Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!
02-02-2013, 12:37 PM
The Fairytale Princess is an iconic image and archetype, which has been taken in as many different directions as there are girls... one is gentle and sweet and linked to nature, one is spirited and strong-willed and defiant, one is curious and exploring and occasionally trouble-making. One is a warrior, another a fairy, another a mermaid, and a forth, a spellcaster. Whether duty-bound, heroic, whimsical, creative, nurturing, mischievous, or haughty, Princesses always have center stage... and those in center stage tend to become princesses.
In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: A Game of You, the primary villain claims that boys daydream of being superheroes, stronger, faster, more powerful, able to fly, and just better in many ways, with secret identities, gaining the unsuspecting adoration of people who would look down on Clark Kent. However, this same villain states, girls don't dream they are superheroes... girls are princesses. Their qualities and virtues are revealed, sparkling and perfected like diamonds, for all to see, and wild beasts are tamed by their pure hearts, while fairies give them gifts and blessings. I admit, that while I disagree with sharp gender divisions most of the time (and Sandman has a continuous theme about the differences between men and women and all states in between), that I see the appeal of both archetypes.
Princesses are also fulcrums and pivots of the plot, though only in recent years have those traditions allowed princesses to be heroes in their own right. Their actions (or inaction) tip the scales and shift the story around. Princesses like Xena and Merida smash their way through the courtly expectations of princesses, while those like Ariel and Jasmine escape and defy conventions in their own ways, and then there are princesses who didn't know they were princesses (Aurora/Briar Rose and Tangled's Rapunzel), and "Cinderella" girls who become princesses by marriage (such as Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Tiana from the Princess and the Frog or Cinderella herself). Disney has even begun referring to certain characters as princesses despite lacking any real connection to royalty at all (Hercules' Megara, Mulan, and Alice have all been called princesses at different points). Also, some characters have become princesses when they weren't previously (the actual story of Rapunzel features a peasant girl who eventually married a prince, not a kidnapped princess who marries a redeemed rogue).
Princesses tend to have different abilities, qualities and traits. Compelling beauty is common (Snow White as Fairest of Them All), as is some form of innocence, compassion, a tendency to attract assistance from animals (often cute specimens, though Princess Una in Spenser's Faerie Queene is accompanied and defended by a lion and more recent princesses have gained dragon allies), gentleness (even the princess in the original Little Mermaid is shown as seeming regretful when the mermaid turns into sea foam), virginity (and the qualities thereof, such as being attractive to dragons and unicorns), some sort of gift or talent (whether magical, like the gifts the fairies gave Sleeping Beauty or Tangled's Rapunzel's healing hair; trained, like Merida's archery or Tiana's gift for hard work; or natural, like Ariel's voice)... some of these gifts might disappear or be traded away for a happy ending (like the healing hair or Ariel's tail), at least a measure of intelligence or common sense that other characters lack (such as Belle's love of reading, Jasmine's ability to see through Aladdin's prince disguise when even Jafar couldn't initially), gracefulness (the twelve dancing princesses), faith (Una's name is even a reference to One Church), sensitivity (the Princess and the Pea), hope ("Someday my prince will come"), and an ability to gather allies and connect different people (Ella Enchanted features elves and giants coming to her aid, Tiana is joined by the prince, a gator, an a firefly, Princess Cimorene of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles allies with a Witch, Magician, King, Dragons, Fire Witch, and more).
However, the term princess is dismissive as well. Princesses traditionally fall under the heading of "damsels in distress" rather than being their own heroes. Princesses are vain. They are foolish and make mistakes (often as a result of their own innocence and inexperience with the world outside their castles, or due to assumptions they've made that prove to be untrue). Being called a princess means that the speaker thinks you are flighty, easily distracted, airheaded, oversensitive, and incapable of handling the real world or lacking the strength to be effective at all. It also conveys the idea of not having worked to get whatever traits you currently possess... and being all the weaker as a result, capable of being undone by a stroke or luck or twist of fate. Wearing the word "princess" on your shirt (or worse, your pants' butt or tattoos) generally says that there's not all that much to say about you... at least not in polite company.
On a more equalizing level, princesses are royalty... which inherently implies that they are considered better than others, and have more opportunities and resources than others (which, even in fairy tales, is untrue... as even peasant girls and merchant daughters manage to find happily ever after without being married to a prince, as in the Nixie of the Millpond or Janet from Tam Lin). There really is no place for princesses in a democracy, especially one with liberated women with full rights, since traditionally the job of a princess was to marry someone her parents/country chose and have children. And if all girls are princesses, then when will they uncover and explore their own traits instead of the ones they've inherited or applied along with the princess title? Why is being a princess something desirable, when being a girl (or boy) or woman (or man) is so much better and conveys greater power and possibility? A princess is always going to be restricted in what she can do... a girl can become ANYTHING.
Thoughts?
In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: A Game of You, the primary villain claims that boys daydream of being superheroes, stronger, faster, more powerful, able to fly, and just better in many ways, with secret identities, gaining the unsuspecting adoration of people who would look down on Clark Kent. However, this same villain states, girls don't dream they are superheroes... girls are princesses. Their qualities and virtues are revealed, sparkling and perfected like diamonds, for all to see, and wild beasts are tamed by their pure hearts, while fairies give them gifts and blessings. I admit, that while I disagree with sharp gender divisions most of the time (and Sandman has a continuous theme about the differences between men and women and all states in between), that I see the appeal of both archetypes.
Princesses are also fulcrums and pivots of the plot, though only in recent years have those traditions allowed princesses to be heroes in their own right. Their actions (or inaction) tip the scales and shift the story around. Princesses like Xena and Merida smash their way through the courtly expectations of princesses, while those like Ariel and Jasmine escape and defy conventions in their own ways, and then there are princesses who didn't know they were princesses (Aurora/Briar Rose and Tangled's Rapunzel), and "Cinderella" girls who become princesses by marriage (such as Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Tiana from the Princess and the Frog or Cinderella herself). Disney has even begun referring to certain characters as princesses despite lacking any real connection to royalty at all (Hercules' Megara, Mulan, and Alice have all been called princesses at different points). Also, some characters have become princesses when they weren't previously (the actual story of Rapunzel features a peasant girl who eventually married a prince, not a kidnapped princess who marries a redeemed rogue).
Princesses tend to have different abilities, qualities and traits. Compelling beauty is common (Snow White as Fairest of Them All), as is some form of innocence, compassion, a tendency to attract assistance from animals (often cute specimens, though Princess Una in Spenser's Faerie Queene is accompanied and defended by a lion and more recent princesses have gained dragon allies), gentleness (even the princess in the original Little Mermaid is shown as seeming regretful when the mermaid turns into sea foam), virginity (and the qualities thereof, such as being attractive to dragons and unicorns), some sort of gift or talent (whether magical, like the gifts the fairies gave Sleeping Beauty or Tangled's Rapunzel's healing hair; trained, like Merida's archery or Tiana's gift for hard work; or natural, like Ariel's voice)... some of these gifts might disappear or be traded away for a happy ending (like the healing hair or Ariel's tail), at least a measure of intelligence or common sense that other characters lack (such as Belle's love of reading, Jasmine's ability to see through Aladdin's prince disguise when even Jafar couldn't initially), gracefulness (the twelve dancing princesses), faith (Una's name is even a reference to One Church), sensitivity (the Princess and the Pea), hope ("Someday my prince will come"), and an ability to gather allies and connect different people (Ella Enchanted features elves and giants coming to her aid, Tiana is joined by the prince, a gator, an a firefly, Princess Cimorene of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles allies with a Witch, Magician, King, Dragons, Fire Witch, and more).
However, the term princess is dismissive as well. Princesses traditionally fall under the heading of "damsels in distress" rather than being their own heroes. Princesses are vain. They are foolish and make mistakes (often as a result of their own innocence and inexperience with the world outside their castles, or due to assumptions they've made that prove to be untrue). Being called a princess means that the speaker thinks you are flighty, easily distracted, airheaded, oversensitive, and incapable of handling the real world or lacking the strength to be effective at all. It also conveys the idea of not having worked to get whatever traits you currently possess... and being all the weaker as a result, capable of being undone by a stroke or luck or twist of fate. Wearing the word "princess" on your shirt (or worse, your pants' butt or tattoos) generally says that there's not all that much to say about you... at least not in polite company.
On a more equalizing level, princesses are royalty... which inherently implies that they are considered better than others, and have more opportunities and resources than others (which, even in fairy tales, is untrue... as even peasant girls and merchant daughters manage to find happily ever after without being married to a prince, as in the Nixie of the Millpond or Janet from Tam Lin). There really is no place for princesses in a democracy, especially one with liberated women with full rights, since traditionally the job of a princess was to marry someone her parents/country chose and have children. And if all girls are princesses, then when will they uncover and explore their own traits instead of the ones they've inherited or applied along with the princess title? Why is being a princess something desirable, when being a girl (or boy) or woman (or man) is so much better and conveys greater power and possibility? A princess is always going to be restricted in what she can do... a girl can become ANYTHING.
Thoughts?