How Princess Culture Affects Society

A few days ago, I saw a meme pop up on my Facebook feed listing a bunch of empowering adjectives to use for girls to replace the words "princess" or "beautiful." I admit I might be a little bias as the proud owner of a princess blog, but when I saw this, I couldn't help but think to myself "Those two things are not mutually exclusive!" In recent years, there has been a huge surge of princess-related content in the media that has not only changed what it means to be a princess but has also created an entire culture around it. Just like with all movements, princess culture enthusiasts were quickly met with a large opposition who focus heavily on the negative aspects of what it means to be a princess. As a result, we end up with books like Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein, which claim that princesses may prevent girls from living up to their full potential.


Being a princess today means something completely different than it did 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or 500 years ago, when it was based around class and privilege. A princess is no longer a woman who is next in line to run a kingdom. Even most modern European princesses are nothing more than figureheads for celebrity gossip. Today's princess culture is something far more abstract. It's a mindset that anyone can choose to follow or fight against. People who think that calling someone a princess is the same thing as calling her beautiful have obviously not been paying attention. Yes, princesses from fantasy stories are notoriously beautiful, but that is not the only thing they can be, and it is not even a requirement. There are so many different kinds of princess stories out there that girls can choose whatever type of princess they want to be. They can be a brave warrior like Xena or Wonder Woman, a leader like Moana or Arkayna, or a gentle-hearted maiden who might need to ask for help on occasion like Cinderella or Snow White. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be any of these things as long as they are able to make the choice for themselves.

Another reason many parents are afraid of princess culture is that they think it is being forced on their children and that it will inevitably make them selfish or submissive. Do you know what is guaranteed to make kids resent their parents more than anything else? It's telling them that they can't be involved with something that they enjoy. Princess culture is not forced on anyone. The only reason it's such a booming industry is that it sells. Girls love it. Taking away something that a child loves will only make them feel repressed and become more submissive later in life, the very quality that princess naysayers are afraid of. If a girl wants to dress up in a satin and lace gown, it's no worse than wanting to wear ripped jeans and old t-shirts and playing in the mud. Being a modern princess means being empowered by your own inner strength and not letting the rest of the world hold you back.

When I was in high school, my parents told me that I was too old to enjoy Disney movies and shows from Cartoon Network. They tried asking different people how they could convince me to stop liking the things I was passionate about and take an interest in things that were considered more suitable to my age group. They eventually came around after realizing that I wasn't going to stop liking things just because they told me to, but at the time, it felt as if my inner princess was being stifled. I felt powerless because the one thing that made me feel inherently like myself was being denied from me. Today, I wear my princess tiara loud and proud and let the world know who I am. That is the power of being a modern princess.


Even though many feminists are anti-princess, a closer look reveals that they are really just two sides of the same coin. Feminists want women to stand tall and claim their right to equal power, and princesses do just that, whether with or without a prince's help. Just because some of us enjoy doing our nails and wearing pretty dresses doesn't mean we're trying to impress anyone but ourselves. If you call a girl a princess, you are just telling her that she has the power to be anything she wants, not that her appearance is the most important thing about her. A modern princess proudly struts her claim to the throne like an invisible crown and lets everyone know that she's in charge when it comes to any issue that has significance to her. Princess culture is not ruining our girls. Taking away a girl's right to find her inner princess and stake her claim to the throne is. Princess culture teaches us that it's okay to be as feminine as you feel so long as you stay true to who you are.
I have always dreamed of being a writer and creating the next great fairy tale princess heroine. Princesses inspire us to be our best selves. While you're here, feel free to follow my page on Facebook, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and check out my books. I'm also on Instagram and Twitter.

Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog? Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post!

Comments

swood73 said…
Your analysis of the princess culture is spot on, and I am in no way suggesting that your analysis is wrong. I would challenge you, however, to think of it in a bit broader context. While we seem to think that the princess narrative is a choice, in many ways it is forced on us to the extent that it explains and justifies an un-interrogated gender ideology. What I mean by this is that the princess narrative typically embodies what we as a society take as natural and good forms of femininity. It sells because gender conformity is highly rewarded, and gender non-conformity is typically severely punished through marginalization, isolation, ridicule, and various other forms of social ramifications. How many girls torture themselves to fit the ideals of femininity that are imposed on us via princess culture and culture more generally? How often are we told that we need to look a certain way, act a certain way in order to find love or acceptance? The messages are both subtle and not so subtle. Now, I am not suggesting that we banish the princess narratives, but we can engage in and enjoy the narrative and social aspects of it and and be critical of them at the same time.

It’s not a fair representation to say that most feminists are anti-princess. Nor do feminists by and large want women to be or do anything specific. They merely want women, or all people for that matter, to have autonomy and equality to pursue their own best interests, whether that be becoming a princess, a prince, or something else entirely. What they don’t like, for the most part, is the imposition of a set of ideals as to what constitutes a ‘good’ or ‘natural’ femininity. And, these days, feminists are primarily concerned with the eradication of injustice writ large. I think that’s a good thing, princess or not. I am quite sure that you will find that feminists too applaud the contemporary notions of princess that you describe, they just wish the rest of the world had your depth of analysis and understanding. Of course, it’s never correct to paint everyone with the same brush, so someone will prove me wrong at some point, but I think my general points still stand.
February 8, 2018 at 5:08 PM
Lisa Dawn said…
Thank you for your detailed response! I agree that saying "most feminists" was an oversimplification on my part, and I will update it to "many" for when I use this post in my vlog. I think that the concept of girls "torturing themselves" to fit the ideals of feminism is brought on more by celebrities and pop culture than princess culture. Insecure teenage girls will be more likely to want to try to make themselves look like the models and pop stars they see in magazines than they would their favorite cartoon character. That said, we would certainly benefit a great deal from having a plus-sized princess starring in a movie. For more about this, I encourage you to read my posts entitled "The Princess Body Image Issue" (http://www.theprincessblog.org/2017/10/the-princess-body-image-issue.html) and "Do Princesses Encourage Vanity?" (http://www.theprincessblog.org/2017/11/do-princesses-encourage-vanity.html) Thanks for stopping by!
February 8, 2018 at 5:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Find Me in Paris Has Its Last Dance

Image
Only one month after my recent obsession with Find Me in Paris , the time-traveling ballerina princess drama dropped its third and final season on Hulu today. Though somewhat predictable, this season offered a satisfying conclusion to the show's unique concept that combined dance with science fiction and tied up all remaining loose ends from the previous seasons. We finally learned the truth about Lena's birth and why she's always being chased by anyone remotely interested in time travel. Nearly every character got paired off at the end, even if it meant some questionable decisions on behalf of the writers. The season also offered some of the most beautiful dance sequences in the show yet for its key story moments. While I could have done without the repetitive recap sequences, the final episodes made it clear that this was always meant to be the end and gave the cast and crew many happy memories to look back upon. The final season of Find Me in Paris incorporated the ...
Read more

The Nutcracker Prince Is the Best Nutcracker Movie You've Never Seen!

Image
The holiday season has begun, but like many other things this year , it is a mere shadow of its former self. That's why I was so pleased when one of my readers referred me to an animated version of "The Nutcracker" that I had missed during my childhood. The Nutcracker Prince  is by far the most accurate version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" that I have ever seen. After my overwhelming disappointment with Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms , I thought that the Barbie movie was the closest I'd ever get to an accurate feature based on this classic fairy tale. I was wrong. The Nutcracker Prince  is an animated film released in 1990 with a surprisingly impressive cast of voice talent. Sadly, there's no chance of seeing it on Disney+  any time soon because it was distributed by Warner Brothers , one of the only major film studios that Disney does not own (yet). However, it is free to watch on YouTube for those o...
Read more

Princess Fashion

Image
I've been seeing several viral posts recently about historical fashion lately. One was  a gallery of women's fashion every year from 1784 to 1970 , and another was a video re-enactment of how women got dressed in the 18th century . These got me thinking about some of my favorite princess fashions. Though princesses are not known to be  historically accurate , their fashions drew inspiration from many different places, and history is one of them. If you take a look at the way fashion has evolved over time, you can get an idea of which parts inspired the princess movies and which parts were altered. Something that surprised me in the re-enactment was how many pieces were assembled on a woman to give the appearance of a single dress. Today, most dresses are a single piece, but historically, gowns consisted of a corset bodice and a large skirt with a crinoline underneath. This was something I also noticed about Disney's  theme park princesses . Though they look like one ...
Read more

One Hundred Princesses for My 100th Post

Image
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:...
Read more

Review: Wicked (Part 1)

Image
While not technically a princess movie, Wicked  is quite possibly the most high-profile release of the year with a princess-like character, G(a)linda. I have been a huge fan of the Broadway show  for almost 20 years and know it by heart, so this release was a pretty big deal to me as it was to many other die-hard fans. Many were concerned about the fact that the play was split into two films--one for each act. Now that I've seen it, I have to say that I understand this decision. There is so much that happens in the musical that forcing it all into a single movie would feel overloaded. The longer runtime gives the story a chance to breathe while adding more exposition to enhance the phenomenal characters and plot. As an added bonus, there were lots of Easter eggs referencing the original 1939 Wizard of Oz  movie that inspired Wicked  as well as an anticipated cameo from two beloved Broadway performers. Wicked  is the story of Elphaba Thropp, who is better known a...
Read more

Review: Time Princess - Vengeance of the Witch

Image
When I think of witches, I think of Bewitched , Sabrina the Teenage Witch , and most recently, Wicked . So when Time Princess announced a new visual novel called Vengeance of the Witch, I expected something along those lines, especially after their latest collaboration with Wicked . Instead, the robust dress-up game app pulled the old bait and switch, releasing yet another bland Chinese story about demons . This app contains several other visual novels inspired by Chinese mythology that are way more interesting than this one, including White Snake  and Ancient Dreams . If you are looking for a compelling story that incorporates Chinese myths, I recommend playing one of those. The Apothecary  is much closer to what I expected from Vengeance of the Witch, as that story actually focuses on magic and sorcery with some compelling plot twists. Vengeance of the Witch tells the story of Qingqing, who is part of a demonic cult that we're apparently supposed to root for. To be fair, it...
Read more

Review: The Spanish Princess/White Queen Trilogy

Image
Yesterday, the Starz network  released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding  The White Queen  trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War  by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess  grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King...
Read more

The Legacy of Sleeping Beauty: Is She As Passive as We Think?

Image
When I wrote my series of fairy tale origin posts , one major story that I skipped was "Sleeping Beauty."  It wasn't because I didn't care for this story as much as the others, but instead that it had a less complex narrative of changing with the times . In fact, this fairy tale is so simple that no matter how many updates modern adaptations incorporate, it is rarely altered so drastically from its roots to the point of being unrecognizable,  except in the case of a ridiculous 2016 horror movie called The Curse of Sleeping Beauty . Of all the movies I argued against depicting the theme of "Be pretty, girls, and things might work out,"   Sleeping Beauty  is the biggest outlier. It is probably for this reason that it is the only Disney Princess movie that did not get a direct live-action remake , but instead a creative reimagining with Maleficent , which focused on the more active villain than the mostly passive princess. Determining how much Sleeping Beauty h...
Read more

Review: Moana 2

Image
After reading some of the initial reviews , I was skeptical about Moana 2 . However, now that I've seen it, I can say with confidence that it is an underrated classic like Wish . While it may be an infamous Disney sequel  that was converted from a failed concept for an animated series , we've come a long way from the days when Disney would slap three barely finished episodes together and call it a sequel . This is a polished, complete, and cohesive story with theatrical-quality animation and music. I am grateful that Disney finally released something original instead of another  live-action remake . Considering the destructive path they've been on lately , this movie is a step in the right direction. It is a return to what Disney does best--beautiful animation, songs, and a thrilling adventure story with a spirited princess-like heroine that is on par with the original film . A few years have passed since Moana's big adventure of returning the heart to Te Fiti so her ...
Read more

Jasmine's Solos Ranked

Image
Another Aladdin  production , another Jasmine song. With the recent addition of "Speechless," Jasmine has had a different solo song in every incarnation of the story. Yes, "A Whole New World"  is consistently used as the romantic duet, but it is not seen as Jasmine's signature song in the same way that "Part of Your Wold," "Someday My Prince Will Come," or "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" is associated with their respective princesses because it is just as much Aladdin's song as it is Jasmine's. While Ariel and Rapunzel have many original solos scattered throughout The Little Mermaid and Tangled series , the Aladdin series sadly did not contain any original songs . As a result, Jasmine's songs are buried within so many different productions of Aladdin  that even die-hard fans might have trouble finding them all. That's why I decided to compile this list of my top three Jasmine solos along with a little backgrou...
Read more