Happily Ever After

There was a fascinating post on Disney Princes last week, so let’s take the fairytale analysis one step further…..what about the ‘happily ever after’?

Now, I admit, I have not watched The Little Mermaid II or Cinderella II or any of the Disney sequels (apart from the Shrek series, which is largely an exception to this post). Growing up, I saw the classics. Snow White. Cinderella. Beauty and the Beast. And I loved them. I collected the videos (those were the days!), I sang the songs.

But it was not the weakness (or not) of the Disney princess that affected me. Nor was it the two-dimensional character of (some of) the Disney princes. It was the ease of falling in love. And the notion that the prince and princess rode off into the sunset to live their lives ‘happily ever after’.

Disney Princes

I’m not sure how much I agree with this (see the comments for some good points) but yet again it’s got me thinking about the messages my children will be / are exposed to…

allisms

But seriously, y’all.

The traditional Disney Prince has about as much sparkle and panache as something completely lacking in sparkle and panache. He has  a creative name like “The Prince” “Prince Charming” “Prince Phillip” “Prince Eric” or “Prince Adam” (that’s the actual name of the Beast, apparently), and no personality. Ok, well, the Beast has a personality, but the only thing anyone else does is be obsessively fixated on some girl he met once in the woods.

Has anyone ever thought that maybe the reason that little boys (generally) don’t like playing princess games is because there’s nothing for them to DO? What prince is actually interesting enough that a little boy would want to dress up like him? What prince actually does anything that a little boy (or anyone for that matter) would want to do? Hey, Mom, today I’m going to roleplay as Prince Charming. I will stand…

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