Week 3 Extra Credit: A Different View of Disney Princesses

This blog is by reflection after listening to a podcast hosted by The Western Canon Podcast. It is an interview of writer Faith Moore, who is the author of the book, Saving Cinderella: What Feminists Get Wrong About Disney Princesses And How To Set It Right. A Youtube video of the podcast is embedded.

In the podcast, they discuss how some people incorrectly interpret contemporary Disney princesses as anti-feminists. These people are called “princess critics” (Moore, 5:39). According to writer Faith Moore, there is a wave of feminist (“Disney Renaissance”) in the late 1980s, where the release of the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast provoke the voices of some radical feminists. Compared to some of Disney’s primitive princesses, for example, Snow Whites and Sleeping Beauty, contemporary princesses seem to shift the originals values and roles, which the “princess critics'' are alerted to. However, Morre’s response to these criticisms is that the critics actually misinterpret the ideas in the early movies. As Moore mentions, the primitive princesses actually do have realistic dreams, and these dreams are unrelated to men; rather, the arrival of the princes at the end of the story “represents the girl’s readiness to be a woman'' and “is symbolic of the fact that when a girl transitions to womanhood” (Moore, 13:20). This is a very creative and insightful idea to me. As we study about Disney and genders these three weeks in Writing 39A, not just me but a lot of my classmates have the same perception that the primitive princesses are tied to their destiny: they are waiting and dreaming of the appearance of the princes, and that is all they have done. But, Moore presents a whole different perspective: Snow Whites actually have a realistic dream which she went out to escape from her stepmother as Belle wants to explore the world outside of the town; likewise, Cinderella wants to return to her noble life as Ariel wants to be a human being (Moore, 14:50). Clarifying up the misunderstandings of the “princess critics'' also widens our horizons on the evolution of Disney values from the traditional analysis.

Since we will be creating a podcast in the next few weeks, I paid some extra attention to the elements and overall structure of the podcast. In the beginning, the host has a very brief introduction of the podcast followed by the introduction and backgrounds of the guest. Then, they enter the main discussion, which is about feminists and Disney princesses in this podcast. Overall, the podcast is authentic but structural. The host shifts from points to points by quoting Faith Moore’s book. In the end, there is a quick conclusion and closing statement. Essentially, it is similar to the structure of an essay but expressed in a conversational style.