Karl wrote:I don't care about Disney princesses in particular either, but I do care about representation in arts & entertainment -- media is a big part of our lives so I think it's pretty important.
I'd say Disney has actually been quite good with representation recently. I mean realistically you also need to look at their output, they only make a princess movie once every few years, and I think they're very selective of the stories they choose, especially when they are based on folk tales. They probably don't want a situation where they are seen as appropriating someone elses culture, but these accusations do happen as with some Halloween costumes for the Moana movie.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... story.htmlObviously merchandising is a huge component of making a kids movie, so not being able to produce a certain item, or even potentially use a character in any merchandise would be a big factor in influencing Disney's production choices.
I think overall they've done a good job, and will probably continue in that direction but there's nothing wrong with continuing to have princesses that are white, thin etc.
Unrelated to your point, but on the topic of the princesses being feminist, I think most also have pretty strong feminist qualities, if you look at their movies in the context of when they were made. Even something like Snow White, while by today's standards she may seem docile and passive, that movie was made in 1937. She was clearly the head of the dwarf household, she didn't take any crap from them! The two, which I havn't seen in a while so my memory could be off, that had weaker leads would probably be Jasmine and Ariel. I don't particularly remember Jasmine for much and I think Ariel was just a rebellious teen, which again I wouldn't say is bad, I don't think every movie needs to have strong overt feminist qualities.
Also, that Guardian article.
What a strawberry floating joke.