I disagree. Making her look like a stereotypical princess plays into the arm candy issue directly. Her physical looks were not part of her character and by putting the focus on her body- changes what her character stands for. If she had started out that way to begin with would have been fine....but they didn't. The focus was on her personality, not her physical appearance. Now is changes the message to: something was "wrong" with Merida and that they need to "fix" her. There was nothing to fix.
Merida was beautiful the way she was. She wasn't anyone's arm candy before because her movie isn't about finding Prince Charming. Now they have altered her to make her more attractive. To what end?
If Merida in the movie changed her appearance, as part of her story to mock what Disney did, then this wouldn't be an issue. My point was that she was a new character and if they intended for her to look a certain way then they should have made her that way to begin with.
People got excited that a princess was more then a face looking for a man to save her. Then around a year after release, just before her coronation, they decide to make her look and act like the other princesses. At the coronation she is acting like Merida from the movie (watch the video, the other princesses pose and make a point to be admired, Merida strides on stage in full Merida attitude), but they wanted to change her to the floaty handed girl that they turned some other amazing princesses into! Its not about beauty, its about stripping away the princesses dignity (NOT just Merida's) and turning them into a vapid shadow of the Princess Disney created. Look at Mulan, she was a warrior for pete's sake! They made her a shadow of her awesomeness by just posing her and waiving....so I can see how vapid applies.
Its not just about Merida, she's the straw that broke the camels back! If you look at the progression of Disney stories and the development of princess characters they started with the "my prince will save me" to the modern "I can save myself, but my husband also happens to be a prince". The back lash is that why do we need to alter an awesome person to fit a role that the character wasn't made to play? Mulan asked who she was inside, a warrior of fierce spirit! She wanted to be more then a silent baby maker ("a man by bearing arms, a girl by bearing sons) but now she wears traditional garb and is painted to look like a western idea of Asian beauty.
Look at Pocohontas too. Robbed of her natural beauty; she now has earrings, make up, and a body that was stripped of its athletic femininity. Her waist was altered, her hair, and by each change they robbed her and her character of what made her special. She's not white, why does she need to look like the causation princesses that came from Europe??
Its the stripping the essence of the character to fit an ideal of beauty that doesn't match the character. You can be drop dead gorgeous and be a good person, just like you can be a natural beauty and be drop dead gorgeous too. But, why does one have to compromise on what the character would do, in the context of their story, just so we can make the princess fit an ideal of beauty that isn't authentic to them.
Its not a separate issue to look at the changes and see them as vapid people or arm candy. Its the message that they weren't good enough the way they were and now they have to act a way that just is disingenuous for the character.
