• Thu, Jan 19 2012

Mommyish Presents: Disney Princesses We Can Get Behind

 

Mommyish Disney PrincessesThe narratives of Disney Princesses can have a pretty big impact on girls, in which being pretty and grabbing up a prince often take precedence over anything else. Provided that moms and dads are willing to provide some critcisms to that happily ever after storyline, princess play can inarguably be harmless and fun. But considering that Disney unfortunately talks louder than most parents can, watching your daughter model herself after docile women like Sleeping Beauty can be a bit concerning.

After evaluating the story lines of the six original Disney Princesses, we decided that all they needed was some recognition for accomplishments, education, ambition, and hobbies to flesh the Princesses into real role models worthy of your daughter’s admiration. So here are the stories of Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and of course Snow White as we would have told them.

(Art work by Emma Charlton)

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  • Lily

    This is great! The photography is perfect, and the descriptions seem like something you would see in a “survivor” story of young women making the best of it after a tumultuous childhood…which, in a way, the princesses experienced. Those are all beautiful women with demanding careers! Thank you for making fairytales a reality.

  • Abigail

    I’m confused. Were those real stories made to seem fake, or fake stories made to seem real? That was very confusing.

    • Koa Beck

      Hey Abigail. A little bit of both actually. We’re using the real life accomplishments of fictionalized women to showcase what Disney Princesses actually could be. Thanks for reading.

    • Abigail

      Okay, thanks! That makes way more sense. :)

  • Nancy

    Fun fact: The original Aladdin was from China! …that is all :P

  • CW

    I loved all of them except for the “Snow White” one. It felt like it played too much into the whole myth that large families are inherently bad for the environment. Why couldn’t she just be an architect who designs “green” buildings without all the bashing of large families? The 7 dwarves could be her friends living in a “co-housing” unit with her…

  • Colleen

    Since when are the Disney princesses one-dimensional?

    These are interesting modern takes, and I could see most of them being made into the next summer chick flick or made-for-TV family movie. But it’s kind of ridiculous to expect stories that were written a long time ago to conform to our own ideas of women (especially when the princesses are not adults, by our own definition of the word, and the Disney versions were already changed quite a lot in most cases from their original versions). I don’t recall any of the Disney princesses being helpless and docile pushovers. It seems to me people are trying to take what they view to be one extreme and turn them into an extreme on the other end of the spectrum.

  • Steph

    Or… you could just let them enjoy some fictitious escapsim; steer your own daughter towards more positive role models if you’re really that butthurt, but leave the classic alone.

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  • Ash

    Love this! I just wish there was a Pocahontas, too! :D

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