Inspired by "In Defense of Disney Princesses" by Mark Tapson

So I was perusing Facebook last week and saw this article that had been shared and it peaked my interest because of the conversations we had been having about princess culture. I thought it would make a perfect blog post. Read the article here!

Mark Tapson pulls from different articles and projects to come to his conclusions in his article, "In Defense of Disney Princesses." Tapson said that the Disney princesses are supposed to be career role models, they're supposed to be moral role models. "Disney movies aren't telling girls that they should limit their aspirations to becoming princesses; they're teaching them to adopt the values of Disney princesses." When I read this part of the article, it all clicked. For me, it made so much sense and like it was the obvious blinking sign that had been in our faces the whole time and society was just ignoring it.

In our class, the aspect of Princess Culture we talked about revolved around gender norms. The article didn't address this, but in class we did talk about the good and bad impact of being a princess has on our culture. The good impact this culture has is that it is instilling a strong sense of self  by empowering young girls. It also instills that girls should fight for justice ans stand up for herself, some of the exact values that are executed by the Disney Princesses. Sure, they're beautiful, and we want to dress up like them for Halloween, but like the article says, "no little girl wants to be Helen Keller or Jane Goodall for Halloween, just as no little boy wants to trick or treat as Louis Pasteur or Steve Jobs. That doesn't mean they won't grow up to change the world. The important thing is that they are being shown moral lessons."

I didn't exactly agree with everything that was said about the princess culture in class, but I sure can identify and agree with this article. I don't expect everyone to agree with me and that's ok, but I would hope that you read the article and think for yourself. I really enjoyed the Tapson's point of view and I appreciated the points he made.