My Favorite Disney Princess

First of all, I would like to say so many thank-yous for the overwhelming response to my last entry. I love you all so much - you are completely amazing! Like I promised, this blog is not up so I can tell my sob story to the world. I wish only to use the bad things that have happened in my life as a way to teach other people that these things don't just happen to people far away. This, however, is not the subject of today's blog post.

A recent conversation... Well, okay, a topic that I can go on and on about with little to no prompting at any time brought the subject of this post to mind. Yes, I was recently having a conversation with a friend that involved Disney. If you happen to know me (and if you don't, you will soon!) then you know it doesn't take much to get me started on Disney. So, yeah, that conversation happened and now, here I am, stuck in the Wonderful World of Disney in my brain.

Just recently, also, I saw this picture on Tumblr:

Before you gripe at me that Mulan isn't a princess and where the heck is Kidagakash from Atlantis or Eilonwy from The Black Cauldon and BTW Giselle fought a damn DRAGON while still not marrying the prince in the end (I think this may have been made pre-Brave), I have a princess of my own missing! My very favorite Disney princess of all time: Nala. As per the picture above, she play-fought her prince as a little one, kicked his furry butt up and down the jungle to see that he'd act right, THEN fought hyenas and their usurping uncle! Of course, she's a lion, so that's kind of par for the course, I guess.

 

See that? That is a badass princess! Look at her TEETH! I'm reasonably sure that only Pocahontas and Kidagakash (and Merida) would be able to go up against a princess like that without wetting themselves, and I only give Kida a fair chance at coming out on top hand-to... paw. Seriously - THIS is my favorite princess, and I really can't say that enough. 

People like to complain that Disney upholds very gendered stereotypes. In response, I give them Nala. Actually, I'd say The Lion King in general was very good about being non-gendered. It is a universal coming-of-age story that appeals equally to both boys and girls. At least, it certainly did in my class when I was in the first grade. Heavens, all we ever DID - boys AND girls - was play Lion King. Yes, they did market different products to boys and girls (I was always mad about the lack of Lion King sundresses), but a girl didn't get called a tomboy for liking Lion King. On the flip side, ALL the boys that I remember loved it, even with one of the top love scenes in Disney history.

Look at that picture of those princesses again, and think of Walt himself. Think of his vision of progress. When you look at Snow White, then follow the princesses on up the line, right up to Rapunzel and Merida, and you are looking at PROGRESS. Do we have a long way to go? I would say yes. Have we come, pardon my French, hella far? I think we have. For my part, I'm looking forward to Frost, coming out either this year or next (can't remember). Just remember what it says on the Carousel of Progress: "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow/ Shining at the end of ev'ry day/ It's a great big beautiful tomorrow/ And tomorrow's just a dream away!"

Marigold, singing that godawful song over and over, over and out!