by Galit Chesler, SSLI '24
In an interview on the new live-action Snow White movie, lead actress Rachel Zegler claimed that this version of Snow White will be different from the original movie, in that it “shifts away from romantic love and more towards empowering women.” Zegler and her co-star Gal Gadot have both talked about how the original tale is not suited to modern women. They seem to share the opinion that dreams of romance and power are mutually exclusive in a woman, especially a Disney princess. While it is true that we need more stories about powerful independent women, this trend of criticizing Disney movies and calling it feminism does more to degrade women than empower them.
Old Disney movies, and indeed older movies in general, often feature soft, simple, kind-hearted women. Their dreams are limited to romance and motherhood, and they are shown as subservient to the men around them. But as women have fought for more variety in female characters, we seem to have slingshot into the opposite problem of having every female character being a battle-tested warrior who is the most powerful person in the room and doesn’t care for such trivial things as love. In an effort to shed light on the objectifying layer placed on many old female characters, women have taken to simply dumping on the princesses, and in the process, ignoring the empowering themes that are there.
When asked for an example of a poorly-written woman, people often point to Cinderella due to her simpering, weak-willed manor. Cinderella can’t be a well-written woman, some say; she was saved by a man. But what these critics don’t consider is the incredible strength Cinderella shows in remaining soft and kind-hearted in the face of abuse. Cinderella was shown nothing but cruelty by her family, yet she doesn’t let that harden her heart. She has a powerful story, but once people see that she needed help from a man, they stop looking for any depth to her character and write off the movie as anti-feminist drivel unworthy of consideration.
Another oft-used example of Disney’s inherent misogyny is Ariel. When people watch Ariel leave her home to meet Eric and spend all her time fawning over him, they are quick to dismiss Ariel as badly written. But they fail to remember that seeing the land has been a long-time dream of hers; Eric was simply the catalyst that caused her to finally act. And so what if she wants to meet a boy? Her only friends are her sisters and a couple of fish. Instead of applauding Ariel for her innate curiosity and initiative, all people see is a boy-crazed fifteen-year old, because that’s what fits their preconceived notion that every Disney princess before 1990 is a slave to the patriarchy.
And to return to our Snow White, she is the worst of all. A princess who has no interest in leading, who offers to cook and clean for strangers, and who falls in love with a man after one kiss she wasn’t even awake for. She is not just poorly-written, she is an insult to women everywhere. But Snow is not even a woman. She’s fourteen-years old. Of course she spends her time day-dreaming about boys. Like Cinderella, Snow’s power lies in her optimism. That she still believes in love, despite knowing what happened with her father and step-mother, is proof that she is more than just a complacent doormat. Her refusal to be anything like her step-mom is an act of rebellion in and of itself, but because she is quiet and kind and feminine, people only see her as a weak pushover in need of saving.
Are there problems with the old Disney princesses? Of course there are, and it’s important to understand that these are not infallible paragons of perfect writing, nor are they applicable to every woman out there. But to condemn a whole generation of movies as sexist, unrealistic garbage is to tell little girls everywhere that they can’t enjoy things like dresses or romance. To say that weak-willed women are poorly written is to say that all women must be strong all the time. And to say that these girls’ kindness is simply complacency is to ignore the incredible strength they have to be kind in a cruel world.
The problem with the old Disney films was never that characters like Snow White or Cinderella were inaccurate, merely that they were only one depiction of women. In society’s quest to find the perfectly written woman, we seem to have forgotten that there is no one way to write women. There is no one story that will resonate perfectly with every girl on the planet, no one character that every woman can relate to. There is a reason we have a Disney princess lineup. Because the solution to the problem posed by older caricatures of women is not to replace them with newer models, but to add to the stories we already have.
Old Disney movies, and indeed older movies in general, often feature soft, simple, kind-hearted women. Their dreams are limited to romance and motherhood, and they are shown as subservient to the men around them. But as women have fought for more variety in female characters, we seem to have slingshot into the opposite problem of having every female character being a battle-tested warrior who is the most powerful person in the room and doesn’t care for such trivial things as love. In an effort to shed light on the objectifying layer placed on many old female characters, women have taken to simply dumping on the princesses, and in the process, ignoring the empowering themes that are there.
When asked for an example of a poorly-written woman, people often point to Cinderella due to her simpering, weak-willed manor. Cinderella can’t be a well-written woman, some say; she was saved by a man. But what these critics don’t consider is the incredible strength Cinderella shows in remaining soft and kind-hearted in the face of abuse. Cinderella was shown nothing but cruelty by her family, yet she doesn’t let that harden her heart. She has a powerful story, but once people see that she needed help from a man, they stop looking for any depth to her character and write off the movie as anti-feminist drivel unworthy of consideration.
Cinderella and Prince Charming at the Disney Parade! (AllEars.net)
Another oft-used example of Disney’s inherent misogyny is Ariel. When people watch Ariel leave her home to meet Eric and spend all her time fawning over him, they are quick to dismiss Ariel as badly written. But they fail to remember that seeing the land has been a long-time dream of hers; Eric was simply the catalyst that caused her to finally act. And so what if she wants to meet a boy? Her only friends are her sisters and a couple of fish. Instead of applauding Ariel for her innate curiosity and initiative, all people see is a boy-crazed fifteen-year old, because that’s what fits their preconceived notion that every Disney princess before 1990 is a slave to the patriarchy.
And to return to our Snow White, she is the worst of all. A princess who has no interest in leading, who offers to cook and clean for strangers, and who falls in love with a man after one kiss she wasn’t even awake for. She is not just poorly-written, she is an insult to women everywhere. But Snow is not even a woman. She’s fourteen-years old. Of course she spends her time day-dreaming about boys. Like Cinderella, Snow’s power lies in her optimism. That she still believes in love, despite knowing what happened with her father and step-mother, is proof that she is more than just a complacent doormat. Her refusal to be anything like her step-mom is an act of rebellion in and of itself, but because she is quiet and kind and feminine, people only see her as a weak pushover in need of saving.
Are there problems with the old Disney princesses? Of course there are, and it’s important to understand that these are not infallible paragons of perfect writing, nor are they applicable to every woman out there. But to condemn a whole generation of movies as sexist, unrealistic garbage is to tell little girls everywhere that they can’t enjoy things like dresses or romance. To say that weak-willed women are poorly written is to say that all women must be strong all the time. And to say that these girls’ kindness is simply complacency is to ignore the incredible strength they have to be kind in a cruel world.
The problem with the old Disney films was never that characters like Snow White or Cinderella were inaccurate, merely that they were only one depiction of women. In society’s quest to find the perfectly written woman, we seem to have forgotten that there is no one way to write women. There is no one story that will resonate perfectly with every girl on the planet, no one character that every woman can relate to. There is a reason we have a Disney princess lineup. Because the solution to the problem posed by older caricatures of women is not to replace them with newer models, but to add to the stories we already have.
Galit Chesler is a guest writer for Paw Print Now. Galit is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: gchesler24@schechterli.org
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.