Disney does its princess wrong

Disney tends to do no wrong in my eyes. I grew up watching their animated classics and — why lie? — I still watch them all the time.

Sure, this stems from my determination to stay a 6-year-old forever, curled up in front of a big screen with vanilla wafer cookies and my worn out VHS copy of “Pocahontas.”

But it’s also because, despite the many valid criticisms to the contrary, I’ve always seen Disney films as excellent teaching tools for morality and character building.

I say this with full comprehension that many critics find Disney films to portray characters as sexist and overly romanticized, personifying archaic gender role stereotypes while adhering to a white, heterosexual, masculine norm. I don’t believe this is entirely false, but I do believe these critics paint with a broad brush and forgo the positive messages of Disney to light firestorms over the negatives.

Still, I’m disappointed in the House of Mouse lately.

Recently, Disney formally crowned Merida its 11th Disney Princess. The heroine of the Disney-Pixar film “Brave” is portrayed in the movie as an adventurous, stubborn, young and fiery redhead who is more interested in horseback riding and archery than boys or marriage. While I wasn’t head over heels in love with “Brave,” I applauded the creation of Merida as a princess more in line with Mulan or Aladdin’s daring spirit than Cinderella or Snow White’s passivity.  

Brenda Chapman, co-director and writer of “Brave,” has put Disney on blast for the sexualized and commercialized rendering of Merida they released for her official coronation into the Princess lineup. Chapman, who based Merida on her own daughter, fought to change the stereotype normally aligned with the Disney princesses.

In the film, Merida is of an athletic build, rejects the formal dresses her mom begs her to wear, and lets her wild red hair run loose. With Disney’s rendering, Merida now has perfectly coiffed ginger locks, a cinched waistline, and the off-the-shoulder gown she ripped in the movie.  

Yes, I realize Disney is catering an image of what they think young girls want to see. This is all about making money. As much as I love Disney, I’m not an idiot. They are a company with a substantially wide profit margin. But they’ve also produced the best film animation in the history of cinema. “Sleeping Beauty,” “Peter Pan,” “Lady & the Tramp,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King...” I could go on for pages and pages. All can be called classic films and benchmarks of the industry.

But Disney finally had a princess tomboys could relate to, and they took the safe route and made her into what’s worked and made money for decades.

I’ll always defend you, Disney. But it’s time you started celebrating the power of individualism you always teach me in your films.