In the Defense of Elsa

Frozen (Elsa)

Becky: Elsa is probably the most complicated Disney princess yet. She has a promising beginning, with tender, loving parents and a sister who is her best friend. A fantastic future is before her. Then her powers, never seen as much of a threat before, become exactly that and she and her parents aren’t sure how to deal with them. They are all so afraid of what could be and how bad it can get that they are ruled by that fear. Elsa never learns how to cope and balance her life with the powers, she just lives in fear and tries everything to hide it, which makes her anxious and more out of control than before. She has the best of intentions, she doesn’t want to hurt her sister or anybody else, and she wants to be “normal”. Who doesn’t want the same thing in their lives?

Whitney: That’s so true, but I really want to address the big controversy surrounding Elsa and it has to do with that big number “Let it Go”. A lot of people viewed the song, and Elsa’s actions as she sings it, as sexual. She changes her dress to some slinky number, some people think of the words of the song as being about being sexually free. Here’s what I thought when I first saw the film: Elsa is finally facing her fears. She’s letting go of her anxieties surrounding her powers and what people would think of her because of them, and she’s embracing what she can do. Before running away, her hair was pulled back tight, her dresses were constricting--early every inch of her was covered, hiding her from everyone else just as effectively as her bedroom door. But she changes into clothes that she can move freely in, something she can feel comfortable in. Instead of being uptight, she’s relaxed. She is embracing the person she is, with everything that comes along with that. Once she lets go of those fears and relaxes, she can do amazing things. The bad stuff happens when she lets her fear take over again.

Becky: Excellent point! Elsa’s gown at the beginning was very Arendell traditional. Covering every inch of herself like the gloves covered her hands and helped to “conceal” her powers. And if all people get out of that song is her change in wardrobe and the slinkiness, let’s remind them of Jasmine’s outfits. Or Ariel. She wasn’t going to transform into a pair of yoga pants or a powersuit, guys. Let go of the dress and focus on the message. Let it go, let it go…. Anywho, the idea of fear being so powerful is a great one. Fear changes everything. Once Elsa embraces herself, and her powers, she is not only free, but even more powerful than before! And the end all of the story? Love will thaw a frozen heart. But love also conquered fear. Love saved the sisters’ relationship. Love drove them both to make sacrifices for each other. And love was everywhere in this story. Elsa and Anna, Anna and Kristoff, Elsa and herself, Olaf and….everyone…..and everything……

Whitney: It’s so great to see love seen as more than just romantic too. Sisterly love saves the day this time around. No prince needed.

Becky: But let us not diminish Kristoff for that. He was willing to do so much for Anna… Sigh. Anyways.

In the Defense of Anna

Frozen (Anna)

Whitney: We’re going to take the Frozen sisters one at a time, starting with Anna. Anna isn’t like any other princess. I think just about anyone can see themselves in Anna. She’s energetic and imaginative. She daydreams, rambles when she talks, and is a little bit of a klutz. And just look at her hair when she first wakes up! So realistic!

Becky: Anna wants to be exactly what the “typical” princess is and has. Grand adventures, true love, a fairy tale ending… She wants it all! And again we get the innocence and naivete of someone who knows nothing of the world or of herself, really. So she falls for the first handsome guy to pay her attention, thinking it is exactly what she is supposed to have. Everything is exactly as she imagined it! Are we going to fault her for that? No! Without knowing any better, how can we? She is a trusting soul, and that’s not a bad thing to be.

Whitney: And she had a pretty lonely childhood. Her sister wouldn’t come out and play with her, and her parents died when she was still a teenager. She had ten years or something to keep herself occupied, so of course she fall for someone who actually pays attention to her. She’s a dreamer. How many of us think we’re in love with the first guy who seems interested? But she goes through this journey to get her sister back and she meets someone who gave her a really bad first impression, and apparently a second one as he left his mountain man/reindeer smell behind.

Becky: I love Kristoff. He’s a real guy. And the end of this movie leaves things fairly open for them, which I love. But we all know how it will go! And he loves Anna for who she is and knows her well enough for the love to be real! But this movie isn’t really about romantic love. It’s about family. Despite the isolation of her life, Anna risks her safety to go after her sister and to make things right. She believes in her sister without knowing the facts or questioning the separation of her childhood.

Whitney: Anna never loses her impulsiveness, but she does learn about the time and place for it. And, just like everyone else we’ve talked about, she’s kind and cheerful no matter her circumstance. She doesn’t want to ruin Olaf’s dream of summer, and she found ways to occupy her time when she was a kid. She’s willing to try to climb mountains and fight giant snowmen to get her sister back.

Becky: Anna may be a dreamer, but she is definitely a doer too. She’s not one to sit idly by and wait for life to happen. And she is obsessed with chocolate, so…..

Whitney: My kind of girl!

Becky: Amen!

In the Defense of Merida

Brave (Merida)

Whitney: My big thing about Merida is that when there IS a princess who is independent and doesn’t want a man, people start complaining about that. It’s like they can’t be happy either way.

Becky: Seriously. Why can’t we just enjoy the fact that her story doesn’t revolve around finding love? It’s a completely different type of story!

Whitney: Right. One, I’m pretty sure Merida is the youngest of the princesses. Let’s not start marrying off children, okay? And it’s so obvious that she worships her father, so she wants to be like him. She doesn’t want to fit into the stereotypes that her mom tries to push her into--she wants to be her own person! Which she’s still trying to figure out. She’s trying to prove how strong she is, but at the same time showing that she needs her parents. And don’t most people need their parents their entire lives?

Becky: Let us also point out that Merida is one of the only princesses who actually has both of her parents AND has siblings, too.

Whitney: Exactly. I think that makes a little bit of a difference. She had a happy and fulfilling home life, so there wasn’t a reason for her to find it elsewhere.

Becky: The point is that Merida wasn’t ready to get married. To find love. And that was the whole point of the story. She wanted more for herself than to be forced into marriage, and she wanted love. She didn’t want to be rushed. So maybe, just maybe, Merida is a true romantic. The main relationship we need to focus on in this story is the parent-child relationship. That is the crux of it all. Merida and her mom had grown distant and somehow didn’t understand each other anymore. Bizarre circumstances allowed them the chance to rekindle their relationship. That’s the point. It’s a movie for parents AND kids. Go hug your mom. More importantly, TALK TO HER. The end.

In the Defense of Rapunzel

Tangled (Rapunzel)

Becky: Rapunzel is a kidnapped princess who doesn’t know her identity, is locked away in a tower, dreams of exploring the world, and takes the chance with the first attractive man with a smolder she meets. Crazy, right? Sounds like…..something I might do. ANYWAY. She possesses this sense of innocence and energy that poor Flynn Ryder [seriously, best name ever] finds absolutely fascinating. She doesn’t really know what the world is like, and as such, she has no preconceived notions of it. Think about that inn they go to. The Snuggly Duckling was hardly the Ritz or even Motel 6. Those were some hardened characters in it, and she had every right to be nervous with them. Yet within moments she’s seeing them for the secret hopes and dreams they have, and not judging them as Flynn or anyone else would. She sees the good in Flynn when he can’t even see it in himself. And what does she want most? To see the floating lanterns she’s watched from her window for years. That is the sweetest, most innocent dream ever. Do we really have to talk AGAIN about why it’s okay that she needed saving at the end? Let’s skip over that part and go right to the bit where SHE GAVE UP FIGHTING TO SAVE HIM! Holy heroine move right there. She was going to face an eternity with the woman who used her shamelessly and lost any of the pretend maternal nature she once had just to save the man who tried to save her. Basically, Rapunzel is a rock star.

Whitney: I LOVE Rapunzel. She is innocent, adventurous, kind, and good. There is a reason that all those unsavory fellows at the Snuggly Duckling warm to her almost instantly. And why Flynn gives up his selfish ways. And, let’s be honest, if you are with someone for nearly 72 hours straight, you’re either going to hate them or start falling in love with them. And because of the things that Rapunzel and Flynn (or should we be calling him Eugene?) went through, they were brought closer together than would be usual. And I love that they save each other. As you mentioned, Becky, she was willing to give up her freedom to save Flynn, and he was willing to give up his life to give her her freedom. Flynn needed Rapunzel just as much as Rapunzel needed Flynn. Some people might complain about Flynn being the “bad boy” and that it isn’t realistic for girls to think they can change someone, but was he REALLY a bad guy? All he wanted to do was have adventures, and in order to do so and to get money to live, he turned to thievery. He became hardened. But I think really he was still little Eugene Fitzherbert, dreaming of an adventure and Rapunzel gave it to him and showed him that the world isn’t nearly as rough as he had come to believe.

Becky: I think what needs to be pointed out is that Rapunzel didn’t go after the “bad boy”. She sort of blackmailed him into helping her, and the friendship grew and then became more. He changed all on his own, she had nothing to do with it. He saw how she saw the world and that triggered it. He had to WANT to change. He could have stayed the same and gone back to his ways. But he didn’t. Is there a good person under every bad boy? Sure, probably. Will he change? Well, that’s up to him, isn’t it? Also a good whack with a frying pan might help.

Whitney: The frying pan is the best thing ever.

In the Defense of Tiana

Whitney: It’s time to move on to the 21st century princesses. A lot has changed from when Snow White first came on the scene, but then again, some things haven’t changed. Now, I’m not a huge fan of The Princess and the Frog as a movie, but I think Tiana is a great character. She works hard (just like Cinderella or Mulan or Belle) for what she wants and she’s kind to the people she meets. I mean, she does have a hard time connecting to Naveen at first, but he turned her into a frog, so who could blame her?

Becky: Plus Naveen was an idiot. Hardly a likable character at all. The thing with Tiana is she was so focused on her goal [not a bad thing!] that she was forgetting to live. Mama Odie made that point fairly clear with her epic gospel number that really SHOULD have had a reprise, but nobody sang along with Ray, so that’s that. Tiana is a strong woman. No one had to save her, because what she faced was a bit harder to deal with. She lacked money to make her dreams come true. But she would work night and day for it on her own, so there was nothing that anyone HAD to do for her.

Whitney: I like that instead of them moving back to Naveen’s country, they stay in New Orleans and open the restaurant. This means that Naveen grew up and learned about what is important and was willing to make sacrifices for Tiana. Tiana didn’t have to sacrifice her dream in order to marry the prince.

Becky: Yeah, poor Tiana. She got her dream restaurant, got to stay in New Orleans, and oh yeah, she got a prince who worships the ground she walks on. I bet she was really bitter when they had to go to...where the heck was he from again? Maldonia? Wherever. When they had to go there and do the whole royalty thing, I bet she was really hating it. I think the point of this story was when the royalty was stripped aside, when the working girl was stripped aside, and everyone was a frog...and could conceivably have been frogs forever, they found themselves, and that enabled them to find the good in each other. And it took WORK. They didn’t like each other at first. Hello, real relationship storyline…..

Whitney: No love at first sight this time around. It’s pretty easy to show when the prince is around the whole movie. Maybe we should be defending the princes . . . they get a bum rap.

Becky: Well, you’d have to forgive Snow White’s Prince Charming if we did that.

Whitney: Right . . . maybe not then.

In the Defense of Mulan

Mulan

Whitney: Mulan is completely different from any princess we’ve talked about so far. She’s not really a “princess,” but Disney counts her as one, so we are too. Mulan kind of sparks the change into the stereotypical “strong” woman that I think so many women expect to see nowadays. She has already felt awkward in her own skin, not doing anything right, but to save her father, she decides to take his place in the army and go to war. She cuts her hair, binds her breasts, and tries to act like a man. And she proves herself, she works hard and becomes just a strong and skilled as the other men in her troop. But when she’s revealed as a woman, suddenly everything she had worked for is gone. And she has to prove herself once again. Not only does she do that, but SHE SAVES FREAKIN’ CHINA! She saves a whole country! But at the end, all she wanted to do was bring honor to her family and gain the respect of her father.

Becky: And Shang is just helpless to resist her, and goes to her home, and presumably they live happily ever after. I imagine they have an interesting life together, what with her being bold and independent and free-thinking and him being the fairly traditional good Chinese warrior. But that’s what he likes about her. She’s different. Are we seeing a trend here? Literally all of the princesses so far have been liked for WHO THEY ARE. For being different. Not for fitting a mold, but for NOT fitting the mold. Whatever the mold happens to be.

Whitney: That’s so true. They are also kind and and sacrifice for others. That is the kind of person I want my future daughters to grow up to be.

Becky: And none of them are like each other. There is no cookie cutter princess. Just like there is no cookie cutter woman.

Becky: Also Mulan’s grandma is one of the best supporting animated characters ever. It needs to be said.

In the Defense of Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Becky: So Pocahontas is an interesting princess. And yes, she is a princess. Her dad is the chief, she’s a princess. She’s not poorly treated, she’s not unhappy, her life is pretty good. But she’s curious and intelligent and wants to know what else the world holds. She wants to explore and have adventure. “What’s around the riverbend?” She yearns for change, but she doesn’t know what change she wants. She has the option of marrying a warrior her father wants for her, who she acknowledges to be a good man and a fine warrior, even if he doesn’t smile very much. He is a steady man, and there’s nothing wrong with that. She doesn’t yearn for a great love or anything of the sort. She just wants...more. More out of life. Enter John Smith. The strangest Englishman to land on Virginia’s shores. He opens her eyes to a world she didn’t even know about, and he’s just as fascinated by her. To a girl who’d always had the same sort of looks and expectations and plan for life, that must have been pretty exciting. They risked safety and security to keep meeting, and after John gets captured, she has a huge internal battle about what to do. Saving him and possibly risking her life, or his, or both...or letting things take their course and go back to the way things were. She chooses to take a chance, and winds up being the change she wanted. Now, John leaves at the end, but Pocahontas is changed. And I doubt anyone would say that she lost anything in the process.

Whitney: Totally agree. Pocahontas’s story is a little different because she DOESN’T end up with the “prince” in the end. But she still has a choice to make: should she forsake her family and culture for the new life and excitement that John Smith can promise her? In the end, she kind of chooses both. She decides to save John, which may have resulted in banishment or death. Fortunately, her father was wise enough to see the goodness in his daughter’s actions and calls for peace. Then when John Smith is hurt and has to go back to England (which I never quite understood--the boat ride back to England seems much more dangerous to an injured man than staying in an “uncivilized” country, but that’s against the point) she chooses to stay with her people and family, to create a bond between them and the new white men.

Becky: Pocahontas somehow defies the princess stereotype and yet is the epitome of it as well. She’s proof that you can have both… It’s not HER fault the “prince” sails away. I’m a bit biased, I’ve never really liked John Smith that much. Sue me.

Whitney: I always preferred Thomas myself.

In the Defense of Jasmine

Aladdin (Jasmine)

Whitney: This is a different one because the princess isn’t the main character. It’s a little bit of a twist on a theme, where Aladdin is the one that has the “fairy godmother” and is, in a way, “saved” (or promoted in his station) by his princess. But let’s talk about Jasmine. Jasmine is lonely, kept in the palace with only her father, Jafar, and the tiger for company. She wants to know more and see more. So she goes for it, climbing the palace walls and making her way into the city. She meets someone exciting, who is dreaming of a different life just as she is. She isn’t impressed by princes and riches, but instead is searching for someone who she can have a relationship of equality and love with. Someone who can give her adventures.

Becky: Jasmine was going to be forced into marrying just for the sake of her dad’s comfort, and all she wanted was a marriage of love. When she leaves the palace, she isn’t looking to find someone else to love. She just wants her life! She happens across Aladdin, and they don’t even fall in love. They become friends and allies, and they find a shared background, and perhaps a hint of what could be. But she gives up her disguise to save his life, and basically resigns herself to going back to her old life and the past she left behind. And then, impossibly, Aladdin is alive, and he wants to get to know her better. And let’s give Jasmine the credit, she doesn’t like the man Aladdin pretends to be. But once he is himself, and she finds him out, she also finds herself wanting to know him better, and falling for him. She loves him for who he is. And so does he. Probably the truest love story of the Disney realm.

Whitney: Excellent point. Being yourself is how you will fall in love. And yes, Aladdin comes back at the end and gets rid of Jafar, but Jasmine definitely did her part.

Becky: Jasmine rocks. She's smart, she's brave, and she's got a really good heart. And her dad finally realizes it and lets her marry the man she wants anyway. So everybody wins.

In the Defense of Hans

Becky: Today we’re taking a break from princesses to talk about a prince, because they deserve some defending too. We have chosen to focus on one particular prince. One who is very badly treated and grossly misunderstood…. Prince Hans. Look at that face! He’s such a good guy! He’s the 13th son in his family...13! He’s always been pushed around and ignored because he wasn’t going to be anyone important, he was just the baby of the family. Yet through it all, Hans keeps his good heart and his one true desire...love.

Whitney: I mean, with 12 older brothers, he probably got picked on a LOT. He has a lot to live up to. And when he first meets Anna, he didn’t KNOW that Elsa was going to leave. He probably just thought, hey, she’s cute, she’s a princess, not bad. I’m not saying it was true love or anything, but can we realllllly say that he had plotted out this whole “Take over Arendell” thing? I think that someone got to him while Anna and Elsa were gone. Maybe the Duke?

Becky: Oh, the Duke so would! And Hans was probably terrified about running Arendell while the girls were gone! And he doesn’t know Elsa, he didn’t know if she was nice or good, and with the evil Duke prodding him on, no wonder he didn’t trust her! And Anna was with that guy who talks to a reindeer and lives with trolls…. Hans is a prince! He deserves a princess who really loves him!

Whitney: You are so right! I mean, I don’t know if Hans was exactly the most  . . . strong willed . . . prince, so he may have been taken over by the Duke pretty easily. And maybe he got scared at the show of Elsa’s power. I just don’t know if we can honestly say that he is the “villain.” He was exactly what Anna wanted, “A beautiful stranger, tall and fair”.

Becky: I can’t do this anymore. 

APRIL FOOLS! 

Hans is a whole lot of horrible, awful, really bad things I can’t say and that’s that. We hate him. So much.

Whitney: Phew. That was hard! Back to the princesses tomorrow!