Princess_Belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2007
- Messages
- 599
This was on the front page of our life section of the Sunday newspaper! I was pretty ticked about the whole thing! It made me want to call the newspaper and yell for printing such a stupid story! Read for yourself.
What do you think!? I'm getting mad reading it again. I guess these people would think the BBB is a place to make little girls feel bad about themselves!
Oh and get this underneath this story way a story titled "Ways to Save Money in Disney World". First lets bash them, then lets tell why you need to go?
Our Newspaper is ridiculous!
Princess Fiona is no Cinderella. Her ball gown, likely sized in the double digits, hugs a full-figured, green ogre body. Fiona outbelches the guys and plays no victim to villains but battles them "Matrix"-style herself. The atypical heroine from the "Shrek" movie series is in a town far, far away from beloved fairy tale princesses of the past.
Anna E. Lott, who teaches women's studies courses at the University of North Alabama, applauds the "Shrek" trilogy for showing a different side to the princess persona.
"I think I like the 'Shrek' movies because they play with expectations created by earlier films where women are helpless and need to be rescued," she said.
Pop culture interest in the fairer royalty spans Disney classics, front-page coverage about ex-almost princess Kate Middleton's split from Prince William and girls' fashion.
At her children's clothing store, Dena Diane, located at 2568 Mall St. in Florence, owner Anita Moore sells princess-themed clothing and accessories and hosts princess parties for her young clients.
"They love it," she said. "Being a princess has always been part of a girl's childhood."
Moore attributes the fashion craze of all things princess to movies, which influence trends in children's retail clothing, which in turn impact smaller boutiques.
Girls age 3 to 8 clamor the most for princess fashions at her store Moore said, but older girls also indulge in royal treatment.-"We even have princess-themed accessories for preteens," Moore said.
Amy Young, of Florence, mother of two daughters, a 9-year-old and 11-year-old, who attend princess parties, says the parties promote uniqueness.
"It gives them a chance to feel special," she said. "At these parties, it's not just the birthday girl who's being celebrated. All of the little girls are celebrated."
Lott thinks girls' interest in such play is negative to their self-concepts.
"The idea that girls want to be princesses is not a positive thing for girls," she said. "The implication for a girl to be a princess is that she has to be weak."
Moore sees girls' interest in princesses as a better alternative to bypassing the phase and going from playing with dolls straight into adolescence.
"It's so much better than girls trying to look like teenagers," she said. "I think dressing up like princesses is more suited to parents and girls. A lot of girls were missing out on a part of their childhood."
Lott sees possible misconceptions in the princess play fantasy.
"There's probably a danger in approaching adulthood thinking you are going to be a princess," she said.
It is Disney that Lott thinks promotes the damsel in distress image girls are exposed to.
"That's something Disney has played a big part in propagating," she said.
Disney has a Web site dedicated to princesses of yore such as Belle and Jasmine at http://disney.go.com/-princess/html/main_iframe.html.
In later years, Disney has featured less-conventional heroines who don't always win a prince in movies such as "Mulan" and "Pocahontas."
Lott notes that such princess characters are anomalies.
She notes that beauty, traditionally the often-conventional good looks of fairy tale princesses, is a common determining factor in starting romantic relationships and hiring for jobs.
She said "Shrek" teaches girls that certain values such as love transcend beauty.
"What I like about 'Shrek' is that in the end, without restoring physical beauty, two ogres love each other for what they are."
She cites situations from the first "Shrek" film where Princess Fiona outwitted and physically overtook her male rescuers.
Lott said recent evolutions of the princess from untouchable pristine beauty to a more independent woman mirrors society's views of women.
Young believes a princess can have her pink cake and be independent as well.
"I think a young girl can and should be taught that being feminine does not necessarily mean that they are-dependent on a male or dominant-figure."
What do you think!? I'm getting mad reading it again. I guess these people would think the BBB is a place to make little girls feel bad about themselves!
Oh and get this underneath this story way a story titled "Ways to Save Money in Disney World". First lets bash them, then lets tell why you need to go?
Our Newspaper is ridiculous!
Yes lack of news is exactly right, both of those look like AP stories so dont blame your local newspaper for filling space. I have heard this argument before hmmm, was it Barbie dolls, the princesses are products of their times you have to think of when they came out. Now at Disney all little girls, and some big girls and I suppose some little boys can be princesses. Good job professor going after an easy target that wont fight back. JMHO
