On Redesigning Pixelated Princesses- An Animated Discussion*

*With apologies to Peter David

Recently, there has been a great deal of outcry over the new visual designs for Merida, the princess heroine of Disney/Pixar’s “Brave.”  The new artwork shows a clearly older princess, Merida’s gawky, girl’s body replaced with womanly curves, her baby fat trimmed away, leaving a slimmer figure, and her large round eyes full of wonder giving way to a hooded, sultry look.

This new imagining of the character is meant to bring her more in line with the other Disney princesses.  Many people, mostly empowered women and effeminate men, have protested this change, claiming that it undermines the very message of the movie.

I decided to weigh in on the topic in the form of a dialogue between the princess in question and her royal mother, since this conflict seemed in keeping with the themes and action of the film.  It may help to imagine it in the voices (and accents) of the characters themselves.  Enjoy.

“This is an outrage!”

Merida flung the door open with a bang, storming into her mother’s chambers brandishing a scroll.

Her mother sat at her sewing table, altering a dress with slow and deliberate movements of her needle. 

“What is an outrage, dear?” she asked in a pleasant, measured tone, adding; “and princesses do not burst into their mother’s chambers without knocking.”

Merida ignored the admonishment and thrust the scroll into her mother’s face.  It showed an image of the princess as an older, more mature lady.

“Yes dear, isn’t it lovely?”

Merida was stunned into silence, her lip raised in a look of utter incomprehension.  “But…” she stammered, “but it looks nothing like me!”

Her mother put down her sewing and smiled patiently at her daughter, adopting the infuriatingly patronizing tone she used to explain things to her.  “Perhaps not, dear, but it’s another version of you.  An idealized version of what you could be.”

“What I could be?  What does that mean?”

“You must remember dear, that you are a Disney Princess^™, and that means you are to serve as a role model for young girls everywhere.  You have to show them what they can become.”

“Then I don’t want to be a Disney Princess^™!”

Her mother set down her sewing, her face darkening in a dangerous cast that caused Merida to take a step backwards before planting her feet and thrusting her chin out towards her defiantly.

“Oh yes you do, young lady!” she hissed.  “As a Disney Princess^™ you will be known around the world, you will be the idol of millions of young girls, and you will live forever in the collective culture of the world.  So you will be a Disney Princess^™  and if that means making a few small changes, you will accept them while smiling graciously.

“But what’s wrong with the way I look now?”

Her mother made a sympathetic face.  “Well you are the first Disney Princess^™ from a Pixar film, and they just want to bring you more in line with all the other princesses.”

“Why should being from Pixar mean I need to change?”

“Well dear, Disney has been establishing a particular look, a particular aesthetic, for their princesses for decades now.  Your pixels just don’t match up with their traditional cell animation.  So they needed to make a few adjustments here and there; fix your frizzy hair, narrow your face a bit, make your proportions more…human.”

“Human!” shouted Merida indignantly.

“Well of course dear, remember, they need to hire actresses to walk around the parks dressed as you, and no living actress can be expected to look like a CGI character.”

“What about Rapunzel?  She was CGI!”

“That is true, but it was CGI based on the traditional Disney aesthetic.”  Adding under her breath, “A little more manga around the eyes than most, but times are what they are I suppose.”

“So I need to change to fit in?  Isn’t that a terrible lesson to teach the young girls who watched my movie?  And doesn’t that contradict the whole point of the story?”

The Queen laughed, “oh Merida, the story creates the characters, and then the characters drive the merchandise.”

“Merchandise?”

“Of course my dear, it is the merchandise that gives a Disney Princess^™ her immortality.  Long after she stops appearing in movies, it is the products bearing her likeness that line the shelves of the Disney Store that keep her forever young.”  And Disney knows what they are doing, they have been in the princess merchandising game for a very long time.  They know from experience and market research that little girls want glamorous princesses wearing fabulous gowns with hair they can brush.  They want the beauty and romance of a princess, and that is what their parents spend money on.”

“But what about the girls that don’t want that?  What about the girls that identify with me the way I am now?  I know those girls are out there, and they don’t want me to change and look more like a Disney Princess^™.  What about those girls?”

“Oh Merida,” her mother began with a weary sigh, “in the grand scheme of things, those girls simply don’t matter.”

Merida spluttered incoherently, struggling for a rational response, “wha- but, How can you say they don’t matter?”

“Because girls like that are statistically insignificant.  A major corporation like Disney has to aim for the largest demographic.  If they spent money on appealing to the kind of girls who are different, they would lose money.  It’s a simple matter of economics.”

“That’s not true!  Disney just doesn’t want to take the chance on a different kind of princess like me!”

Her mother sighed and spoke very quietly.  “No dear, they already have tried it.  More than once, actually.”

Merida blinked, her tirade halted in mid stride.  “What?”

“Her name was Mulan,” her mother began.  “She had nearly everything a successful Disney Princess^™ required to make it, a compelling story based on a traditional folk tale, great voice talent, excellent songs, talking animal friends; the works.  But like you, she was an independent young woman, who turned her back on marriage proposals, preferred to wear more…practical clothes to fancy gowns, learned to fight with swords and bows, and even risked her life to save her father.”

“I…I’ve never seen her around the other princesses when they gather.”

“No dear, she is rarely even mentioned these days.  Her merchandise does not appear on the Disney Store shelves.  That ‘evil, patriarchal template’ that Disney uses for their princesses?  She broke that pattern, and no one bought her products.  Disney didn’t abandon her, the public did.  Just like Pocahontas, or Megara, or Eilonwy

Merida struggled angrily with herself for several seconds, struggling to find the weakness in her mother’s argument.  Finally she collapsed, throwing herself down across her mother’s bed in despair.”

“But why do I have to look so much older?”

The Queen smiled and came over to sit on the bed, stroking her daughter’s hair.  “You must remember Merida, that you are an ideal.  Young girls need to look at an image of what they can be one day, and that means showing them a strong woman, not a strong child.”

“But my fans are children!” she shouted, jumping up from the bed and pacing the room again.

The Queen sighed again and returned to her sewing.  I know it’s not what you wanted dear, but this new look is just the way it has to be from now on.  I quite like the new dress, myself.

“I won’t wear it!” huffed Merida, her arms folded tightly across her chest.

“Actually dear, I already got rid of all your old clothes,” her mother said, holding up the dress she had been altering.  “I’ve just been taking in the new ones Disney sent over.  Aren’t they elegant?”

Merida clenched her fists at her side, her face glowing red.  “Then I’ll rip these just like I did my old one!”

The Queen smiled.  “I’m sorry dear, they’ve already thought of that, I’m afraid.”  She stretched the fabric of the dress for her daughter to see.  “See?  These are all Spandex.”