In the beginning, Disney's earlier princesses set unrealistic beauty expectations for young girls. Princesses like Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty show girls that as long as they are beautiful, they will be "successful" in life. Disney's newer princesses have been given flaws and have more independence than their predecessors. The newer princesses like Mulan, Elsa, and Merdia show girls that they do not have to fit the mold set by earlier Disney princesses. Slowly, Disney is changing the typical aspects of beauty in their princesses to set a better example for young girls in the future.
In 1998, Mulan, the first Asian princess, was introduced to teach young girls to go against the typical standards of female beauty. Disney's Mulan features the song "Honor to Us All" written by Matthew Wilder, an American musician. The song states "Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast paced, with good breeding, and a tiny waist" (Wilder). The song list the things girls are expected to abide by in order for a man to find them beautiful and to live a successful life. It even goes as far as to say "We all must serve our Emperor who guards us from the Huns. A man by bearing arms. A woman by bearing sons" (Wilder). This lyric portrays that a woman's role is to
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Disney's Frozen is an uplifting movie whose princesses, Elsa and Anna, have a powerful influence on young girls. When asked what phrases come to mind when hearing the word princess, Kira Cochrane says, "For me they would include: pretty, gentle, sweet, passive, tiny feet in class slippers, and a vapid prince arriving to save them and whisk them away" (22). Elsa and Anna break the common standard listed by Cochrane by pointing out the flaws of past Disney princess movies. These princesses show girls that one should not be so concerned with the idea of being perfect and falling in