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Looking at two of Disney’s most famous female characters, Anna and Elsa, with a critical eye with CU lecturer Shannon Leone

Nov. 22 marks the five-year anniversary of the release of Disney’s global phenomenon Frozen 2. This film, and the first Frozen, are widely considered some of Disney’s most progressive works, changing how the studio depicts their female characters.

Many applaud the films for giving young women and girls new and better role models than those previous generations had in Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. However, are Anna and Elsa really that different from the princesses who came before them?

Shannon Leone, a ���񱦵� lecturer, teaches a popular course in the Department of Women and Gender Studies called Disney’s Women and Girls.

Shannon Leone, a lecturer at the ���񱦵� who teaches a popular course in the Department of Women and Gender Studies called , notes, “If you look at more traditional Disney films, they have encouraged an idea of both girlhood and womanhood that celebrates traditional feminine passivity, the quintessential example being the damsel in distress. With more recent female protagonists, they have become arguably more empowered and express desires outside of romance.”

Yet there still is debate about how the women and girls of Disney are influencing their youngest viewers and fans.

“Younger children have more choices in who they can align their identities with—characters they can celebrate and characters that they can look at with a more critical eye. They have more choices than previous generations,” Leone says.

Some scholars have noted that Disney previously taught young girls that the only pleasure and purpose in life was finding a man to love them—a message that many women have questioned and rebelled against.

Now, Disney creates “progressive” princesses like Tiana from The Princess and the Frog and Moana from Moana, who will appear on screen again Nov. 27 when Moana 2 opens

Something different

One thing that makes the Frozen films—and their heroes Anna and Elsa—different from their Disney predecessors is its focus on love, but not necessarily romantic love.

“Frozen is an example of a film that portrays sisterly love, which unfortunately continues to be rare in Disney films,” Leone says. Most Disney films with a female protagonist are centered around an idea of love—specifically romantic love. By focusing on the love shared between sisters, instead of a man and a woman, Frozen and Frozen 2 present a broader picture of love and the things to which girls can aspire, Leone says.

Moana, who has been praised for having a more realistic figure, will return to theaters Nov. 27 in Moana 2. (Image: Disney Enterprises Inc.)

And the film Moana didn’t have a romantic subplot at all, instead focusing on Moana’s dreams of exploration. Moana also has been widely praised for having a more realistic figure compared with the impossible dimensions of previous Disney heroines.

It’s not just the romantic plotlines of Disney films that have changed, but also how the female characters are portrayed in the first place, Leone says. She cites Elsa from Frozen as an important example: a woman who is depicted more like a traditional Disney female villain than a princess.

“Elsa was supposed to be a villain, and having some traces of what would have made her an antagonist in the film actually produces more of a multifaceted human being, which I think young viewers responded to,” Leone explains.

Another notable example is Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, who made history by being Disney’s first African American princess. Despite breaking down barriers, many critiqued the movie for .

“The film is self-aware of traditional expectations of beauty in association with the princess type. With that being said, I don’t want to undermine the significance of that film in its representation of Black American identity,” Leone says, emphasizing that despite its flaws, the movie still made important progress in representation.

While younger generations of little girls may have better role models in the Disney princesses of today, it’s still important to consider what these movies are teaching young viewers. “Contemporary films seem to still have to contend with these racialized and gendered expectations of the damsel in distress and the masculine hero,” Leone says, adding that it's easy to overlook the deeper meanings in Disney movies that children may latch onto.

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