A Modern day Princess

The idea of what makes a princess has adapted not just throughout time but through the age an individual growing up. As a child the word princess meant a slim, beautiful women who lived a life a luxury with the most gorgeous dresses and shoes and married their prince charming and lived happily ever after in their palace. The idea of a Disney princesses was a fairy tale of royalty creating an elevation of happiness through fantasy. At a young age it was most little girls dream to be a princess who wore a beautiful dress and tiara and find their prince charming (Hains, 2016). Disney has been scrutinised for their lack of female power and independence in their traditional Disney princesses being saved by the prince. However, in modern day Disney we have seen a movement in which Disney Princesses hold more power over the men and almost portraying a female dominance and feminist movement (Gray, 2019).

Figure 5: Cinderella Disney Film 1950

Prince Harry and The Dutchess of Sussex 2018 Prince William and The Dutchess of Cambridge 2011

Figure 6: The Little Mermaid Disney Film 1975

The idea of a princess that was created by Disney and implanted in a child’s head from a young age slowly becomes a clear fiction as they grow up. Although this idea becomes a fiction, the real-life royalty runs parallels between the ideas that have been drilled into our heads when we were young and how we imagine the life a British Royalty be to. The love life of the British Princes and Princesses is shared with the rest of the world as it becomes a worldwide event at a royal wedding. I believe this interest that the world has for the royal family links to Disney’s role in creating an image of what a princess should be.

The British Royalty are seen to live a life of luxury and power which mirrors Disney’s portrayal of royalty with the British royal family broadcasting an extravagant and traditional royal wedding to the world. This perfect life that Disney have implanted in our heads since we were young reflected the ideas that we have for the British Royal family however, in the last month a shocking interview was released in American by Oprah Winfrey with Meghan and Harry after they have left all royal duties. In the interview Meghan discusses to reality of being a princess in the British Royal family and the entrapment she felt leaving her in a serious mental state. The couple also discussed the tradition problems that the institution has particularly about racism (Weaver, 2021). This is not the first time that an interview was broadcasted to shine a light on the problems within the British Royalty, the interview with Princess Diana was broadcasted in 1995 before she died in a car accident two years later (Nicholl, 2020). Although these interviews were only a snippet of what life for Meghan and Harry and Princess Diana within the palace this moves our ideologies further away from our first introduction of a princess (BBC, 1995).

The Crown is a Netflix Series ‘follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century’ (The Crown, 2021). Prince Harry was a guest on James Cordon’s Late Late show and revealed that ‘The Crown’ is fiction by loosely based on the truth therefore I believe this is a reasonably good source to understand the life of a member of the royal family, especially during the times of Princess Diana (Davis, 2021).

Although Disney fairy tales are built off fantasy and make believe for children, many of the movies have reference to politics , class privilege, and sexual politics linking more to the British Royal Family than we initially realise (DO ROZARIO, 2019)

Figure 7: Princess Diana’s Interview 1995

Figure 8: Meghan and Harry’s Interview 2021

In 2019 Zendaya dressed as Cinderella in a light-up Tommy Hilfiger dress at the Met Gala. Her stylist, Law Roach, dressed as her fairy godmother and carried a wand to light up her dress. This was a creation a modern-day design of the Cinderella Dress however the ideologies of a Disney Princess was still present as a reimagination of childhood (Kosin, 2019).

A Cinderella Story is an American movie released in 2004 that takes a modern take on the traditional story of Cinderella. The narrative is based on a teenage girl whose father has died and therefore is now cared for by her evil stepmother who has two children. Although this film is based on the traditional fairy tale it is based in an American High School. I looked at the as part of my research as an interesting concept to consider for my end piece is a modern real life Disney Princess (A Cinderella Story (2004) - IMDb, 2004).

Figure 10: Cinderella Story Film 2004