Merida Makeover

         There are many other gendered institutions that people would think of before they think of Disney. Disney is supposed to be a kid friendly institution that helps to raise our kids “the right way”. We would all like to think that Disney is only influencing the children of our society it a good way.

            As of May 11^th Merida, from the Pixar Movie Brave, has been inducted into the group of Disney Princesses that so many young girls look up to.

Many people around the world were excited that there was finally a Disney Princess for the children in our world to admire that was not just about looking pretty, finding a prince charming, and living happy ever after. However before Merida was crowned as a princess she underwent a “makeover”. She became skinnier, her eyes wider, her hair less frizzy. Although she may have become what we consider in our society to be beautiful, it made her lose her inner beauty.

           

The fact that she was not what would be considered sexy and gorgeous, like the other Disney Princesses, was what most people liked about her. She was more of a realistic person compared to her other fellow Princesses. She embraced strength, courage, individualism and inner beauty. “She marches to the beat of her own drummer”.

(Here is the official trailer for Brave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M)

                  After Disney released the images of the “princess” Merida, there was an uproar. Not only were mothers in anguish but so was the writer and co-director of the movie. She said, “the redesign is a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money”. She had based the character Merida off of her own daughter. She purposefully made her the way she is. She did not want her to be like the other Disney princesses.

In the article “Two ways Woman Can Get Hurt”, Jean Kilbourne says that advertising and violence are these two ways. Merida’s makeover is a perfect example of this. By making her sexier and towards the ideal beauty standard of our society, Disney is in essence telling children that the original, realistic version of Merida is not good enough to be a princess. To be advertised as a princess, one thing which many little girls dream of, they must follow our societies narrow definitions and ideas of what beauty is, and nothing else.

            Many children look up to these princesses and are influenced by them. Think of all the little girls who love going to Disneyland and Disneyworld just to see the princesses. These princesses are not only there but also on TV, in movies on advertisements and much more. As Stephanie Coontz talks about in her article “What We Really Miss About the 1950’s”, the way things are on television affect our lives and become the norms of what we should do to lead the ideal life, whether it be family, or gender norms. These children see this princess as what they are supposed to be like, when in reality how these princesses look, and lead their lives is pretty much near impossible. So you can see why when Merida, the not so “perfect” princess was introduced many people were happy that there now was going to be a more realistic princess that their children could look up to.

This problem of a beauty ideal does not only affect the US but also the rest of the world. Merida, like the rest of the Disney princesses are seen across the whole world, influencing our children and teaching them that to become a princess or be considered beautiful, you must follow these narrow norms that our society has created.