It seems as if all popular Disney movies have royalty, and for the female audience, princesses. I for one adored their perfect hair, dresses, and jewelry when I was a little girl. I "grew out of it" eventually, mostly when my older brothers told me they were going to play legos and if I wanted to join them no princesses were allowed. So it seems strange now, when I babysit an adorable 5 year old girl down the block, to read to her stories of princesses locked away in towers, or princesses who stick their noses up at everything and who are spoiled rotten brats. And of course, there are the stories of pretty princesses who land the perfect guy, but those never seem to interest her. So, what's wrong with this?
Technically, nothing, as long as we grow out of the idea that one day someone will show up at our house and declare that they've been looking for us, and that I'm actually a princess. (Princess Diaries). But an article I read in my English class last year discusses whether or not acting as a princess is feminist or not (page 2).
Not every little girl can be a princess, and I think this is where the problem lies. To have a princess means to also have peasantry, or at least classes below her. And do we really want to instill such a class structure on our future generations? Its a wonderful marketing device-- telling girls they are princesses will make them nag their parents even more for the many products out there--dresses, tiaras, jewelry, dolls, doll accessories, you name it.
So what if they don't grow out of this princess mind-set? Girls-- did you think of yourself as a princess when you were little? And guys, was there any equivalent in the boy world?
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