Here's my direct quote from the conversation on Facebook regarding the issue. The post began in response to Princess and the Frog not being a must-see Disney Movie like Pocahontas, Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast.
"Pocahontas is not a must see movie. It was supposed to be the "A" movie and Lion King was supposed to be the "B" movie in that two year cycle, and well, Lion King is/was an instant timeless classic, Pocahontas is an entertaining film. Pocahontas IS a disney princess because while Native Americans might not have had the same notion of royalty as the English did, she was the daughter of the chief, so the princess of the tribe so to speak. Mulan also should be included because she did marry into royalty, Diana and Kate Middleton were not princesses but then after they got married, look who's got a title! Also, Mulan is included for EO purposes as is Tiana. In a main press release for the Princess and the Frog, Disney spokespeople pretty much said that Princess and the Frog was being made to finally give African American girls a Disney Princess to look up to. Here's the issue with Rapunzel, while from a story standpoint, she was awesome and the movie was everything a Disney movie should be, there's one problem, its computer animated. It's not a classicly animated movie like Snow White etc or even Aladdin and Little Mermaid. It's also not a Disney/Pixar movie. So, it's in Disney limbo with the likes of Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons. Yes, Tangled probably is Disney's best solo computer animated movie to date, but including Rapunzel in the group of Disney princesses blurs the lines a little bit. Tough call!"
It was pointed out to me that Mulan did in fact marry a general, not a prince, however, one can still make the argument that in that time period generals were practically royalty. So there!
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| Official Disney Princesses |
For those of you who don't want to take the time to read it. Let's summarize. There are six original Disney Princess: Snow White, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, and Belle. They were eventually joined by Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Rapunzel. So there you have it, Rapunzel is an Official Disney Princess. However, it's interesting that Rapunzel is portrayed in the Official Photo in traditional animated fashion as opposed to the computer animated character we see in the movie. Which is an interesting way to include her. What happened to accepting people as they are! Okay, perhaps that's taking things a bit far.
The list of princesses also has "unofficial princesses" which include Alice, Tinkerbell, Giselle, Kida, Megara, Sofia, and Kairi. Let's break this down. Alice is not a princess, she's a little girl who fell down a Rabbit hole. Now if she had married the Queen of Hearts' son then yes, she would be, but she didn't, so she's not. Tinkerbell could be included, she's sparkly and the little girls love her but there's no royal attachment so sorry Tink, we don't believe in fairies. Even according to Disney Giselle can't be included because they would have to pay royalties to Amy Adams for her likeness to include her. However, if they changed Rapunzel to a hand-drawn version why not use the hand-drawn Giselle which looks very little like Amy Adams? Oh well, too bad, she was probably the closest to a sure thing. Kida (Kida who? Exactly) is from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. More like The Lost Disney Movie, moving on. Megara is in a tight spot, one could argue that she is a Princess by being "the princess of evil" by virtue of being Hades' little drone. But doesn't that make her a bad guy even though she becomes good at the end. So, we'll withhold judgment. Sofia is apparently an upcoming Disney character that will appeal to Pre-Schoolers. So no, not allowed. Finally, this brings us to Kairi, whom some of you may never have heard of. She was the main heroine, or rather, damsel in distress in the Kingdom Hearts video game series which is Final Fantasy meets Disney (a thrilling series for anyone to play). By virtue of not being in a Disney movie she cannot be realistically included.
There is one problem with the list of "unofficial princesses," it practically includes every leading lady in every Disney movie except for Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Jane Porter from Tarzan. Now, if you do a Google search for Disney Princesses there are a few pictures that will include these two. And why not? If the unofficial list includes everyone else it should certainly include these two. Esmeralda could be called the "Gypsy Princess" and Jane marries Tarzan who is the "King of the Jungle" making Jane the Queen, which makes her possibly better than the rest!(?) Also, what about Lilo? She's popular, she's Hawaiian so she furthers the diversity, but she's too young (so is Alice), she's also not at all attached to royalty, so she's out, sorry.
One of the arguments made on the original Facebook debate was "can we include Nala, she married royalty?" NO! Don't get me wrong, The Lion King is my favorite Disney movie, if not my favorite movie of all time. But the thing is, you can't start including animals in the list, then you have to open it up to Lady from Lady and the Tramp, Maid Marian from Robin Hood, any of the girl cats from the Aristocats, Bianca from the Rescuers, and Neera from Dinosaur. See, it gets a little ridiculous to include the animal characters. Yes, they're cute and cuddly, but come on. Try and imagine a picture of the six original princesses standing next to a dinosaur, a lion, a few cats and dogs, and a fox in a dress? Again, I'm not saying these movies are bad, I loved Robin Hood growing up, but Disney's adaptation of Maid Marian should not be included in the official list.
But, what are the rules regarding what qualifies a Disney Princess as a Disney Princess? Well, first of all, they have to be a Disney character, obviously. They have to have a starring role as the heroine or the love interest of the hero. They have to have a connection to royalty, although as we've outlined above this isn't so much a necessity as a preference. They have to be human, sorry Nala, that's the Circle of Life. Finally, they can't be from a straight to video sequel, sorry Melody (Ariel's daughter). So there you go, Disney Princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Tiana, and finally and most recently, Rapunzel.
Granted, these are my assumed rules for what qualifies as a Disney Princess as opposed to the official rules. The Disney Princess line was established 1999 as a way to increase revenue for the Walt Disney Corporation. It was started after a Disney exec attended a Disney on Ice event and realized that a bunch of little girls wearing generic princess costumes. But now, they can where officially licensed Disney Princess apparel that they purchased for twice as much. But it's the memory that counts.
And for those of you who can't get enough Disney Princess, here is a link to their OFFICIAL page!