So I was browsing Pinterest the other day and saw a shared post from Tumblr talking about the new Disney film Frozen. The post claimed that Frozen was the first Disney movie to have female characters to not need men to save them.
After reading the post, I started thinking.
And when I finished thinking, I realized that they were wrong. I will discuss a few of my personal favorite Disney movies to elaborate my point that this post was incorrect that Frozen was the first Disney movie to project this idea.
Beauty and the Beast:
My first and all time favorite Disney Princess movie is Beauty and the Beast. Not only does her personality reflect my own, but she LOVES books like me :) Belle is different from the other women around because she reads, she doesn't want to marry the "hunky hottie" in town despite his actions towards her, and she wants more than what the small village can offer. She had the option to marry and be taken care of for the rest of her life, and she turned it down. Instead she sacrificed herself for her father, never knowing if she would ever see the outside world again. In the end she rushes back to The Beast to try and save him, not the other way around. She didn't need him to save her.
Mulan:
Mulan is also one of my favorites, maybe because of Khan, her horse, or because of her attitude. This is another tale of a girl who instead of acting like her family and society thinks she should, goes against the grain. She questions why women must only live to bear sons and be a wife. Then when her father's life is in danger she lies to save him. At the very end, despite all of the men around her telling her she couldn't, she saves ALL of CHINA. She didn't go looking for a man, she just wanted to protect those around her.
Pocahontas:
Again, it's her personality that I love. She refuses to marry the man that she is "supposed to" according to her social standing. She yearns to carve her own path. Though she does fall in love with John Smith, she never wanted nor needed a man to save her. And once again this is an example of a female Disney character going against the grain and saving the foolish men around her. Instead of letting her father kill Smith, and so start the war, she puts her own life in danger to get the men to understand each other instead of fight. No one saves her, she saves all of the men.
Tangled:
Rapunzel is a wonderful character who only wishes to see the floating lights. She wants to see and experience the world that has been denied to her. In fact, until she sees the lights and realizes how she cares for Flynn, she really wasn't interested in men. I suppose I have to give a little credit to Flynn Ryder for going after her when her "step mother" is going to hide her away again. But once again it is the princess who saves the life the man. This movie is slightly more balanced than the previous ones, but in the end her actions save his life not the other way around. She didn't go looking for a man to save her.
Brave:
I think it may be my Scottish heritage showing in this one, but this is my favorite of the newest Disney films.Merida doesn't want to marry, she would rather shoot, ride and explore the land around her than marry. She certainty doesn't need a man to save her, and while her problems stem from her own actions, she ends up saving her mother, her father, her brothers, and the clans around them. She never asked for help from her suitors, nor did she want a man to save her. She wanted to save herself and change her fate.
I have nothing against the new film Frozen. I did watch it, it was cute. But it probably won't become one of my favorites. I wish that before people glorified the latest and greatest thing, they would think back on what came previously. I know that I am not doing any of the above films justice. I could probably write a 20 or more page thesis paper on these films, but hopefully my synopsis of them makes sense enough.
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