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For the past two weeks I’ve been looking at the Disney Princesses: how they’re presented, how they change with time, and what they say about a woman’s role in society.
For all of the princesses up until the mid-1990s, meeting and winning a man (or for Aladdin, a woman) was the fulfillment of their life’s journey. We start to see real change with 1995’s “Pocahontas,” a movie with which I admit I’m not as familiar. But it’s important for several reasons.
Pocahontas continues with the recent trend of heroines yearning after lives of adventure, as opposed to waiting for men (whether or not they realize it). Like Belle, she also rejects a marriage she doesn’t want. What’s interesting, however, is that when Pocahontas and John Smith first meet, they treat each other more like mysteries than as romantic partners.
This is the first time neither member of the romantic party viewed the other as such upon first meeting. In the prior films there was almost always love at first sight. In the Beast’s case it was about desperate possibility, but that possibility was for true love.
The inevitable does happen quickly, but “Pocahontas” is extremely significant for the following two reasons. The relationship does not end happily and the film is not culminated by matrimony (something that “Aladdin” implied at its end, even if its sequels amended that). A more socially-important plot element, two historic races learning how to tolerate and perhaps even accept each other, instead closes out the film.
Then in 1998 came “Mulan.” For a moment it looked as if Disney might have finally decided to be sensible and get over the letter “P.” In fact, “Mulan” is only relevant to this article, not actually being a princess movie (though it is a sort of fairy tale), because Disney shoehorns the title character into its Princess brand.
Indeed, the only royal character in “Mulan” is the emperor. Mulan herself has no desire for a crown and only considers marriage because she thinks it’s the only way for her to bring honor to her family. Not for a moment does the movie expect us to believe that will be her fate. Instead, Mulan takes heroic action in order to save her father’s life, and against her better judgment (given that she’s masquerading as a man at the time) just happens to find love along the way.
The climax of “Mulan” truly occurs when the whole of the imperial city bows to her in thanks for saving the country. One might also make an argument that the emotional climax of the film comes later, when Mulan returns home and learns that her father loves and feels honored not by China’s savior but by his daughter. Sheng’s subsequent arrival is played mostly for laughs and serves to wrap up the last of the movie’s loose ends, and the film concludes without a wedding or even a kiss between Sheng and Mulan.
“Mulan” seemed like the ultimate of the movies that Disney could make: a dynamic female lead taking charge of her own life and within whose story the romance was not a pinnacle but a bonus. However, this proved too trying for Disney, and “Mulan” was somehow the last of the good animated traditional fairy tales Disney would make for over a decade.
Next week: The Princess and the Parody.
Related Articles:
The Many Worlds of Disney on Ice
10 Great Disney Trivia Questions
*(This image by ir0cko is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
