Disney Princess Culture

While reading the articles about the pink-and-princess culture that surrounds little girls, I reflected on my own upbringing regarding this type of culture. My family has always been huge fans of everything Disney-related. We had all the classic Disney movies, we dressed up as Disney characters (princesses and others) for Halloween many years, and most of our summer vacations where spent in Disney World. My parents definitely supported us living in a Disney culture. But I never would've considered it the "princess culture" discussed in the articles.

While my sister and I were fans of the princesses, they weren't the entirety of what we loved about Disney. My favorite Disney movie was Mulan, one in which the female lead saves the entire country of China. My sister's favorite movie was Alice in Wonderland, which also doesn't feature a princess being rescued; Alice has to fight her own way out. Other Disney storylines that we watched/were huge fans of included Winnie the Pooh, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, Toy Story, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, among others.

My point here is that, while Disney sells princess culture, they also have a great variety of other movies, characters, and plots. My sister and I were fans of the princess movies, but we also had a great interest in all of the many other kinds of Disney movies. I believe part of this was our mom's influence over what we watched, what she bought for us, and what she allowed us to indulge in. Being "princesses" (the self-entitled, negative stereotype princesses) never would've been something my mother let fly for my sister or me. I do think that corporations are responsible for what they advertise, and therefore they should be cautious about their products, but I also think parents play a big part in how their children grow up and act. So in the case of Disney, I'm arguing that while the corporation may provide the circumstance for little girls to become spoiled, overall it does come back to how the parents decide to raise their own children.