"What If The Princess Didn't Get The Happily Ever After?"

Photographer Dina Goldstein answers this question through her series "Fallen Princesses". Her images show the Disney princess without the fairytale ending, they suffer through real life obstacles instead. Interesting imposition of reality on the fairytale.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/09/fallen-princesses-the-amazing-photos-of-depressed-disney-royalty.html

This piece really struck me as a powerful idea, or rather contradiction of ideas. Disney goes out of its way to create fantasy worlds where nothing really goes wrong. Where no matter what evil sorceress, giant dragon, or nasty stepmother is thrown at you- you persevere and make it to the happily ever after. How average must we look in comparison to these perfect princess who tackle any challenge with every hair still in place, every friendship still in tact, and a smile on their face? Us, who are thrown off track by a mean word, a bad grade, or just simply have a bad day? These princesses are staples in our world and our imagination. As Rebecca Anne Do Rozario says in her article "The Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess, "the princess is a fairytale staple and even in the world's republics, she continues to be re-drawn". In my mind, this photography piece really connected with this article because Goldstein's portrayal is, I think, a very necessary re-drawing.

I don't think little kids need to see this post or have their Disney fairyland dismantled, but for those pre-teen, teen, and adult consumers of Disney Culture I think it brings a sigh of relief. No one wants their favorite character to suffer, and the scenes depicted here definitely show grimmer situations than a bad hair day, but it's just nice to have this reassurance that "no one" is perfect.

It reminds me of a moment I had on the infamous C1. I was talking to one of my favorite upperclassmen. Besides being nice, welcoming, and fun this girl got excellent grades, had leadership positions in too many clubs, and too many friends to count. I both loved her and was intimidated by her. We chatted about school, home, life, etc and at one point she just said "sorry if I seem un-responsive, I'm listening, but damn, I just want some sleep". I asked her when she planned on getting some and she replied "right now. Skipping the class I have now so I can take a nap. Just can't do it right now".

Now, while I'm not saying everyone should skip class, I am saying Duke is hard. Life is hard. And sometimes you "just can't right now". It was gratifying to see that this girl who seemed very close to perfect still felt like I do sometimes. Still succumbed to those moments of small rule breaking/bending of a situation to make things work.

While I don't want to see anyone suffer, we all do suffer from something at some time. Whether that be a lack of sleep or something more serious. And representations of "perfect" are both unrealistic and full of pressure. So I love this project. It's such a simple, beautiful, and challenge reminder that no one can be perfect in the real world, even a Disney Princess. And that's ok because you make it, maybe not to happily ever after, but to happy. And hell, even Cinderella lost a slipper.

Cover Pic: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/disney-princesses-face-real-life-issues-article-1.1420331

Celebrities As Disney Characters

This was pretty cool. I couldn't help but think how much money Disney must have to be able to afford all of these celebrities....


Anywho, take a look! http://likes.com/disney/celebrities-as-real-life-disney-characters


Update 12/6/13- I just realized these are photoshopped...

Update 12/9/13- Just looked again, not 100% sure about the photoshop. But they have to be right?

Women Heros as Disney Princesses- Interesting or Disturbing?

Artist David Trumble depicts women leaders from Hilary Clinton to Harriet Tubman as a Disney princess in an attempt to satirically comment on the "Disneyfication" of women. Check out the art on the link below! Thoughts?


http://www.takepart.com/photos/disney-princess-made-into-feminist-heroes?cmpid=tp-ptnr-upworthy

My Thoughts 

I think the artist's project is interesting, but inaccurate. Disney never depicts strong women as "cutesy" (with the exception of Merida). If Hilary Clinton was a Disney character, she'd probably be a villain. Not because she's in anyway evil or malicious, but because she's an older, powerful woman and Disney's typical portrayal of powerful, older women is less than favorable. Disney's typical depiction of strong women and older women is much more "hag-ish". If a female Disney character isn't cute, nice, and sweet, she's older, cruel, and snappy.  This reminded me of Roberta Trites' article "Disney's Subversion of the Little Mermaid", specifically her thoughts on the changes made to the sea-with in the Disney version. As Trites says, mature women, such as Urusula, are associated with "images of predation". Disney must always have an "evil older woman" to balance out its "young, innocent" princess. Older women and women of power have very negative representations in Disney.  If a woman is in a higher position than a man in a Disney film than she is a villain and the man (or men) are her oafish hench people. This happens time and time again- Yzma and Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, Cruella Deville and Jasper and Hoarce in 101 and One Dalmations, the Queen in Snow White and her guard. Disney seems to be improving in this aspect with Brave. The queen is a strong woman yet she is still depicted as kind and caring, BUT all the men around her are oafs. Her husband is silly and the other clan leaders are silly. A real step in progress will be made when Disney has a movie containing a strong, but caring female character on equal footing with, or on a higher level than, a male character who is also intelligent and capable. It should not be that a woman can only be in charge, can only handle a group, when the men around her are pretty much incapable of doing so.

So, while this project is interesting, cute is just not an adjective Disney affords strong women.

Cover Photo: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/disney-princesses-face-real-life-issues-article-1.1420331