My DH who usually doesn't even notice that kind of stuff, is the one who saw an article on it first, and he actually was so irritated by it, that when he showed it to me he suggested that we quit giving our money to Disney (and let me tell you we spend a lot on Disney) because as long as people keep throwing their money at Disney they will think that this kind of thing is okay. He says now that he has a daughter, he realizes what kind of message this change sends to little girls and he thinks it is awful- I've lost count of how many Barbies we have and he doesn't have any issues with those, but his take on why this is different is that they didn't make Barbie change because they didn't think she was good enough the way she was. She was always the way she was. With Merida, the message they are sending is that to sell merchandise she has to be thinner, taller, be all made up, and have her hair fixed up from the way she really is. It is basically saying- she wasn't good enough, we had to change her. Every little girl who sees Merida merchandise knows it isn't the Merida from the movie. DH was actually talking trip cancellations-- I'm more of the mindset just don't buy the merchandise with the new style Princesses.
Let's not go too far- I don't think I could give up my Disney trips!
me.
I wanted to quote you because it was also my husband who found out about this makeover and brought it to my attention. He read the article on Jezebel that goes into detail about all the differences, and like some other posters have stated, it's not the dress change that upsets me as much as altering her actual FACE! Now she no longer looks like a beautiful blend of her mother and father, which I thought was such a wonderful touch in Brave, but rather, she looks like...a clone of the rest of the made-over impossibly-delicately featured anomalies.
Heck, make her dress sparkly?? I LOVE sparkles! But what the Jezebel article pointed out (will try to figure out how to post a link to it here, I'm a newbie) was lipstick, thinner waist, and all kinds of changes to her bone structure. It's saddening, frustrating, and really more than a bit perplexing -- does this great big giant brilliant company not think we regular-looking people will mind? I guess the question is always, do we mind enough to make a move.
But...if my husband had followed up his notice of this change the way your DH had, like by challenging me to not go on our trip or buy some princess gear...EEEK no thank you!
My kiddo is oh so just barely understanding that princesses are special, and it's because *I* am going over-the-top to prep her for her first visit this month, trying to get her to be able to recognize anyone when we have lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Today when my daughter, not quite 2, saw Belle coming down the stairs in her yellow gown, I heard her say, "pretty dress!" Just as I am always pointing out to her, and yeah, I felt excited that she is Getting It.
But...a large Part of me -the part that enjoyed acting a raging feminist in high school and college- is embarrassed by my own behavior, and completely understands and cheers on your husband's call to action.
But it's encouraging to read so many other parents' sentiments in this thread and read the quotes of little girls knowing better, preferring the real Merida.
Great thread! I'm really interested to keep up with this one. I hadn't even seen the images of the rest of the recently made-over princesses until now.
