Thanks to its legacy of animated fairy tale films, Disney will always have princesses. But will it always have the Disney Princess franchise? In an attempt to come to grips with her feelings about the astonishingly lucrative line of merchandise,…
It would not be controversial to say that Disney’s historical record of representing women is complicated at best. It becomes even more complicated when we consider the Disney Princess franchise, a plethora of paratexts that arguably undermine any progressive readings…
In 2006 Peggy Orenstein had had enough: frustrated with the way everyone around her, from family members to total strangers, eagerly foisted the recent princess mania onto her three-year-old daughter, she took to the New York Times in an attempt…
If eyes are the “mirror of the soul”, Disney’s princess Sofia the First might be the incarnation of film histories stereotypical “woman without secrets”. This predominantly female protagonist, often found in romantic comedies, portrays a lovable, clumsy character displaying an…
When I taught my module on the History and Theory of Animation to my final year undergrads at the University of Surrey last semester I was really looking forward to the week on representation of gender. I’ve taught this class…
