency of her own, she still suffers no consequences for her actions.

Well, I sure am glad I brought it up.