They do find love matches in that sequel. That's the point of the story. Mulan is appalled to learn her mission is to take these girls off to marry princes they never met. It causes friction between her and Shang because he's a follow orders/traditional sort of guy. Meanwhile it turns out their fellow guards (the ones we met in the first movie) are the exact right matches for the girls. They end up going off on a date in a village en route and discovering just how ideal they are for each other. Shared interests and temperaments. About as much of a true relationship as you'd fill out on a match.com request.
See, this is what I loved about Frozen. It really points out the dangers of basing a lifetime commitment on a single date.
I'm kind of disappointed that the solution to forced marriage was just to find the girls someone they'd met once and didn't hate.
What if they'd met the princes and discovered they shared interests and temperaments with them? Are we supposed to marry the first person who matches our profile?
But then danger strikes, Shang appears lost and the girls are devastated. They'd been following Mulan's example and daring to start speaking up for themselves and questioning their father's orders for them. But with Shang's apparent death it seems happily-ever-after can't really happen for them. Mulan will have none of that and frees the girls of their obligation by offering herself on the sacrificial marriage altar instead. She's got nothing left to live for since Shang's dead so why not?
Oh lord, poor Mulan!
You know, my husband came rather frighteningly close to dying once, when our kids were small. And as I was compulsively cleaning house, waiting to hear from the hospital, I remember thinking, "Wow. I really hope he doesn't die. But... if he does, I think I can cope. I can do this. I can take care of these kids, and this house, and I won't fall apart."
I really have no patience with the "nothing left to live for" attitude, and I would not predict that Mulan would be that much of an impractical romantic.
The movie ends with a happy ending. It's not clear that Mulan suddenly withdrew from public life to be a meek little wife and mommy at home. In fact, it seems the opposite with Mulan changing the kingdom with her progressive ideas and earning Shang's true respect. Gives them a better basis for a long lasting happy marriage. It's really one of the better Disney sequels.
Yes, with weddings for everyone!
Little Mermaid 2 is pretty good as well. It shows Ariel and Eric living happily on land for 20 years but cut off from her family because of threats from Ursula's vengeful sister. And their daughter wishes to live as a mermaid instead.
I always had a soft spot for the Little Mermaid because I identified with her desire to be part of a world not made for her. (Growing up with a physical disability that affected my walking meant I frequently felt left out and desperately wanted to be part of my peers' world.) The original Hans Christian Andersen tale ends tragically with the Little Mermaid choosing to sacrifice her life rather than kill the handsome prince who marries someone else (a neighboring princess). Killing the prince was the only other way to break the curse. Not killing him showed her love was true and selfless.
Fairy tales are all about a singular emotion or conflict. Real life is made up of many emotions and conflicts. It doesn't make the fairy tales false; just simplified.
I think you're very right.
I love all the movies, and see them as reflections of many different aspects of our culture and history.
Personally, the one I identified most with as a child was Peter Pan. I desperately wanted to escape my life and fly away from my problems. I used to wonder if maybe if I just grew my hair long enough and wore pretty nightgown, if that would be enough to bring Peter to my window.
Although, really, I didn't want to be Wendy. I wanted to be one of the Lost Boys!
Sleeping Beauty is about a girl growing up in protective custody and still eventually finding her way home.
Snow White is about a jealous vain stepmother who tries to murder her stepdaughter but ultimately fails.
Cinderella is about a girl who can never catch a break because she's being used by the people with power over her and one magical night someone takes an interest and gives her a chance to escape the hardship and be who she truly is. Of course the right person notices her and is so impressed he has to find her again and reveal her to the world. Every person who's ever been taken for granted at work or in society dreams of this fairy tale outcome to their under-appreciation conflict.
Tangled is about a girl who's kidnapped, tricked and used by her kidnapper but dreams of a bit of freedom. Once she gets it she's tricked into returning to captivity only to realize she is indeed a prisoner and rebels. The only reason she's willing to go back into captivity then is to prevent her kidnapper from hurting someone else.
Brave is least impressive to me because it's pretty much every history story we've ever known about royalty and aristocracy before Queen Victoria. Daughters were political pawns married to beget bloodlines and trade property until some said "the hell with that!" and demanded love. Except Merida didn't really demand love but the ability NOT to marry and remain a somewhat spoiled teenager. That made the story feel incomplete to me.
See, I felt very differently about Brave. I loved that movie, because it reminded me so much of the story of Atalanta in my old "Free to Be, You and Me" record, that I listened to every night as a child.
What I loved about it, is that Merida
doesn't live for romantic love. She's not looking for that man who is going to save her and make her life worth living. She just wants, like every young person, the right to choose her own destiny.
You don't have to get married in order to grow up and stop being a "spoiled teenager". And a wedding doesn't make a story complete.
Brave was the story of a mother and daughter, and how they learn to understand and respect each other. It's quite universal, in that respect.
Frozen is fun because it plays with your expectations and gives you something entirely different but still logical from the story. Anna remains her idealistic self easily loving those around her. (Why exactly did she think herself so close to her sister when they had pretty much no relationship for a decade?)
And nobody gets married.
I agree. The three original princess movies are mostly long music videos rather than full fledged stories. We don't get into real storytelling until Beauty and the Beast. (Mind you that story is about the Beast's redemption and taming. Yes he yells at her and imprisons her, but he also saves her life and risks his own to do it when she gets fed up and runs off. That shows he does have potential under all the bad manners. Then she slowly tames him to behave better and treat her respectfully. He shows just how much he has changed when he lets her go be with her father with just the magic mirror to remember him by. Gaston becomes the true example of a beast to contrast with what Beast has become due to Belle's influence. It's pretty much every girl's fantasy that she can tame a good man out of a gruff one.)
That was never my fantasy!
But then again, I grew up without a father, so like Yeats says, "Being fatherless, could have her way". And come to think of it, I
was happy to find the modern day equivalent of a smith to marry (an engineer!). (Hmm... never really considered how well that poem fits me.)
Anyway, I would rather my daughter marry a good man. Period. No "taming" necessary, on either his part or her's. Because, as I've told her many times, you should never get into a relationship with the goal of changing a person. Love them for who they are in the present, and any positive future change is just a happy bonus.
