Disney's Anti-Princess Policy; How To Detract Themselves From What They've Mostly Known For and Excluding Their Newest Members From Their Brand

Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies. 

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Yes, you've read right. It's not April's Fools, folks ;)

Originally this entry was written where Disney were detracting themselves from the Princess brand. It was written when it was confirmed that Moana wasn't going to join the Princess lineup, yet recently she's been put into more of the marketing of the brand. So yeah, this entry is a little dated now. But it`s been updated later on.
While I've definitively used this following statement before, this entry certainly was a departure from my previous additions. Most of my entries have been analytical rants or assessments about Disney's animated canon features. While this entry was an analytical rant about a certain policy which Disney  adapted. Which their desperate attempt to dismiss the Princess stamp and excluding their newest heroines from their lineup.

The Criticism of Disney Princesses

 

It would've been the understatement of the year to cite that Disney are known for their fairy tale movies about Princesses. That statement is such a crucial fact that it's really no point to cite their position in Disney history (despite that most of Disney's movies aren't even about Princesses). 

But it`s a mere fact that the Princesses are the most widely criticized aspect by Disney in every single way. And though the criticism has varied, it's legit to say that the`ve been mostly criticized for their representation of their roles and female agenda. In other words; The bad stigma the Princess stamp has.

We're the lovesick version of Brady Bunch. 
We were told to be so ;)

It's needless to state that Walt's three Princesses are the ones who's been perceived as passive damsels. But also the ones who defined the so-called stereotypical Disney Princess. And therefore has (unwillingly) given the Princess stamp a bad name! But regardless of that criticism of Walt's royal gals, we'll have to remember that they were products of their time. And therefore executed in that way (but to be fair, folks, their so-called passive nature isn't entirely Disney's fault either, hence they were depicted so in their original tales).
The criticism has surrounded for years, long before our scrutinizing message board era. However, the evolution of time and the criticism still made Disney conscious enough to keep up in time and trying to make their heroines more independent, strong-willed and modern. Which the 90's certainly proved, regardless of the various opinions about those gals (though Christopher Finch cites that Ariel wasn't the first Disney heroine with spunk in his The Art of Walt Disney book). 
And as for the criticism itself, there's no need to look it up the Internet to find various articles with rants about them (from reporters and otherwise). One recurrent statement (among others) is how their main goal is about their quest for love. But of course that criticism has also been brought up in several books which criticizes the values of the Mouse House (about the following video, the featurette about The Little Mermaid begins at 3:02)

The Genesis of The Princess Franchise/How it Launched The New Princesses of the Revival Era

Yes, it's a timeline. In Disney's universe, not an actual one ;)

But the new millennium saw the rise of the Princess franchise which has lasted to this day! It's needless to refer to my previous entry about the Princess franchise, where I'm deliberately scrutinizing the pro's and con's with the lineup. But it would've been an understatement to dismiss that the franchise has made it's mark on people and influenced them in such a way that they now consider those movies as "Princess"-movies. 
The franchise has been a neat and lean way to keep several Princesses relevant. But the brand has also shaped Disney's policy towards them. In that sense, it's no surprising that they've figured to launch their newest Princesses within that franchise at the time, despite how manufactured and gimmicky it may seem. Even Pixar's first Princess, Merida, was been incorporated to it.

How Disney Suddenly Stopped Including the Princesses Into the Lineup

But when Moana was released in 2016, Disney changed their policy completely and decided to stop including their upcoming Princesses into the brand! For proof, none of the sisters from Frozen have been included! While I've tapped into this issue in my previous entry, it was originally confirmed that both Anna and Elsa were originally going to join the franchise. 
While Disney themselves have never officially confirmed the reason for the non-inclusion, it's obvious how Disney realizes how the Frozen brand has been lucrative at it's own (for obvious reason, duuh). And that it has a unisex appeal.
Other candidates as Sofia the First or Elena from Avalor haven't received an official inclusion either. But since both were Disney Junior properties, it`s a logical reason for not include them. Yet both of them were deliberately made to milk the Princess brand, so it's almost radical to not include them either.

How Moana Was Not Included and Marketed As an Anti-Princess

Such a simple gesture
is enough to make
you a feminist ;)

And then Moana was going to suffer the same fate! But at least Disney themselves had an explanation for that reason; Her tribal blood! Well, at least it's a reason that`s legitimately justifiable. But the same fate could've befallen Pocahontas, due to her having the same blood (and let's forget about how Mulan has been included, despite that both she and Pocahontas are the most neglected in the franchise. since Mulan have been promoted less lately). Of course the tribal blood issue affecting the exclusion is entirely debatable, due to them not being Royal in a technical, Eurasian sense. But it's a provocative debate, nonetheless.

Lately, however, it's been more evident that Moana has been included in marketing, making room for the speculations of her eventually being included.
But regardless of this, it's notable how the team from her movie have desperately been trying to detract her from the Princess stamp! By contrasting the strong, feminist attributes from the Princess stamp! Of course this is remarkable, due to the Princesses having been acknowledged for their proactive evolution. But regarding their past, why even having the issue of associating a Princess of being strong and fierce? Yet what's even more contradicting is how Moana is frequently featured in current Princess-promotional campaign.

How Disney Shouldn`t Be Ashamed of Their Princess Staple

We've been actually frozen. It's freezing, 
so what did you expect? Pun intended ;)

After Frozen's and the Princess franchises enormous success, it would've been easy to assume that Disney shouldn't stray away from the Princess stamp. And rather embrace it completely! Regardless the various opinions about it, the Princesses is something that Disney shouldn't been ashamed to promote, since their aforementioned association with them. Apparently Disney seemed to have the opposite attitude about it when Moana was released! But wait, folks, there's more; It was announced that Disney would stop to include their newest Princesses in the lineup any longer, as cited in this tweet. Regardless what could've been said about that issue, at least it's a legit one. Due to how Disney has milked their Princess brand by launching new Princesses and having more members within it. But at least it could've been interpreted as a good sign for the naysayers.

How Disney Have Always Portrayed Their New Princesses as Non-Typical Princesses

A remarkable thing is that Disney themselves are still depicting the progression of their heroines as something entirely new! Ever since Mermaid, most of their heroines have been marketed as being bold, fierce, proactive and not "the stereotypical Disney Princess". Which they've also done with the former Princesses of this Revival era.
It's odd and noteworthy that they're still overstating this stamp, which could be easily be interpreted as Disney themselves are labeling the Princess stamp as negative. But the feminism attributes within the heroines are still going strong! Just look at how feminist the Princesses of the live action remakes of the animated features are being labeled as (and yes, een Belle in the live action remake has her anti-Princess comment, despite that it's possible to ignore it's non-Princess agency, haha). Even Jasmine in the live action version of Aladdin had her feminist agenda. But the irony is how the majority of the new Princesses actually serves trope of not being a stereotypical damsel, haha! If you think about it, the lineup is more full of non-typical Princesses than the stereotypical damsels!

Some Scrutiny About The Anti-Princess Agenda

This is what boredom does to ya :)

Of course this current non-Princess policy can be interpreted as individually as the Princess franchise itself. As either positive or negative. Some people are passionate about Disney detracting themselves from their brand, due to the aforementioned criticism against it (as confirmed in my former entry about the lineup). However, it's a quite remarkable policy from Disney to detract themselves completely from it. And contradictory as well. While this issue was reminiscent of when the rumors about Disney not wanting to make more Princess-films during Tangled's time (but at least it's a different case).

The more, the merrier, but more as in
 less space to move within ;)

The stamp has also been fueld by the media, since they`ve also labeled every new female feature as a Princess movie. But Disney are still conscious about that inescapable stamp, anyway. And how they've suddenly decided to not keep filling their brand with upcoming Princesses.
At least the latter issue has a legit excuse, hence the lineup would've been easily overfilled! However, writer Jonathan Brill have cited in a assessment that the royal titles of the Revival gals have barely affected their narrative at all. While of course this is debatable, it's still can be perceived as legit enough.

My Own Purpose With This Scrutiny

Of course my assessment was not meant to be a direct attack towards Disney themselves. Or an assessment to persuade them to change their policy. It's just meant to be an analytical rant about it. But whatever Disney decides in the future for their royal sweethearts, we'll have to wait and see. Of course the enduring criticism which Disney Princesses have received could also affect other fictional female characters as well. But we'll leave that discussion for now ;) 

The Signs of Including Moana To The Franchise



Yes, I'm being self-absorbed, folks.
I have human emotions after all :)

However, there was a couple of noteworthy updates since I originally wrote this entry; Auli'i Cravalho (Moana), Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O'Hara (Belle) and Anika Noni Rose (Tiana) joined The Power of the Princess-attraction on 2017's D23 Expo (originally it was announced that Ming-Na Wen was going to be among the squad of the event, but she was absent). The voice actresses shared their experiences of making their movies and singing their songs.

Mark Hehn, who made a surprise appearance at the show, showed some pencil tests of the Princesses (and a fan that was mentioned by Benson was among the audience, being somewhat a surrogate child of O'Hara. A fan that had survived a car accident and survived by singing Part of Your World. And suprising Cravalho by showing her first audition. Perhaps this was a subtle nod of Moana's final inclusion, after all? Well, for those of you who wants her to be in the franchise, you could always hope ;)

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But of course the proof has mostly been through the merchandise that featured Moana and not only toys. And she`s been included in the Disney Princess Essential Guide and The Disney Princess: A Celebration of Art and Creativity. So this means that she will most likely join the lineup someday.

How The Princesses Starred in Ralph Breaks the Internet

And yes, our Royal gals were featured in Wreck-It-Ralph's sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet (which took place after The Power of a Princess-gathering, yet a resume video of the former was shown in the latter event. Believe it or not. Regardless that it did create some havoc, at least the legacy of the Princesses will last longer than Ralph`s mockery. But we'll just have to accept the fact that it`s happened.

Rhetorical catchphrase, isn't it? But lucky us, we have the privilege to do so ;)

 

 

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References:
Mouse Under Glass (David Koenig)
The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms and Beyond (Christopher Finch). 
Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules (Bob Thomas)
The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Henry Giroux) 

A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brother's Aschenputtel to Disney's Cinderella (Charles Salomon).
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