Sheesh.
Can we stop over-thinking everything please?
A viral post doing the rounds over the past few days has left me shaking my head. We’ve heard it before and this one is just another version on the theory that Disney Princesses are causing body dysmophia in our children.
This time an animator for BuzzFeed has digitally altered six famous Disney characters showing what they would look like with more realistic physical proportions.
And you know what? They look fine.
But the thing is they didn’t actually need changing in the first place.
We are over analysing this stuff.
They are Disney movies for children. You’d be hard pressed to find a three or four-year-old that can actually tell the difference between the before-and-after let alone be affected by it.
As the mother of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl obsessed with Frozen I am perfectly comfortable letting the subtle feminist tones of the film wash over her while watching her delight in the Princess-ness.
After all Arendelle is a kingdom ruled by a woman. Does it actually get any better than that?
We need to back off a little from messing with the fantasy characters of our children and remember that they are simply just that - fantasy.
The Huffington Post in its praise of the makeover given to Elsa and her Princess crew claim "since these characters are supposed to represent people in films made for children, they should probably look more like real people, right?"
But no.
Not right.
When did it become necessary for characters in FILMS made for CHILDREN to look like real people?
Key words here. Characters and films.
When I asked my daughter why she likes Elsa her simple answer is “magic".
“She can shoot ice. She has powers. She’s cool.”
I pushed her a little and asked her what it is she likes about Disney Princesses.
“They can twirl their dresses really fast and I like things that twirl and swirl.”
Am I concerned my daughter might develop an unhealthy relationship with her body after watching Frozen?
Not at all.
And I don’t say that flippantly. I know eating disorders. I survived one for a decade and I know for a fact that a fictional representation of a woman who can turn a city into snow does not in any way cause them.
What is maddening in all this over-analysis of our children’s media is that the kids themselves don’t even notice this stuff.
As an experiment I asked my five-year-old son what he thought the differences in the images were. He’s a great candidate for the task as he’s prize-winning spot the difference player.
He couldn’t see it.
When I finally explained that the animator had drawn the Princesses’ bodies a little more like real people he looked puzzled. “But they aren’t real. People can’t shoot ice out of their hands.”
Kids aren't delusional; they have the discrepancy and ability to separate fact from fiction.
Just as my son doesn’t expect to grow up to be Darth Vader when he dons his mask and waves his toy light saber around, my daughter does not have any expectation that she will grow up to play with Bambi in the woods.
Time to relax grown-up folk. Stop seeing the sinister in the fantasy. Let the magic, the imagination, the pretend continue to dazzle our kids for as long as we possibly can - and back off from Elsa.
What do you think of the Disney Princess alteration? Empowering or overkill?
And while we are on Disney Princesses, check out these Disney inspired wedding dresses (that aren't actually half bad)...
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“Don’t judge me but…I secretly hate how my sister parents her kids.”