Why EACH Disney Princess is Strong

1.) Snow White

Commonly perceived as weak, distressed, and passive, Snow White has been thrown in the gutter as a classic Disney princess, but not a ‘good’ role model for children in today’s cultural idea of what it is to be a strong female. Personally, this makes me very fond of Snow White. Yes, it’s true, although she is there, she doesn’t hold the biggest spot in the Disney character section of my heart. Her speaking voice is a bit too high for modern ears and I would have liked her hair to be a bit longer, but all of those silly reasons get thrown out the door when someone undermines her strength. The underestimation of this young woman makes me love her all the more.

First off, what were you like at fourteen-years-old? For most of us, we surely wouldn’t be capable of handling Snow’s situation as gracefully and wisely as she did. This poor girl was sentenced to death just because of her beauty- outer and inner beauty. She was lovely and kind and, because of this, she almost became a victim of murder. Yet, she was so pure of heart that her assassin lied to the queen, his employer, because of her, most likely risking his life.

Then, what does this fourteen-year-old girl do, you ask? She makes friends with the animals of the forest. Most girls in this situation would probably turn into a bag of trash and give up on life. Not Snow. No, this beautiful young woman sees that the creatures of the forest are content with living in her current circumstances every day of their life. Snow can see this, so she gives them the best thing she has: her voice.

Snow then sees a small cottage. What does she do? She cleans it! She did not have to clean this cottage. No man came to her and said, “You’re a woman. Do the only thing your good for.” No, Snow cleaned this cottage out of the mere kindness of her heart and the girl was so pure that all of the animals pitched in to help her as if they didn’t have anything better to do.

So, reader, I ask: what would you do? Could you not complain like Snow? Could you remain kind like Snow? Could you refrain from being stained by the sin of the outside world like Snow? Could anyone? It is certainly a commendable trait. So, I ask: If Snow White is strong enough to remain pure while being exposed to the evilest aspect of human nature then why is it that she would not be considered a ‘good’ role model for young girls?

2.) Cinderella

I’ve heard people say she lets others walk all over her. I’ve heard people say that her only prize was a man. I’ve heard people say that she isn’t strong. Well, I say they’re wrong. Cinderella is stronger than any of us could ever hope to be. For, Cinderella does the nearly impossible task of holding in her fury for the sake of being kind.

My favorite quote from Frances Hudson Brunette’s A Little Princess is “There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in—that's stronger.” Cinderella has the ability to hold in her rage. She gets stepped on every day, but she never goes to the level of the ones who are stepping on her. Cinderella’s kindness is so strong that it can outweigh any villain thrown in her path. As said in the live-action 2015 remake of Cinderella, she will “have courage and be kind.” If we assume that all events that took place in the live action are also relevant in the original animation, we then see Cinderella’s motive for never loosing her temper, or never poising her stepmother’s food, or never putting pudding in her stepsister’s pants like most of us would do.

Cinderella remains poise through years of foul treatment because she knows that, one day, they’ll see her for what she truly is: a princess. So, when Cinderella goes to that ball she isn’t just trying to woo and marry some prince that will fix her life. No, Cinderella goes to that ball to meet some boy she met in the forest and to simply have her first nice night in years. She was strong enough to leave her house, she was brave enough to enter the same party her evil stepfamily was at, and she was so beautiful that every head in the ball turned to her indisputable grace; a grace that came, not from her beautiful appearance, but from her beautiful soul.

That, to me, is the strongest thing a woman could ever do.

3.) Aurora

Behold, the most underestimated Disney princess there is and probably ever will be. Poor Aurora only has 18 minutes of screen time and she’s asleep for half of it. This, however, does not change the fact that she is, indeed, strong.

First of all, Aurora is beautiful. In my opinion, Aurora is the most beautiful princess of all. Her face is stunning, her eyes are purple, her hair is insanely gorgeous, and her presence is angelic. Despite only having a couple minutes of screen time, the girl defines the princess stereotype without flaw. The mere fact that she’s left such an impression on Disney with only 18 minutes of screen time proves that the girl is, without a doubt, special. Beyond her exterior, however, I would like to point out some things about Aurora that are often overlooked.

For starters, Aurora is barefoot (IN THE FOREST!). What kind of human being does that? Well, definitely not the kind that is stuck up or conceited in any way. Point two: Aurora is literally dancing with a bunch of forest animals. This is adorable. Aurora goes out barefoot every day to dance with forest animals when no one else is looking. Point three is for all you feminists out there. Three women raised Aurora. She never had any father figure in her life. However, not once does she show any sign of being at a disadvantage in any way. In fact, she seems very grateful for her life. Not to mention, she totally tells Phillip that he can’t come to her house when they first meet. This is unique because, normally, girls without father figures are known to desperately crave male attention. Yet, Aurora is still content with her forest friends and doesn’t show any sign of giving up herself for any man.

Although these qualities may be easily overlooked in a Disney fairytale movie where she could just as easily be scaling mountains or sailing the ocean solo style, they are very, very admirable qualities for a girl in the real world. That is exactly what Aurora is. She’s a real girl. She’s a girl that loves the life she’s been given, although it isn’t much. She’s a girl without any phobia of the natural earth. She’s a girl that is kind to all creatures she encounters. She’s a girl that will never sacrifice who she is for anyone, and she is a girl that possesses elegance in an evil world. That’s a whole lot to show in 18 minutes of screen time.

4.) Ariel

Funny enough, despite 50% of feminists loving the spunky, redheaded Ariel, I really don’t find her to be very strong. Don’t get me wrong. I love Ariel! I think that she’s kind, sweet, and adventurous. However, it always bothered me that she disobeyed her father and traded her own voice for a pair of legs just to kiss some guy that she had never talked to. Yes, that is an overgeneralization, but it is not a false one.

However, Ariel is still extremely strong. For starters, she is phenomenally brave. She has the courage to enter shipwrecks, save sailors from fires, and enter Ursula’s cave unattended. I can barely get hot tea in the kitchen at night without sprinting back to my room just in time to escape doom.

Moreover, Ariel was strong enough to follow her dreams, even though they seemed unattainable. This is an important lesson. For, it shows us that nothing is impossible if we truly believe in it.

More than just Walt’s motto, Ariel stands for what it means to sacrifice yourself for the one you love. Although we praised Aurora for never changing herself for some man, we will also admire Ariel for being strong enough to do the exact opposite. Ariel did sacrifice herself for a man. Ariel gave up her voice for a man. She nearly traded in her soul for the one thing she needed in order to have Eric: a body. Although to some it may sound cringe worthy that a young woman traded in her voice for a pair of legs, it can, just the same, be seen as the ultimate romantic gesture.

Eric was not a bad guy. If Eric were a bad guy, this would be a different story. However, he is not. No, Eric was searching for Ariel as well. He wasn’t, however, searching for her body, but he was searching for her voice; he was searching for her soul. The irony here is that poor Ariel had to trade in her soul for a body in order to be with him. Then the evil in this world, Ursula, tells her that what will make Eric fall in love with her is her body, a kiss. The evil in this world tells Ariel that she must trade in her soul for a body in order to be with the one she loves. Although Ariel knows that the action is wrong, she gives up her most prized possession for what she believes in: love. This is what makes her strong. Luckily, Eric loved her for her soul, not her body.

5.) Belle

My favorite princess, Belle is more than just a bookworm, Belle is more than just kind, and Belle does more than just see the beauty in others. Putting Emma Watsons 2017 live-action recreation of Belle aside, original Belle was radiantly strong as well.

For starters, Belle knew that she might be forced into marrying Gaston. In her time, women had to marry a man or they would become a beggar or a wench. As much as we hate to consider it, Belle could have very well ended up massaging Gaston’s feet with all those striking, young boys and dogs running around the house. However, Belle, not even for a second, reduced herself to the counterpart of Gaston, nor did she ever consider it. Chances are, she would have rather been a beggar or a wench than ‘his little wife.’

Belle was strong enough to be different. She knew she was odd and, being the first Disney princess to ever be a social outcast, she didn’t necessarily take pride in it. She had no mother to tell her that it was okay to be different. In fact, in the original animation, the only thing that kept crazy old Maurice from trying to change her was that he was such an odd ball that he didn’t even realize that his daughter was too. The only thing that assured Belle were the characters in her books. They were the only ones who didn’t think she was odd. Belle was strong enough to hear their small voices over the loud looks that she got from the townspeople.

Not to mention, Belle rode all the way through the dark, wolf infested forest to find her father, sacrificed her own freedom for his wellbeing, and got close enough to a giant, angry beast long enough to find a glimmer of goodness in his eyes. But, most of all, Belle did all of this while maintaining the perfect conduct. She was never overly dramatic or even nearly dramatic. She is simply strong, but she is a strong that still possesses elegance, grace, and poise, all classic features of a woman that do not, contrary to popular belief, have to disappear when a woman discovers the beastly half of her whole.

6.) Jasmine

By far the most seductive of the group, Jasmine is ridiculously clever. Not only did she refuse to marry for anything but love, she was a wiz at using her body to trick men. In truth, I don’t believe for a second that Jasmine would have ever given herself up to any man other than Aladdin, but wow, she sure made it look like she would.

Not only that, but she escaped her castle to see the outside world, jumped from roof to roof using a stick, saw through Aladdin’s disguise, and didn’t have a fear in the world while RIDING THOUSANDS OF MILES IN THE AIR ON A CARPET.

There is no argument here, as for many of the rest. Jasmine is all woman.

7.) Pocahontas

Again, no argument. Anyone who can manage a 200-foot dive without so much as flinching is not going to be questioned on their strength.

However, Pocahontas had more than just her physical strength. She is emotionally strong as well. She let the one she loved go, perhaps forever. There is nothing so difficult as such.

8.) Mulan

We do not even need to discuss this.

9.) Tiana

I love this girl. Truly, she’s one of my favorites and she made Disney history by being the first African American princess, AND having the most modern time period. Yet, Tiana is commonly overlooked for some reason I know not of. I don’t understand it. My old history teacher, a strong African American woman with a great education but little knowledge of Disney, once loudly joked that her race finally got their own princess, but the girl was a frog for half of the movie. A frog, she repeated.

To me, it just sounds like she didn’t even watch the movie. (Which, by the way, I’m pretty sure she didn’t.) What does it matter if she was a frog for half of the movie? The story is PRINCESS AND THE FROG for crying out loud! To have the audacity to complain that ‘your character’ is “a frog for half the movie” is to mistakenly admit that all you noticed were aspects of your own life and ignored the fact that this young woman was following her dreams in a society that was still extremely racist towards her. They were only about 40 years past slavery, so owning a high-class restaurant at her time was not only ambitious, but it was nearly impossible. For starters, it’s impressive for African American women today to own their own business. Imagine hearing of that news when the Jim Crow Laws were still in action.

Not to mention, her best friend was a VERY feminine, blonde, rich, white woman whose father was perhaps the wealthiest man in the state. How does that even happen? To me, I see a very beautiful world, and I’m glad that Disney didn’t show outright racism towards her. Kids don’t need to see that. Rather than making them see that racism is wrong, it would have informed them that racism is a thing. Thus, calling such a hateful crime to action. Showing kids that a nearly poor African American woman can be best friends with a woman of her complete opposite inspires kids to befriend one another, despite social differences.

10.) Rapunzel

Another one of my favorites, Rapunzel was the first princess in decades to be blonde and the first in four princesses to be Caucasian once again. She was a splendid return to the moviemaker’s home culture. And nothing is wrong with that at all, especially noting that her fairytale originates in Germany. Somehow, however, Disney managed to make this girl the most adventurous princess there’s ever been.

For starters, she traps a fugitive man in about five seconds while the town has been on the hunt for him for about five years, she escapes to see the lights she’s dreamed of when politely asking doesn’t work, she totally survives a huge water attack with some ridiculously amazing hair tricks, she walks around barefoot, she brings people together with her kindness, she can paint like nobody’s business, she stands up to Mother Gothel, and she nearly risks her life to save the person she loves. If anyone dares to testify that this girl isn’t strong because of her skin and hair color, their going to have to get through me first.

10.) Merida

The first Pixar-made princess with an accent, there is no denying that Merida is ‘brave.’ The girl scales up mountains with her bare hands for crying out loud. Not to mention, I’m not even sure if archery skills like those are even possible. However, it is not these things that tell me that Merida is a strong girl. No, it’s the change that Merida experiences by the story’s conclusion.

In my standards, Merida isn’t very strong is the beginning of the movie. She isn’t strong enough to hold in her anger at her mother, comply with her duties, even when they’re difficult, and talk with her mother about her feelings. Instead, she decides to put a spell on her own mother to get what she wants. Personally, I believe that Merida is extremely immature in the beginning of the movie. She’s like some red-hot teenager going through a feminist phase.

It is not until the end, when she learns that her mother only wants what’s best for her, that she has a blessed life, and that she was wrong before, can I say that Merida is a strong princess. This is because one of the bravest things any human can do is admit they were wrong when they once thought that were the only one who was right.

11.) Anna

Lets get one thing straight: ANNA IS THE PRINCESS IN THIS STORY! Elsa is not the princess! People need to stop idolizing Elsa and overlooking Anna! Anna is amazing. Anna is also a heck of a lot stronger than her isolating sister.

First of all, Anna was ALONE for her entire childhood. Her best friend stopped talking to her one day for who knows why. She dealt with the passing of her parents by herself. However, she never became some emo chick. She never lost her bubbly spirit. She stayed pure. Then, she finds the man she believes she loves and she finally thinks that her life is turning around and then her sister, who isolated her for her entire childhood, decides that she is going to ruin THAT too. Instead of punching her in the face like any rational person would do, she asks her sister what’s wrong with her. And, when Elsa pops out the ice powers and runs away after ruining the entire kingdom, Anna promises with full belief that her sister, whose done nothing but hurt her, will never hurt her. Lets not forget that she embarks on a perilous journey in which she fights wolves, jumps off a cliff, and risks her life to save someone whose only shown her a moment of love. Then, when her ‘true love’ is discovered to have a secret plan for murdering her and taking over the kingdom, Anna doesn’t even think twice about taking him back. That was her first love. Remember yours? For most of us, they could probably have ruined our lives and we still would have apologized for it. Not Anna. No, that girl punches him in the face and right into the ocean.

Most importantly, Anna is strong because she puts herself before others. Elsa was little less than awful to her. Of course, we know why, and we all love Elsa, but, through Anna’s eyes, her sister did nothing but shut her away. However, Anna still risks her life to save her. That is stronger than any super power.

12.) Elsa

Elsa is not a princess! She is a queen. Therefore, she should not even really be here. However, she does start off as a princess, she is in the official Disney princess lineup, and many consider her to be one of their favorites. Plus, Mulan isn’t even royalty of any kind so clearly it isn’t very specific. Anyways, Elsa’s dilemma is that she is not strong. Elsa has a severe depression and, throughout the entire movie, her through problem in life is her fear and lack of strength. It isn’t that she is not brave or intelligent. She is both of those things and more. However, she is weak.

It might be believed that she becomes strong when she ‘lets it go,’ but, in truth, she still has a fear of returning home. Her ice powers are her defense to show any emotion, which she fears. The only thing that makes Elsa strong is Anna. It is only when Anna is weak that Elsa can find the power to be strong. Love not only thaws, it also strengthens.

13.) Moana

Her name meaning ‘Ocean,’ Moana is the dream that calls her soul. It is truly beautiful, and there is no doubting that Moana is, indeed, strong. She travels the ocean alone, she convinces an uptight demigod to listen to her, she jumps into an abyss, she stands up against some obnoxious, over-sized crab, and battles a huge, mythical, black, smoky monster that was probably the scariest sight that one could ever witness.

However, what I truly love about Moana is that she does not do these things with ease. She must overcome her fears and doubts before she uses her strength. She is not a 2D picture of strength; she is a human that wishes to be strong. And, with Disney, we all know that wishes come true if we simply believe.