Someday My Prince Will Come ...

prin·cess noun \prin-‘sesˈ(usual British)\

1: a woman considered to have the qualities or characteristics of a princess.

She steps out of her coach, glances up at the castle and with a deep breath, slowly begins her ascent up the stairs hoping this is the night she will dance with the prince. After mindlessly viewing every fair maiden in the kingdom, the prince feels he must give up for there is no one for him.  ”Suddenly, he stops. He looks up. For lo… there she stands. The girl of his dreams. Who she is or whence she came, he knows not, nor does he care, for his heart tells him that here…..here is the maid predestined to be his bride.” (sheeersch….record player stopping music.) Okay people. End scene. You get the picture.

Such is the magical world of Disney Princesses. Grace and beauty combined with a strong will and attitude. These heroines have spirit. All these thoughts processed in my mind a couple Saturdays ago when my sister, who works for The Child and Family Support Center of Cache Valley, asked me to volunteer at its 2^nd annual Princess Party. And for two hours, as I lifted little girls on to their princess pedestals to get their picture taken, my mind began to wrap around the idea of where all this started. The “fad” that has carried this multi-billion dollar company to where it’s at today. Why the fascination (and at times obsession) with Disney Princesses?

I think one of the ideas, for now, is today’s society. Women want to be pretty. Women want to be beautiful. They want to feel like they are making a difference in the world. Rather than take real life women for an example, why not take cartoon characters with perfect looks and features? It is also the image of that perfect fairytale ending. The princess finds her prince and…. cue music … lives Happily Ever After. It’s the wish of a fantasy world. The escape from the real world where relationships and marriages aren’t always what they seem … where she gets upset when he leaves his swords and muddy boots all over the castle suite following his hunt with his friends.

In Disney’s newest animated feature, Tangled, the world was introduced to Rapunzel: a spunky dreamer with little experience in the real world. But what I loved about this new role model is that Disney did not create an all-around perfect superwoman. Rapunzel has her faults. Although beautiful in her own way, she is drawn with freckles (something not even imagined before) and a little bit of an overbite. She too is clumsy and may not have all the class and proper attitudes of your average royalty. Nonetheless, Tangled won the hearts of America. In fact, when Disney was swearing off new animated princess films, according to the Los Angeles Times, the outrage of fans was so massive that Pixar Animation chief Ed Catmull issued a retraction on Facebook, promising great things to come. With the film’s opening in November of 2010, Disney found it might not be such a bad thing to leave the thought of noble and brave women behind. The Disney version of retelling the story of the maiden with long locks trapped in the tower, waiting patiently for life to begin, rung in nearly $194 million in worldwide ticket sales.

In the end, a princess is a power, an ideal and a way of life. The Google search of the phrase ‘Disney Princess’, brings up over 45 million articles and makes it obvious how much they are adored. I’m not complaining however. It doesn’t take much to admit that I forced my mom to take me to see Beauty and the Beast nine times in the theaters.  Yes, a tale as old as time…. I too am obsessed. Disney knows how to do it well especially when it comes to captivating both the young and the old. And that captivation comes, most of the time, through these beautiful princesses.