Christensen - Reflection

     Okay so heres the deal, while I do agree with most of what Christensen says, there is one big disagreement that we share. Do I think princesses are completely gender stereotyped and their appearances exaggerated? Of course! There is no possible way I will be able to get my waist line as small as Cinderella's or my makeup as on point as Belle's. When I undo my updo after a long hard day of building my ice castle, it doesn't fall gracefully onto my shoulder into the perfect messy braid. I do not spend my day slaving after 7 men or chasing after my prince charming, nah, I have better things to do. No, I don't agree that any of the gender stereotypes and perfect bodies are good at all! I completely agree with that! The ONE thing I don't disagree with is the racial stereotypes in Disney movies, PARTICULARLY in regards to the princesses.
     Yes, many of the Disney Princesses are, in fact, white. Which on the surface may look like a problem. But the REASON they are all white is not because Walt Disney wanted them to be, or because he made the conscious choice to not include princesses of color, but because he stayed true to the princesses original fairy tales. Snow White was from a German fairy tale, making her white. Cinderella was French, making her white white. Aurora was also French, ALSO making her white. They made the characters fit the settings of the original stories that they were told in. They didn't change the stories, they probably didn't even think anything of it! They just represented the princesses in the colors and ethnicity that they were written to be portrayed in. But then, not much further down the line comes Jasmine, an Arabic princess rightfully portrayed as Arabic. They didn't make her blonde and white to change her character simply because they didn't want to portray people of color. They simply kept true to the story. Not much later comes Pocahontas, a very strong, very powerful Native American princess, portrayed with tan skin and black hair. And after that, Mulan, a Chinese princess who SAVES FREAKIN CHINA PRACTICALLY SINGLEHANDEDLY. Do we just look over these people?? One of the strongest Disney Princesses was NOT white. She was Chinese!
     And these are just the original Disney princesses, don't even get me started with these new ones.