Where Are The Princess Movies?

You Can't Just Get Any Princess Movie

Today was the first time I set out to buy all of the Disney princess movies so I could have them on hand to keep these discussions going. The last time I was a collector, they were still on VHS. With the invention of DVDs, and the ease of getting all things video, I thought for sure the marketing strategy used by Disney to keep their movies so classic was long gone.

There was a period of time when I had to have them all. Right around the time my set was complete, pending the next new movie, the DVD player was on the scene. Now my VHS movies are in a box in the garage and I don't have a converter. I open it from time to time and think, "wow look at all these movies," then I put the top back on. It is like my personal time capsule.

I decided the next princess movie I wanted to review would be - The Little Mermaid. That movie was no where to be found in any of the retail markets I visited today. Also, I could not find a "box set" which I thought existed. I eventually ended up at my local video store where I still could not find a complete set of the classics. When I asked about it, I was informed that Disney still takes certain movies "out of circulation" until they are re-released. How is that for control! I was shocked that major retailers are in on this. I am now wondering where is that magical warehouse that has all the movies and how does Disney know that every single one has been removed from every shelf?

Since I am a conspiracist (and I am making that word up, but you know what I mean),  I am now afraid of Disney for having that kind of power. Not only do they have the power to influence us into believing in fairy tales, but they even have control over what kind of princess story is on deck. They maintain a fresh influx of followers with this magical approach. By the time, "The Little Mermaid," comes back, there will be a new crop of children who will think it is brand new and will have an opportunity to see the movie in theaters just like I did when I was a child. I will be there as well because I will want to see it as an adult in all of its new technological advancement. Now that is the circle of life.

Does anybody have a full set?

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

Last night I curled up with my glass of sangiovese wine and Sleeping Beauty.  I have to admit Disney did a heck of a job. The animation was great, it looked magical.  I felt myself sinking when Aurora was in the forest singing that, “ I know you from a dream” song.  It took me back to thoughts of young love. I can remember being 16 and thinking that I wanted a boyfriend. I remember when he passed me the famous love note -you know the one with the checkboxes, yes or no. His question was whether or not he could walk me home. Right away it was love.  I think that is a part of natural development. Either that or, it is something we are socialized to think. At any rate, there Aurora was singing with the animals and it was almost touching and pure. She just wanted to meet someone. She wasn’t even looking for a prince. I’m not exactly sure what was driving her to want that, but she had no other human friends. Why she was looking for a man and not just a human friend her own age is just something we have to accept.

As fairy tales go, this one wasn’t so bad.  Aurora had two parents, she didn’t know Phillip was a prince, good triumphed over evil and the story didn’t have to repeat that she was beautiful because the name alone kept us in that context.  Yes she fell in love very fast but I’d like to think being sixteen played a part there.  So far the only thing wrong with that is she was a little under age, but people got married young in the 14^th century.  This was a pretty pure and easy love story.

In a modern era, I would have liked to have seen the fairies give the princess gifts with more meaning and purpose.  They gave her the power of song, beauty, and then a counteractive sleeping spell.  There was not much she could do with those gifts besides catch a prince.

I could have done without the scene where the two fathers discuss the terms of agreement for purposes of uniting their kingdoms leading them to get drunk and have a tussle.  In the end however,  Phillip’s father was going to have to explain that Phillip wanted to marry a peasant girl which was very forward thinking.

What I don’t quite understand is why Maleficent was so angry about not getting invited to the party. As we find out from the fairies she had never found love. So is this what happens to a woman who has never experienced love? She has to show up uninvited to people’s parties and cast spells that will kill their babies?! Ouch. She did not make a good role model for all the single ladies.  I wish that her mal-intentions were based on something more tangible than that because it seems like her plight could happen to anyone. We are not guaranteed love.  Perhaps she could have been angry because she wanted to expand her kingdom, but the kings would not agree; maybe she was being overtaxed. Let it be anything except she had no man. Should all single women be worried about becoming a Mistress of Evil? To further make the point, she turned into a dragon and had to be stabbed in the heart with a sword; a sword to the heart-the symbol of love.    

Wait a minute, I don’t have children. Uh o. Am I going to become Maleficent?

Fairy Tales

Are Fairy Tales Letting Women Down?
Over the years I have realized that there is one thing that has caused much woe in reconciling the reality of my life with what I had been socialized to believe-and by woe I mean disappointment.  I firmly believe that my ill-conceived faith in fairy tales worked to my disadvantage and that my starring role never quite worked out like that of any of the idyllic princesses, and it does not really happen that often to anyone else.  Now, I’m older, somewhat wiser, and I want to discuss these favorite fairy tales in the context of the real lives of women; our expectations and disappointments and possible affects on our psyches.

 There are at least nine Disney princess movies and many more fairy tales in general.  For now, let’s talk Disney.  I think I have internalized all of them, even those that came after I was a grown woman.  In the movies we are shown certain concepts: The princess is young and beautiful; older women are portrayed as villains; there are very few strong mother characters; the princess must be kissed by a prince, be married to a prince in a certain amount of time, get the prince to choose her, leave her life to be with the prince, or some variation on these themes; and finally, but of utmost importance, they live happily ever after. I think these concepts subliminally get into our subconscious and control the actions of women in real relationships.

There doesn’t seem to be an option for: end up single when the prince turns out to be a jackass; one where she is 30 something, worried about leaving the kingdom because where will she go now that she is a princess and doesn’t have any money in her own savings account, and has no one she can stay with until she gets on her feet because, remember, she abandoned everything for the sake of love?

In real life we have Princess Grace and Princess Diana.  Even Princess Diana could not live up to any of the Disney Princess standards.  She had all of the elements of the real deal fairy tale Gone Wild,  what with the evil mother-in-law/Queen of England taking the role of the evil witch or stepmother figure: she married a prince who wasn’t half as dashing as she, was twice as old; he, without much discretion, had a woman on the side who even showed up at the wedding, she could do nothing to make him love her even though she was absolutely gorgeous; she had an eating disorder, got herself together, embodied extreme benevolence, was the mother to the future heirs of the thrown, had designer clothes, was trying to save the world one hungry little African with aids at a time, and was constantly harassed by the paparazzi. 

Diana did all this while suffering from debilitating depression and no matter what, not living happily ever after to boot, but instead died a horrendous accidental death just when things started to turn around for her.   Do us regular women stand a chance? Not to mention Diana’s beauty could have launched a thousand ships and most of us mortals do not have that going for us. Second, she was from a well to do family in the first place who owned their own palace so she really didn’t need him anyway.  Number three, the world loved her.  But, it was as if God took her away because, after all, he is the grand patriarch and it looked like she just might move on and prove something to all of us women depending on her to show us what emotional abuse recovery looked like. She was going to show us that you could get another man, have more children and live happily ever after… in a different kingdom.  Or, she might have dated extravagantly and lived happily ever after in her own princessdom.  She didn’t get the chance, but I still believe she would have done it. I consider her the patron saint for all us women no matter what.

We have Princess Grace. No we don’t.  I’m sure that she loved her life and for all intent and purposes she almost lived happily ever after.  I’m just a little bit concerned that she had to give up her stellar career where she was America’s princess to go to Monaco.  She actually falls right in line with the Disney princesses who give up their lives, no matter what, to go with the prince.  Who do we have?

Even though, in my opinion, Queen Elizabeth II was not the best mother-in-law to Diana, she is one of the only reverse fairy tale queens that I can think of off the top of my head.   Prince Phillip, her husband,  (who is still alive) renounced his citizenship, moved from his home land and became a “consort” meaning he had no rights whatsoever to the Kingdom. We can only assume he did it for love, or is that me being romantic again?  Nevertheless, the Queen has reigned supreme with a man in the background so maybe there is hope for us.

 I think I will step out on a limb and say that we women have to do more self- actualizing so that we become immune to the princess archetype. My next question is how do we do that?