As a father of a three-and-a-half year old daughter who had the opportunity to visit Disney World last summer and literally meet all 12 of the canonical Disney princesses, I have found myself being deeply reflective about the impact these heroines have had on her.
My business is in the education of young children as a classroom teacher and soon, I'll be a teacher educator. My identities as an educator and parent (and reborn Disney enthusiast) are "laminated" (p. 209) and are not rigidly bound by context. Therefore, my parenting, more often than not, is informed by my pedagogy and experiences in teaching children, reading aloud stories of noble, flawed heroes who teach us life lessons and morals. We see ourselves in these characters, hoping when we are called to action, we can be brave, determined, and driven like them.
In one of my many aimless scrolls through my Facebook feed - I'm liking the updated interface, by the way - I came across a post from a page I follow called What's on Disney Plus. Given the 'shelter-in-place of it all' in my current day-to-day, my pedagogical energy is reflectively focused, especially around matters like this that I wouldn't otherwise have the mental capacity for when working with my third graders five days a week.
I subscribed to this page/site several months ago, as my family were day one subscribers to Disney+ (we locked in that three-year D23 discounted rate) and this site keeps me in the loop about new and upcoming releases. Who else is pumped that Onward hits the Disney+ library on Friday?!
In the above-linked post, the author, Jeremy Brown, ranks the 12 canonical Disney princesses. He established criteria for defining the 12 official princesses from Disney's theatrical library, which are also featured on the official Disney Princess brand website, but did not nail down how he ranked them. Anna and Elsa from Frozen are their own intellectual property, so while they aren't included in my ranking, we regard them highly in the Gierhart household. Frozen II was my daughter's first theater movie after all...
In reading the aforementioned article, it appeared that bravery, agency, and screen time informed his rankings. Mulan received top honors, while one of my favorites, Princess Aurora of Sleeping Beauty was in dead last...
Editorial note on that article: Aurora is not asleep for the majority of the film, just most of Act III. C'mon!
So given the litany of lists and hashtags people are deriving on social media lately to pass the time, here is my ranking of the twelve canonical Disney princesses, factoring in the following (very subjective) criteria:
Desirable Personal Qualities: Admirable attributes and dispositions I wish for my daughters to develop, possess, etc.
Punk rock-ness: Did she go against the grain or hegemonic norms based on the geopolitical, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts of the time?
A good hang: An underrated quality, but considered less than Criteria 1-2
Bearing in mind my positionality as a white male, I present my rankings in three tiers below:
Tier I: The Victims of Circumstance
12. Cinderella
11. Snow White
10. Jasmine
9. Aurora
8. Rapunzel
7. Merida
These six princesses primarily function as victims of their current circumstances and are ultimately saved by another entity in coalition with extraneous internal and external factors.
Cinderella is saved by her mice and Bruno the dog when Lady Tremaine locks her in her tower; Snow White by the dwarves and The Prince; Jasmine by Aladdin, Genie, and Jafar's misguided avarice; Aurora by the three fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) and Prince Phillip; Rapunzel by Flynn Ryder; and Merida by her anamorphed-into-a-bear mother, Queen Elinor and indirectly, The Witch.
Cinderella vocally complains about her subservient lot in life throughout the movie and while she finds a loophole in the King's royal decree to be able to attend the ball, she does not ultimately find the time to make a dress suitable to wear due to her increase in chores; rather, the mice make it for her and then her Fairy Godmother makes the replacement when Drizella and Anastasia wreck it.
Even when she runs off in embarrassment at the stroke of midnight, she loses a glass slipper and has another opportunity at royalty the next morning when the duke visits; only, she plays her hand so all can see and gets locked away. And it still worked out for her in the end anyways! I mean, dude...
The rankings in this tier ascend in slightly greater agency, bravery, rocking the boat, and cool factor.
Snow White breaks into the dwarves' home and charms them into letting her stay. Hers is a tale of survival, though she almost literally takes candy from a stranger (i.e., the poisoned apple) at the end of Act II.
Jasmine questions the royal patriarchy and forced marriage to a prince, only to succumb to the faux Prince Ali (i.e., Aladdin) and play right into what she railed against in the first place. I really enjoyed Naomi Scott's Jasmine in last year's live action remake.
Other than flirting with Prince Phillip in the meadow, Aurora is the object of the plot rather than the driving protagonist of the tale, though her zeal for life is contagious (and was super nice to my daughter at Disney World last summer).
Rapunzel stays locked in the tower of Mother Gothel with increasing boredom and discontentment. It isn't until her frying pan collides with Flynn's head that she musters up the gusto to make a break for it and go see those lanterns up close for her birthday.
Merida, in a similar predicament as Jasmine, takes matters into her own hands and beats all of her suitors in an archery contest (which is one of the coolest moments in a Disney animated film, by the way - check it out below). However, rather than continue to fight the good fight nobly, she runs away and turns to supernatural means for solving her problem (i.e., turning her mother into a bear).
Tier II: The Go-Getters
6. Ariel
5. Belle
4. Tiana
Ariel, Belle, and Tiana all transcend the victim archetype of the previously-discussed Disney princess films. Each heroine in Tier II actively makes decisions to achieve a better station in life for herself rather than accept her current, less-than-desirable circumstances.
Ariel is obsessed with human beings and becomes one after her father forbids above-the-surface excursions to see Prince Eric and share forks with Scuttle. Going against King Triton's wishes, she strikes a deal with Ursula, giving up her voice for three days as a human to silently win the affection of Eric. While ultimately driven by her own self-interests, she knew what she wanted and went for it.
Belle is filled with ennui amidst the doldrums of provincial French life, repelling the advances of the chauvinistic Gaston. When her family's horse, Philippe, returns without her father, she goes in search of him and takes his place as the indefinite captive of The Beast. She wins Beast's affection and convinces him to allow her to return to her father's rescue a second time. She had a little more life vision than 16-year-old Ariel, but don't you think she takes to Beast a little too easily considering he holds her prisoner during the entire second act (#StockholmSyndrome)?
Some might call Tiana a workaholic. However, as someone who worked full time while teaching college part time and pursuing a doctorate for the past few years, I applaud the girl's work ethic and laser focus on her goal of opening her own restaurant in New Orleans. Even when she kisses the frog form of Prince Naveen the first time and is transformed into a frog herself, she still strives to come up with enough money to pay for the building space she selected for her restaurant. Sure, she learns to enjoy life and focus more on family, friends, and romance along the way, but mad respect to Tiana for recognizing early on that it just isn't enough to just wish upon the evening star - gotta' put that work in too. Tiana is easily my favorite Disney princess and the one I was most excited to meet with my daughter last summer. Yes, I hand-painted the T-shirt I am wearing in that photo and yes, Tiana liked it very much.
Tier III: The Agents of Change
3. Pocahontas
2. Moana
1. Mulan
The degrees of separation between Pocahontas, Moana, and Mulan are best decided by their sources of motivation.
Pocahontas spurns her tribe's suggestions of marriage to Kocoum and embraces the grandeur of the natural world around her, falling in love with Captain John Smith. She helps broker peace between the Powhatan people and and the English colonists. In the end, she turns down an injured John Smith's invitation to return across the Atlantic with him, shifting her motivation from romantic love to the duty of leading her people.
Moana is driven to explore beyond the island she had known for her entire life but is held back by her father's fears and wishes. At the encouragement of her dying grandmother, she steals away on a raft with the guidance of the ocean waters to restore the heart of Te Fiti so her people do not starve. She braves incredible dangers and beasts along the way and even wrangles the stubborn Maui in her quest. I rank her above Pocahontas because she overcame patriarchal standards AND incredible nautical dangers, motivated by the good of her people over her drive to experience adventure and wasn't propelled by romantic love.
Mulan does it all! She goes against the expectations of arranged dating and marriage. When China goes to war and her aging father was called upon to enlist, she poses as a male warrior named Ping and takes his place. While her selfless act also resides on the same motivation wavelength as her push for more independence, she put her father's life and family's true honor above her own safety and interests. I am very excited to see what has been called a more historically accurate take on the story/legend of Hua Mulan in Disney's live-action remake. Rumor has it they are going to skip the theatrical release and give it to us directly on digital/Disney+...
So here's hoping that my daughters are drawn to princesses Daddy regards more highly. My toddler is really into The Princess and the Frog right now, which is a good place to be in during these times. As we are current homebound between the mandated shelter-in-place and my current paternity leave, we play 'school' everyday. My daughter and I and work on letter writing and sounds, non-fiction reading discussions, role playing, counting, coloring, crafts, etc. If Tiana can be an example of grit and hard work, I'll be a happy Daddy.
References
Roozen, K., Woodard, R., Kline, S., & Prior, P. A. (2015). The transformative potential of laminating trajectories of pedagogical practice: Three teachers' developing practices and identities. In T. Lillis, K. Harrington, M. Lea, & S. Mitchell (Eds.), Working with academic literacies: Research, theory, design (pp. 205-215). Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse.