By: Vini Rupchandani
A movie trailer is a promotional preview that describes the general premise of a film to generate interest before release. According to Dean (2008), “genres are not fixed…genres are stable but not unchanging” (p. 9). This quality of constant change becomes clear when we analyze movie trailers from the early 1900s when they were first created, and compare them to modern ones. In the technological era of the 21st century, mainstream media is one of the fastest evolving industries, and movie trailers reflect the progress that has been made in this field.
All things considered, Disney princess movie trailers are not just promotional pieces or a reflection of progress. Every year, millions of girls all over the world celebrate princess-themed parties and dress up as different Disney princesses on Halloween. This is one of many examples which indicate the universal appeal of Disney princess movies; they are enjoyed by children, especially girls, worldwide. These movies are a symbol of childhood innocence, and a depiction of the values taught to children across several generations. Disney has recognized the immense power that it has over its audience and has tried to shift the cultural values it propagates through recurring patterns in their films; Disney movies have shifted from portraying white damsels in distress, in need of a man’s rescue, to independent and strong princesses of all colors and cultures, with aspirations of their own.
The first pattern we notice is related to the skin color and culture of the princesses. The first Disney princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs features Snow White, a young white princess. Its trailer opens with the iconic scene of the evil witch asking the magical mirror to show her “the fairest of all.” The use of the word “fair” to represent beauty conveys that perhaps, at the time, the audience for the movie was limited to white westerners, excluding people of color entirely. In the next two movies, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Aurora are also both white princesses with blond hair. The Little Mermaid was the first movie to break the white princess stereotype by portraying a mermaid with bright red hair. The movies that followed included princesses of all races and cultures: Jasmine from Aladdin was an Arab princess with long black hair and the first princess of color. Pocahontas from the eponymous movie was a native American with black hair, and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog was the first Afro-American princess. This inclusion of cultures indicated the growing popularity of Disney princesses. However, it is also important to note that the inaccuracies in the representation of different cultures brought Disney a lot of criticism. Being such a huge franchise, Disney needs to be more sensitive to avoid reinforcing false stereotypes related to the cultures they portray.
The second pattern lies in the names of the princesses. Disney has a tendency to glorify the importance of external beauty, through their early princesses’ names: “Snow White” refers to the princess’s white-skinned beauty, and the word “Belle” is a French feminine word that means “beautiful”. However, modern princesses have more meaningful names which give importance to their personalities: “Ariel” means “the lion of God”, representing Ariel’s powerful personality, and “Moana” means “ocean”, representing Moana’s love for the sea. This pattern highlights the cultural shift which took place in the 20th century; people went from glorifying physical beauty to valuing personality and character instead.
The third pattern lies in the personalities of the female characters. In the trailer, Snow White is depicted as a girl that loves nature and is willing to do chores in the house of a stranger, out of the goodness of heart. This represents the stereotypes around women and the expectations from them in the early 1900s. “Good” women and girls had the duty of completing household work, were assumed to possess “feminine” qualities like kindness without selfish desires, and were thought of as naive and soft. Cinderella and Aurora are depicted as easily manipulated characters who are more or less helpless in their respective situations. Cinderella allows herself to be exploited by her evil stepmother, while Aurora easily strays into the trap of Maleficent, despite many efforts made to protect her. Instead of independently overcoming their challenges, these princesses waited to be rescued by princes or fairy godmothers. However, the modern princesses have more developed characters; Ariel had a love for adventure and possessed a curious mind. She dreamt of impossible things like visiting the shore. Ariel rebelled against authority and was capable of achieving her dreams on her own. She was the first princess to break the stereotype and save a prince, Prince Eric, by bringing him to shore when his ship was wrecked in a storm. Belle was an intelligent, independent young woman who switched places with her father to protect him from Beast. Although she was kind and was able to see the good side of Beast, she was also self-respecting and did not allow characters like Gaston to mistreat her. In a similar act of self-sacrifice, the Chinese warrior-princess Mulan from Mulan took disguise as a man to protect her father from war, and fought for her country, displaying qualities like nationalism and bravery. One of the lines in the animated trailer spoken by Mulan in response to her father’s words about her true place in the society was: “Maybe what I really wanted was to prove I could do things right, so when I looked in the mirror, I could see someone worthwhile.” This line highlights the shift in mindset over generations. The modern mindset now focuses on the value of girls and the myth that women are not as capable or strong as men has been debunked. Mulan showed that women can achieve great heights when they are given the opportunity to do so. The trailer also features scenes of Mulan fighting and winning a war, something which females were never shown to be doing in previous Disney movies.
When we shift our focus to the male characters that appear in these trailers and movies, we see that in earlier media they are shown to be riding horses, a common means of transport for men in that period. However, the princesses are shown riding carriages. This indicated the idea that activities involving strength are meant solely for males, while luxury and comfort were reserved for females. Interestingly, the princes in Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty appear to kiss the princesses while they are in deep slumber to save them from death. This portrayal of characters for young audiences, especially girls, is problematic not only because they cultivate the idea that girls need boys to save them, but also because the act of kissing someone while they are unconscious removes the idea of shared consent of touch and reflects the ideology that men in those times had a right over women’s bodies. The more recent movies however show both female and male characters engaging in adventurous activities, and these movies develop love stories from the perspective of both characters; the trailers of Tangled show Rapunzel and Flynn Rider overcome their obstacles through a series of adventures and in the process, they develop feelings for each other. It is also worth noting that unlike all the previous movies, the trailers of Mulan show no romantic element, and the love story between Mulan and Li Shang was only a sub-plot of the film.
Lastly, when we talk about the antagonists in Disney princess movies, we can see that in the earlier movies, many of them are portrayed by women who are jealous and insecure of the qualities that the princesses possess. Examples include Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, the evil stepsisters in Cinderella, and Ursula in The Little Mermaid. This depiction of hostility between females may have been inspired by the existence of these disputes in the real world, but it could also have been an influencing factor that led to the prevalence of girl-on-girl hatred, especially amongst high school girls in the modern world. Disney has tried to shift their focus by portraying these evil forces in the forms of social problems in the modern world. For example, Merida from Brave is seen defying the traditional expectation of marrying a boy at a young age. She follows her dreams and decides her own destiny. Another example includes Mulan entering the war in secret and changing the rule which dictates that only men can fight for their nation. In this process, she brings herself honor and respect.
When we look closely at the music in the movies, we also notice that there is a change from the more magical and mystical tones in the older movies to empowering notes with unique songs for each princess in the newer movies. Ariel was the first princess to have her own official song appear in the trailers: “A Part of Your World” by Jodi Benson is a passionate and powerful song that reflects Ariel’s yearning to reach land. In the song “Belle,” that appears in Beauty and the Beast’s sneak peeks, Belle walks around singing about her “old provincial town” and her dreams “of great wide adventure” while reading a book, a quality that was seen as “weird” in her society. She ignores Gaston, a self-absorbed character who tried to woo her. The song “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana is another example of empowering music that Disney has used in its recent movies.
These recurring patterns have contributed to the success of Disney princess movies across the globe. Although there has been a clear cultural shift that has followed trends and changes in the real world, this shift has been slow and there is a lot of space for improvement when it comes to the faithful representation of all cultures. Disney has made efforts to re-shape the traditional princess movies in their live-action remakes as well, but are their efforts enough? Given the role that Disney plays in influencing young children, they must take more responsibility in diversifying their content and representing relevant social issues that exist in the modern world. Even the happiest movies in the world have their own flaws, but that’s okay because there’s no flaw that a little bit of magic cannot fix!