The Princess Blog

In 1994, Disney created an animated series of their 1992 masterpiece, Aladdin . The movie was an incredible work of art which recently joined the ever-expanding list of princess anniversaries  in November to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, the television series fell rather flat in comparison to the film. Though it lasted a grueling 85 episodes, most of it has been forgotten by the general public with the exception of a small handful released alongside episodes of The Little Mermaid series on VHS featuring Princess Jasmine. I recently took the liberty of watching all 85 episodes to see if the show could withstand the test of time. My findings were not promising. The Aladdin  series was introduced with  The Return of Jafar , Disney's first  sequel , and one of the worst. It's no wonder, then, that the series sports the same cheap animation, flimsy storylines, and lack of character growth as its intro movie.Though it occasionally gave the characte...

It's a little surprising this topic hasn't come up yet, but I suppose it was inevitable. A little while ago, I saw a Facebook ad for a Broadway Princess Party in which three women who played  princesses on Broadway will be performing a concert consisting of their favorite princess songs. Of course, I immediately bought tickets. The post continued to show up on my feed for the next few days because it was sponsored, and I eventually saw a comment from someone asking if the event was for little kids even though the ad said nothing implying it as such. To make matters worse, another person replied that they were confused because the concert is at night, which seemed late for a children's event. Considering that most Broadway shows have 8pm performances regardless of their target audience, I would say the time of the concert is irrelevant. The target audience is another story entirely, though. Is this directed at children despite featuring performers who most children would h...

"The Bluebird" Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess whose parents loved her so much that they gave her everything her little heart desired. Yet, material things did not seem to satisfy her. The only thing the princess truly wanted was a companion. She had the palace staff to converse with from time to time, but they would never have a real conversation with her for fear of taking the child's innocence about the world and angering the queen and king. So, the princess went out into the village in search of a friend. She saw no need for a disguise, as she was given a royal escort. Thus, everyone in the village knew that she was the princess and acted accordingly. As the princess wandered the streets in her glittering gown, she noticed one girl who appeared to be around the same age as her, who did not curtsy or seek out her attention. The girl admired the princess's fine clothes and jewels from a distance. When the princess asked her why she acted so d...

It's a big month for princess movies. Last week was the 28th anniversary of my favorite movie, The Little Mermaid . As I've  discussed in a previous post , Disney is going all out this month to celebrate the 80th anniversary of their very first movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . On Monday night, Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City put on a live show to unveil their gorgeous window displays honoring the film. The displays are similar to the ones at the Emporium at the Disney Parks, but much larger in scale. They portray detailed animatronics of every major scene in the movie, from the wishing well to the fated kiss, as well as the new clothing designed specifically for the event. The special, called "Once Upon a Holiday," was streamed live on YouTube and social media. Fans crowded around Fifth Avenue to see the Saks Fifth Avenue president give a moving speech about the film, followed by a choreographed performance from the Seven Dwarfs.  Sofia Carson , who ...

I recently saw a fantastic YouTube video  analyzing the stigma that the title character from  Disney's 1950 Cinderella  is inherently weak despite enduring years of abuse and maintaining a strong survival instinct. It got me thinking about one of the most common criticisms people have toward princesses, which is that being a "Damsel in Distress" is a poor influence on girls. My issue with this is that it implies these characters somehow choose to put themselves in horrible situations in an attempt to be rescued by a prince. Why would anyone choose to be placed in such awful situations? They wouldn't. Just because many of the older princesses do find a way out of their unfortunate circumstances through the love of a prince ( which is no longer the case ) does not imply that they were the masterminds behind their own abuse. In fact, if they had intentionally put themselves in these situations, they would certainly have some extremely messed up psychological issues. ...

Right on the heels of Once Upon a Time's Rapunzel fail , Disney's Tangled: The Series released a new animated Rapunzel special called Queen for a Day . I will admit that I had higher hopes for this than Once Upon a Time due to the stronger quality of writing the show has in comparison. Unfortunately, the special turned out to be mostly exposition for an established character from the show to turn evil in future episodes. It wasn't terrible, but it lacked direction. Queen for a Day  spends too much time focusing on Rapunzel when it was really meant to provide the backstory for the other character, which makes the pacing feel erratic throughout most of the 45 minutes. There are spoilers below the image, so if you plan to watch the special, please do so before reading on. The title Queen for a Day  really drives home the fact that the special is supposed to be Rapunzel's story, and it is. Unfortunately, her story feels more like the "B" plot that the write...

"The Unicorn Princess" Once upon a time, there was a lovely young girl who lived in the middle of the woods. She had no family that she knew of. Though there were no other humans for miles, she had the unique ability to communicate with animals. The creatures in the forest were her only companions, but for her, they were enough. She never felt lonely or scared. When she was cold, she would sing a strange lullaby and beautiful clothes would appear before her to keep her warm. When she was hungry, she would sing a different song, and fresh food would appear. The birds taught her to sing, though her song was foreign to them. The older the maiden got, the more powerful her song became. Soon, she possessed the ability to heal dead plants and trees and sprout new life all around her with the sound of her voice. When she turned sixteen, word spread of the girl's miraculous abilities. Many brave knights journeyed through the woods to find her so that she could use her magic...

Before I begin, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to my favorite Disney Princess:  Ariel ! Can you believe it? Disney's The Little Mermaid  was released 28 years ago today. ABC's Once Upon a Time  tried to conquer Ariel's story in their second season, but they failed to capture the essence of the character due to a sloppy attempt to shoehorn Snow White and Regina into the plot. Today, the show took another shot at the  story of Rapunzel . Their first attempt was practically a cameo, featuring a brief sequence in which Rapunzel's long hair was revealed to be a metaphor for her fear of taking the throne. It came off just as impractical in practice as it did in theory. I wanted to stop ranting about Once Upon a Time here after the Rumbelle disaster from three weeks ago, but they seem to continue fueling the fire, so here we go again. Beware that there are spoilers below the image, so if you haven't seen tonight's episode yet, I suggest coming back and re...

Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:...