Pondering the princess.
Dec. 28th, 2010 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireSo I was talking to Cat, and we somehow got onto the topic of Candy Land (I think I'd been complaining about the infantalization of the third generation of My Little Ponies, who went from kicking Satan's ass to sharing fashion tips about butterflies). This triggered a rather impressive amount of ranting about the transformation of Queen Frostine from a blue-haired, strong female character* in a full-length gown to a blonde Barbie-girl figure skater. Oh, also? She's not a Queen anymore. She's a Princess.
This sort of gave me pause. Because, see, I got the new My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic gift set for Christmas (and I love it very, very much), and it included the current ruler of Ponyland, Princess Celestine. Now, Princess Celestine does all the things one associates with a ruler. She rules, for one thing. She also controls the magic of the day (her sister gets the magic of night, and since My Little Ponies are primarily diurnal, she's kinda pissy about that). She makes laws, passes judgments, and generally keeps things functional. Not easy! But she, and her sister, remain princesses. Meanwhile, back in the generation one Dream Castle, Queen Majesty is laughing her blue-spangled ass off.
(Interestingly enough, one of the unicorns in the new line, Rarity, looks almost exactly like Majesty. Only she's not even a princess. But I digress.)
Where have all the queens gone? Ozma was never Princess of Oz; she was always Empress. Alice didn't become a Princess of Wonderland; she became a genuine Queen. "Princess" was never a career aspiration, not like it is now. There were princesses, but they were almost always presented as being prissy and overly-concerned with their own appearance or dignity. The Princess Ponies freaked out when they got dirty, while most of the other Ponies just said "Whatever" and got back to work. That recurred throughout a lot of children's media. If you were a princess, you didn't do a damn thing. You let other people do it for you.
Most of the early Disney girls found their stories ending as soon as they became/were revealed as princesses. Sleeping Beauty liked living in the woods with her animal friends. Cinderella and Snow White both had lives before their princes came along. They weren't necessarily good lives, what with the homicidal mother figures and all, but they got to do things, beyond getting married and swanning off into an endless world of merchandising.
Now there are no queens. When Disney makes a sequel, it's almost always set either before the first film ended (as with the two Aladdin followups), or the now-married original princess is still a princess, even if the king and queen are never shown (Prince Eric is still credited as such in The Little Mermaid II, implying that Ariel remains a princess). The only confirmed crownings I can find are Kida of Atlantis, who is queen in her direct-to-DVD sequel, and Rapunzel, although they haven't had time to make a still-the-princess sequel to Tangled. Characters with no visible claim to a throne are turned into princesses constantly, like Barbie and Dora the Explorer will be happier now that they have to wear (mor) uncomfortable shoes. It's like the ultimate goal has become "all the bling, none of the legislating."
I don't get it. When did we decide we'd rather have prettiness and pearls than power? When did we decide that our little girls needed to be put in holding patterns, unable to take the throne of self-determination, but too elevated to play in the mud and get their hands dirty? I mean, I call myself a pretty pink princess. I don't think there's anything wrong with aspiring to princess-dom. But...it seems really strange to me that no one's looking past that to the throne, or encouraging it in little girls. Majesty and Frostine were quite happy as queens. I bet Celestine and her sister would be, too.
Just a thought.
(*Some people will say that you can't have a strong female character in a board game. But as someone who was a little girl and played Candy Land? I always saw Queen Frostine as being pretty much in charge. Remember, kids narrate games to themselves, and when Frostine was on the board, there was no question about who was the boss. The boss was the blue-haired lady who would kick your ass if you crossed her.)
This sort of gave me pause. Because, see, I got the new My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic gift set for Christmas (and I love it very, very much), and it included the current ruler of Ponyland, Princess Celestine. Now, Princess Celestine does all the things one associates with a ruler. She rules, for one thing. She also controls the magic of the day (her sister gets the magic of night, and since My Little Ponies are primarily diurnal, she's kinda pissy about that). She makes laws, passes judgments, and generally keeps things functional. Not easy! But she, and her sister, remain princesses. Meanwhile, back in the generation one Dream Castle, Queen Majesty is laughing her blue-spangled ass off.
(Interestingly enough, one of the unicorns in the new line, Rarity, looks almost exactly like Majesty. Only she's not even a princess. But I digress.)
Where have all the queens gone? Ozma was never Princess of Oz; she was always Empress. Alice didn't become a Princess of Wonderland; she became a genuine Queen. "Princess" was never a career aspiration, not like it is now. There were princesses, but they were almost always presented as being prissy and overly-concerned with their own appearance or dignity. The Princess Ponies freaked out when they got dirty, while most of the other Ponies just said "Whatever" and got back to work. That recurred throughout a lot of children's media. If you were a princess, you didn't do a damn thing. You let other people do it for you.
Most of the early Disney girls found their stories ending as soon as they became/were revealed as princesses. Sleeping Beauty liked living in the woods with her animal friends. Cinderella and Snow White both had lives before their princes came along. They weren't necessarily good lives, what with the homicidal mother figures and all, but they got to do things, beyond getting married and swanning off into an endless world of merchandising.
Now there are no queens. When Disney makes a sequel, it's almost always set either before the first film ended (as with the two Aladdin followups), or the now-married original princess is still a princess, even if the king and queen are never shown (Prince Eric is still credited as such in The Little Mermaid II, implying that Ariel remains a princess). The only confirmed crownings I can find are Kida of Atlantis, who is queen in her direct-to-DVD sequel, and Rapunzel, although they haven't had time to make a still-the-princess sequel to Tangled. Characters with no visible claim to a throne are turned into princesses constantly, like Barbie and Dora the Explorer will be happier now that they have to wear (mor) uncomfortable shoes. It's like the ultimate goal has become "all the bling, none of the legislating."
I don't get it. When did we decide we'd rather have prettiness and pearls than power? When did we decide that our little girls needed to be put in holding patterns, unable to take the throne of self-determination, but too elevated to play in the mud and get their hands dirty? I mean, I call myself a pretty pink princess. I don't think there's anything wrong with aspiring to princess-dom. But...it seems really strange to me that no one's looking past that to the throne, or encouraging it in little girls. Majesty and Frostine were quite happy as queens. I bet Celestine and her sister would be, too.
Just a thought.
(*Some people will say that you can't have a strong female character in a board game. But as someone who was a little girl and played Candy Land? I always saw Queen Frostine as being pretty much in charge. Remember, kids narrate games to themselves, and when Frostine was on the board, there was no question about who was the boss. The boss was the blue-haired lady who would kick your ass if you crossed her.)
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-28 10:38 pm (UTC)But it's a DAY, you know? A DAY. And then your life marches on, only now your taxes are more complicated. Why do little girls (and teenagers, and young women, and not so young women) spend so much time and energy fretting and dreaming and fervently planning a less-than-24-hour-period? (Unless you get one of those super-awesome week long Indian weddings. I wants me an invite to one of those!)
ASPIRE TO HIGHER THINGS THEN WEDDINGS LADIES.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 12:27 am (UTC)Because that's what we're taught we're supposed to aspire to: being a bride. It's shoved down our throats starting at a very early age that getting married is the most important goal in our lives. Everything else is second to it. We, as women, need to have a man for our existence to be validated. And let's not forget that the floofy white dress, the lacy veil, the scads of flowers everywhere,...the whole (very expensive) shebang is the key to our future happiness. You're being married! You're happyhappyhappy! Share it with the whole world in a blowout shindig! So what if you go into debt? You're never going to get married again, so why be frugal and sensible? [/misogynistic crap and marketing hype] Life after marriage is idealized to the point of having no resemblance to reality because reality, as you pointed out, isn't pretty.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 02:41 am (UTC)I mean how the hell do you say "no, it's vegas for us." to that?
(And then they couldn't even come to the wedding, due to issues with kidney dialysis. I don't mind--it wasn't meant as a slight--but dude...)
I didn't dream of weddings. I dreamed of going to college. Ironically this is my father's fault:
Little me, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Daddy, why are all the girls acting weird in Indiana Jones' class?"
Dad, not wanting to explain flirting to a six year old: "Um. Because he is a great teacher who makes them love learning! College is where girls go when they love learning to be taught by great teachers like Indiana Jones."
Little Me: "I WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE! I LOVE LEARNING!"
Indiana Jones was a terrible teacher, but I had an awesome Dad.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 05:31 am (UTC)heh From what I know of the wedding planning agonies of others, if that's supposed to be the happiest time of my life, just shoot me now because I realy do not want to know what the frustrating, miserable, and agonizing parts of my life will be like. Just the thought of planning a wedding makes my mind curl up in a little ball and start weeping. Thank God I have a friend who's basically insisted on planning my wedding for me.
Indiana Jones was a terrible teacher, but I had an awesome Dad.
*G* Yes, you did.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 06:01 pm (UTC)Well, I suppose they could have had a miserable rest of their life, but there's so many of them, I don't think it's all that likely.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 02:40 am (UTC)Little me, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Daddy, why are all the girls acting weird in Indiana Jones' class?"
Dad, not wanting to explain flirting to a six year old: "Um. Because he is a great teacher who makes them love learning! College is where girls go when they love learning to be taught by great teachers like Indiana Jones."
Little Me: "I WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE! I LOVE LEARNING!"
Indiana Jones was a terrible teacher, but I had an awesome Dad.
OK, this made me laugh out loud. Your dad is awesome.
Mary MMM
no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-30 11:33 pm (UTC)And when I got older and realized that day cost a lot of money, planning, and fraught family issues? Yeah, I kinda didn't want it much at all. But I did still want the 'now we are married' part. And our parents speaking to us. Hence, the small wedding.
(Seriously, our families are such that it was parents-and-grandparents-and-siblings-only or invite 300 people. Or offend someone. Or offend someone anyway: apparently a few relatives were upset that we didn't invite everyone. DEAR LORD PEOPLE.)