History YMMV / ThePrincessDiaries

* CatharsisFactor:
** In ''Forever Princess'', Lilly mentions when Mia presses her for details is [[spoiler:that she's being nice despite their estrangement because Michael read her the riot act for creating a hate site about Mia. It's offscreen, but Lilly was sufficiently cowed and suffered a HeelRealization. Note that a lot of characters mention the website is not only mean but would also be grounds of expulsion for Lilly if Principal Gupta found out or if Philippe wanted to press charges of harassment. J.P. admits while manipulating both girls, that Mia owes Lilly nothing because the way Lilly behaved was reprehensible, and Lilly agrees while apologizing to Mia]].
** In-universe during ''Braid!'', the audience reacts this way, with a {{Gasp}}, when Rosagunde strangles Alboin after the warlord forced him to marry her after murdering her father and made her pay obeisance by drinking wine from her father's skull. As the play notes, Rosagunde had a higher alcohol tolerance and took advantage of that.
** ''Royal Wedding'' acknowledges that thanks to RealityEnsues, [[spoiler:Lilly is no longer Mia's closest friend. Owing to what she did and their rocky history, Mia now has Tina as a best friend and Lilly appears sporadically. They both acknowledge that the gap is there, and probably won't be fixed. With that said, she is TheAtoner and makes sure everything she does is to help Mia get in contact with her half-sister while crushing on Lars]].
** ''Royal Wedding'' also has [[spoiler:Mia and Philippe getting evidence that Olivia's relatives ''are'' abusive and neglectful when she comes home with a broken nose, explaining that her bully Annabelle's dad used red tape to stop the Royal Genovian Guard. When Catherine and Rick show no concern for Olivia's well-being, Philippe goes PapaWolf and calls them out for not protecting his daughter or showing the basic modicum of care. Mia also insists they're taking Olivia now to see a doctor and if Catherine and Rick have issues with that, they can address the fact of using Olivia's custody money for themselves and not for her in court. Olivia herself tells off her aunt for caring more about the coffee stains in the carpet -- courtesy of Mia dropping her mug when seeing an injured Olivia -- than about the fact that her niece got injured. Suffice to say, Catherine and Rick cede custody then and there]].

* UnfortunateImplications: The book's characters Josh Richter, Lana Weinberger, and Frank Giannini have their names respectively changed to Josh Bryant, Lana Thomas, and Patrick O'Connell for the movie. There doesn't seem to be much reason for this other than the replacement names all sound much more WASPish.

* Unfortunate Implications: The book's characters Josh Richter, Lana Weinberger, and Frank Giannini have their names respectively changed to Josh Bryant, Lana Thomas, and Patrick O'Connell for the movie. There doesn't seem to be much reason for this other than the replacement names all sound much more WASPish.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: [[spoiler:Lilly constantly berates Mia throughout the series and goes so far as to [[DisproportionateRetribution create a hate site dedicated to her.]] With that in mind, the lengths Mia goes to restore their relationship seem unrealistic. Lilly lampshades this in the last book.]]

* HardTruthAesop: Mia's appearance is a big part of becoming a princess, which is a harsh truth for any public figure. Her original look was fine for a high school student, but being expected to be in the public eye would require her to look more 'professional' (which for women usually means having to look like a supermodel). Lily even lists this standard to live up to as a reason why Mia should turn down the job at first.

* UnnecessaryMakeover: Dovetailing with the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, the HollywoodHomely Mia has to get a makeover because she has [[TheGlassesGottaGo glasses]] and [[strike: a ponytail]] curly hair. On the other hand, she's clearly unhappy with her appearance until her makeover. And bear in mind, her makeover was more suited for a public figure than a high school student. It also doesn't help that, as Kevin Murphy put it in ''A Year at the Movies'', the primary result is that she's "de-ethnicized," with every trace of Jewish heritage covered up – although neither Mia nor Anne Hathaway are Jewish, the negative portrayal of her frizzy hair and glasses that emphasize her nose size definitely has some UnfortunateImplications.

* TakeThatCritics: Meg Cabot has long gotten flak for putting pop culture references into her books. In ''Princess In Training'', Mia struggled with an English teacher who disparaged her for the same thing, resulting in the novel's CMOA in which Mia [[CallingTheOldManOut calls her on her overly-rigid view]] of what constitutes "culture."

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop:
** Book example: Mia's parents tell her that she is being too hasty in [[spoiler:breaking up with Michael over having had sex before and not telling her]], and Tina tells her she should talk to Michael and maybe give him another chance, but it came off to some readers as punishing Mia for [[spoiler:not putting out -- especially since the age gap should necessitate a JailbaitWait at least]]. In the same situation, Boris delivers an unquestionably FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: [[spoiler:a messy breakup without closure that leaves both people miserable is better than the potential of a long distance relationship]].
** Even if two people love each other and seem perfect, they sometimes need to break up to mature and improve their character. Lana becomes a much better person when she and Josh break up for real, in part because she realized that [[spoiler:she and Mia were being ridiculous in pining after him and that Josh wasn't worth it]]. In book ten, when Mia and Michael finally talk about [[spoiler:their breakup]], they admit that they both messed up. [[spoiler:Michael actually says that Mia had every right to be angry with him because he withheld rather important information about his sexual history. Mia tries to insist that she was being immature, but Michael says that she wasn't wrong to call him out for not mentioning that he had helped Judith Gershner cheat on her boyfriend]].
* FanGirl:
** Tina is a fangirl of [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel all things romantic.]]
** Mia is a devoted ''Franchise/StarWars'' fangirl, and fond of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' in the early books, even if she judges all the nerds in school.

* ValuesDissonance: When the paparazzi took humiliating photos of Mia nearly naked and had those photos plastered on tabloids, the biggest concern was that she embarrassed herself and the family, and was betrayed by the popular kids. Nowadays, the bigger issue would be that the media took and published photos of a partially nude ''fifteen year old girl''. Considering a similar incident happened with Kate Middleton in 2012, the parties involved could have very well been sued and charged.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: The movie seems to believe that BeautyEqualsGoodness - no matter how strong or intelligent or charismatic Mia is, she ''must'' look like a supermodel at all times or she isn't worthy of having authority or being noticed. Note that the ''villains'' in the first film are hideous and the film makes sure you're aware of it. In the books, Mia points this out and mocks the movie creators about it.

* ValuesDissonance: When the paparazzi took humiliating photos of Mia nearly naked and had those photos plastered on tabloids, the biggest concern was that she embarrassed herself and the family, and was betrayed by the popular kids. Nowadays, the bigger issue would be that the media took and published photos of a partially nude ''sixteen year old girl''. Considering a similar incident happened with Kate Middleton in 2012, the parties involved could have very well been sued and charged.

** Mandy Moore bullying a princess in a Disney movie, considering she would later voice an official Franchise/DisneyPrincess in ''{{Disney/Tangled}}''. And like Mia, Rapunzel does not know she is a princess at first.

* ValuesDissonance: Michael is three to four years older than Mia, and in fact graduates and goes to college come the sixth book. While the age gap is fairly small and wasn't that remarked upon at the time the books were written (other than emphasising the pair needed to wait until Mia was older for them to start having sex) changing opinions on emotional maturity and teenage sexuality mean it's now rather creepy to read about an eighteen year old boy regularly kissing a fourteen year old girl, since Mia only turns fifteen halfway through the story.

* TheScrappy: Nowadays, Lily is not well-liked for being such a terrible friend. She tells Mia she should be over her father's death (which only happened ''two months ago''), she relentlessly mocks Mia's makeover, and she threatens to stop being friends with Mia unless the latter reveals her status as a royal to her. Many viewers wondered how Mia could stand to be friends with her.

* ValuesDissonance: Michael is three to four years older than Mia, and in fact graduates and goes to college come the sixth book. While the age gap is fairly small and wasn't remarked on at the time the books were written, changing opinions on emotional maturity and teenage sexuality mean it's rather creepy to read about an eighteen year old boy regularly kissing a fourteen year old girl, since Mia only turns fifteen halfway through the story.

** Mia is a devoted ''Film/StarWars'' fangirl, and fond of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' in the early books, even if she judges all the nerds in school.

* EarWorm:
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E0sawMArmI I'm Supergirl, and I'm here to save the world!]]".
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-3vPxKdj6o Breakaway]]" from the second movie.
** "Miracles Happen", period.
** "Stupid Cupid" is short but memorable.

* MagnificentBastard: Magnificent Bitch: Grandmere borders on this sometimes. At one point she puts on a school play to help Mia raise money enough to save the student government, ensure her own purchase of an island in Dubai, and get her granddaughter closer to a boy she thinks is more suitable consort material. [[spoiler: She succeeds on all counts]].

* UnnecessaryMakeover: Dovetailing with the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, the HollywoodHomely Mia has to get a makeover because she has [[TheGlassesGottaGo glasses]] and [[strike: a ponytail]] curly hair. On the other hand, she's clearly unhappy with her appearance until her makeover. And bear in mind, her makeover was more suited for a public figure than a high school student. It also doesn't help that, as Kevin Murphy put it in ''A Year at the Movies'', the primary result is that she's "de-ethnicized," with every trace of Jewish heritage covered up.

* AcceptableLifestyleTargets: The early books have occasional jabs against OccidentalOtaku, and if you like American cartoons, you're not much better. This phases out in later books as Mia matures.