[LMB] OT: Disney princesses

[Anita]

On Nov 20, 2007 1:04 PM, Raye Johnsen <raye_j at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> A girl falls asleep and gets kissed awake and then
> marries the boy?  A girl realises a not-cute guy is
> sexy and accepts his proposal?  A girl tries to get a
> guy to realise she has a lot to offer even though
> she's not perfect and succeeds?  Aspire to these
> 'achievements'?
>
> Femininity is good.  But, to quote Granny Weatherwax,
> "Getting married isn't an ending."  A girl's ambitions
> shouldn't stop with a wedding ring.
>
> Raye
>
>
> <raye_j at yahoo.com>

Unfortunately the age groups that Disney princesses appeal to is too young
to see through the marketing and certainly too young to understand the idea
of the messages about values that underlie the stories. Parents can choose
to ban Disney and similar merchandise - mine did - but then their children
don't get to really make their own decisions.

There are ways to ensure children get exposed to viewpoints beyond what
Disney markets. I have a feminist Auntie. She chose for my 7th birthday
present a collection of 'feminist' folktales. While some of them still
feature marriage, the overall message in the tales are less simple. The
seven huntsmen is about a woman who is betrothed to a Prince, the Prince's
father dies and he promises to his father on his deathbed to marry someone
else for political reasons. The woman and her six handmadiens go into the
palace disguised as huntsmen. They pass all the tests that attempt to prove
that they are women. Then the woman gets a chance to remind the Prince of
his promise. He does keep it because he made that promise first. The moral?
Don't make promises you can't keep. Another story has an old woman
outwitting oni (demons). This collection became a favourite book of mine and
has influenced my taste in literature since.

Anita