Princess movies have been a major genre, especially in Disney movies. This article will respond to such films by summarizing the essay and making an analysis of it.
In the article entitled “Power to the Princess: Disney and the Creation of the 20* Century Princess Narrative”, it focused on the prince narrative in the Disney by giving a close analysis of some classical works of the 20* Century and explored how Disney created its own narrative of prince. Also, there is the discussion of the market success of movies distributed by Disney and reasons behind it. The power of Disney movies is large(Whelan, p.32).The classic features of princess in the Disney movies, and the change of the depiction. It is argued that Disney used those movies to instill the ideal positions of women in the American society, which is often ignored by a lot of American people. Also, the interpretation of the feminist toward such movies by Disney is presented. In the past, there are limited role model of princess but later the Disneyland aspired to create new models of Princess with more heroic deeds instead of just focusing on romantic relationship with men. In the early Disney animated films, Disney women were often weak and beautiful.
In the Disney animated film during the feminist movement, the princesses are no longer weak and passively waiting for the image of salvation. Princess is related with power, freedom, and exploration(Whelan, p.26). In appearance, the ethnic minority princesses appear who have healthy brown skin and muscular lines, giving them a healthy and energetic feeling. In character, the princesses have the qualities of courage and heroism, and even they have become the savior.
I agree with the main claim of the essay，namely，the business success and the changes of roles of women. There is a good use of a lot of concrete movies of Disney princess movies, and analysis of the main characters, which makes the argument powerful. Also it proceeds according to timeline. It shows that as the world’s entertainment giant, Disney’s animated film has a deep mark of the times, reflecting the changes of the times, but also portraying one after another a vivid female image. In the Disney film, the construction of the classic female image is full of the game between maleism and feminism, which I agree with. The Disney series of films often are under a profound influence of the times，and thus all fairy tales are adult fairy tales, reflecting the needs of adults for the world. The target audience is not only children, but also a group of adults with more spending power.
Disney not only expresses or caters to the times through animation film, but also the female image in Disney movies. Princess in the Disneyland movies are no longer only aimed at underage, but are increasingly becoming cultural products for all ages, especially Disney’s animations. Not only are the stories appealing, but the values are also quite useful and progressive in creating ideal role model. This view is quite key to understand princess movie. Deep and simple, multiple perspectives can lead viewers to have multiple levels of experience about princess. This is the sagacity of Disney movies about princess. Today’s Disneyland movies about princess are not just for children, but their influences have begun to reach adults. As an important tool for the United States to express culture and values, Disney princess have begun to conceive and arrange from multiple angles and directions. Whether it’s a plot or a character, whether it’s character setting or plot evolution, people can find shadows and sources from reality. For example, the spread of such values is reflected in the latest release of the cartoon “Crazy Animal City”. However，there seems to be so many topics involved in the article, which leads to lack of specific and detailed discussion.
To sum up, “Power to the Princess: Disney and the Creation of the 20* Century Princess Narrative” is a well written essay with a clear topic and strong evidences to discover relationship between princess and times.