Fairy Tales and Fancy Dresses

My 5-year old daughter, much to my dismay, is mesmorized by Disney princesses. Cinderella being the most favorite. The premise is so simple, and in my opinion damaging. As soon as the girl does her hair, puts on her makeup, and wears a fancy dress, she is both unrecognizable by those she is closest to, and fantastically beautiful. And it is because of this beauty that the handsome prince falls madly in love. I'm a bit obsessed with the obsession.

We have friends with a son about 6 months older than our daughter. She loves him. He is her prince. They are going to get married. And yes, she kisses him. I had to ask her why she loves him so much. I was trying to get out of her that he was fun to play with, made her laugh, broadened her perspectives. But no.

Me - Why do you love him Story?

Story - We just luvachother.

Me - But why honey? What about him makes him so special?

Story - Moooommmm. We just luvachother.

For so many years I've felt that Disney was just creating and perpetuating bad role models. And based on the number of Hollywood films that have come out that are "modernizations of the classic Cinderella story", others have agreed. But what I learned this week is that Disney's Cinderella is just targetted at 5 year olds with their very simple concepts of love. Emotions just happen to a kid. It's us older girls that need to believe that love isn't that easy. That it isn't just the pretty girls that get the princes. That beauty is more than hair, makeup and clothing, that it radiates from the inside.... blah blah blah.

What I learned from my 5 year old this week was that love could and should, and in her case, really is that easy. And that putting on a pretty dress can make you feel pretty. And that at some point, we really just start to overthink and over-analyze most things. 5-year olds are so smart. I may owe Disney an apology.

Posted at 10:41AM Jul 07, 2006 by sarad in General  |