Like many other feminist moviegoers, I was more than a little disappointed that Pixar?s long-awaited first female protagonist, Brave?s Merida, is a princess. But what?s striking, even astonishing, about Brave's treatment of princessdom is its historical honesty; even though Merida convinces her parents to abolish the tradition of arranged marriage, the film's resolution essentially has our heroine accepting that she has to get married and that her nuptials will be used as a bond between rival clans. (Score one for the patriarchy.) Brave can boast some narrative complexity, if not much feminist bona fides, for having Merida occupy the role that real-life princesses have held for most of history — as insurance against war. This gloomy take on the purpose of royal females aligns Brave more closely with HBO?s medieval misery-fest Game of Thrones than with any other Disney princess movie that's come before.
The anti-princess backlash is nothing new. For decades, cultural critics have been decrying princess movies for overvaluing qualities like beauty, passivity, and femininity, not to mention wealth and social privilege. The studios have made some grudging concessions in recent years: heroines still wear crowns, but they also have more guts. The Guardian?s Jaclyn Friedman recently named this new trend of royal female ferociousness the rise of the ?Action Princesses,? specifically citing Snow White and the Huntsman and Brave, though Tangled?s Rapunzel would also qualify. These films, in which princesses are bold, beautiful, and betrothed, serve as a kind of ?you can have it all? message for the 14-and-under set.
Unlike Tangled, though, which merely offers a pluckier-than-usual heroine, Brave and Snow White and the Huntsman represent a more radical response to the anti-princess backlash. They feature princess protagonists, but offer serious critiques of the institution of princessdom — highlighting in…
Anna Faris Anna Friel Anna Kournikova Anna Paquin AnnaLynne McCord Anne Marie Kortright April Scott Arielle Kebbel
