Enchanted, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Disney princess
Film Features When Romance Met Comedy
I’m as guilty as anyone of occasionally framing issues of onscreen representation in terms of how they might impact hypothetical kids watching and internalizing the messages. Yet I was also a kid who grew up having absolutely no problem juggling a deep love of Disney princesses with a staunch belief in gender equality. In fact, far from being something toxic I had to overcome, I see my early (and ongoing) love of Disney princesses as a complete net positive in my current career as a feminist pop culture critic. It inspired my love of film history and musical theater, and I still think fondly of each and every animated heroine I idolized as a kid. Whatever “just sit around and wait for a prince!” messaging Disney princesses theoretically brainwash into young girls clearly didn’t happen to me. Which isn’t to say that it hasn’t happened to others, but is maybe to say that little kids perhaps don’t take the media they consume quite as literally as we worry they do.
And yet there’s no doubt that the Disney princess—which is both a specific line of characters and a broader colloquial idea that condenses 80-plus years of history into one cultural stereotype—remains one of our most controversial cultural ideas. (For some perspective, the first Disney princess debuted under Franklin Roosevelt, the latest under Barack Obama.) The question of whether or not to let their kids engage in “princess culture” is still one many parents agonize over across endless think-pieces. Keira Knightley received rapturous applause when she recently told Ellen DeGeneres she’s banned her 3-year-old daughter from watching Cinderella and The Little Mermaid because of their problematic messaging. Ever since sister-focused Frozen explicitly built its marketing around the idea that its heroines “aren’t like other princesses,” each new Disney princess flick is now destined to be endlessly scrutinized for its feminist credentials against a vague sense of the nebulous “Disney princess” stereotype.
The latest bit of Disney content to pat itself on the back for doing something self-referential and empowering with its princess lineup isn’t actually a princess movie, it’s Ralph Breaks The Internet, the sprawling Wreck-It Ralph sequel that features a much-hyped sequence in which all the Disney princesses appear together. And though our short-term cultural memory about all things princess means the whole thing will likely be hailed as a subversive game-changer, the good news for Ralph Breaks The Internet fans is that Disney has actually been doing this kind of thing for a long time now! Every princess film since 1989 has to some extent been challenging the passive princess stereotype. And Disney gave that stereotype an even more explicitly subversive twist in its pitch perfect 2007 musical fantasy romantic comedy, Enchanted.
The story of a naïve animated would-be princess named Giselle (Amy Adams) who accidentally winds up in the complicated real world of New York City, Enchanted director Kevin Lima had a very specific sense of exactly what he was lampooning. He designed Giselle to be “about 80 percent Snow White, with some traits borrowed from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty” plus a little of Ariel’s spunkiness thrown in. Unsurprisingly, given the eras in which they were made, 1937’s Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, 1950’s Cinderella, and 1959’s Sleeping Beauty are the least progressive Disney princess films and the ones most ripe for parody. (1989’s The Little Mermaid kicked off the Disney renaissance, and Ariel serves as a transition point between the older princesses and the newer, more empowered ones that followed.) Enchanted is happy to poke fun at dated princess tropes (“We shall be married in the morning!” Prince Edward proclaims moments after meeting Giselle—a far funnier gag than Frozen’s attempts to do the same), but it’s never mean-spirited in its humor.
In fact, whereas Bill Kelly’s original script was a racier, more sardonic take on the material, Lima realized the film would work far better as a loving homage to Disney rather than a cynical Shrek-like takedown of Disney tropes. He brought Kelly back onto the project, and they set about crafting a version that was both a light parody of and an earnest tribute to the Disney princess legacy. To some extent it was canny brand management. Disney Animation was in a huge rut in the early 2000s, vaguely chasing the look and feel of its subsidiary Pixar and not finding much success in the process. Enchanted helped revitalize interest in the Disney princess genre and kicked off a new princess era that would eventually lead to mega-hits like Frozen and Moana.
Yet when you read interviews with Lima, it’s clear his enthusiasm for the material is entirely genuine—the equivalent of J.J. Abrams’ excitement at getting to play around in the Star Wars sandbox. A lifelong Disney fan and animator who had worked on classics like Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin before directing A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, and the live action 102 Dalmatians, Lima was thrilled to get the chance to return to 2-D animation for Enchanted’s opening and closing sequences. Because Disney no longer even employed a cel animation team, those 13 minutes of animation had to be done by another studio.
Directing both the animated and live action portions of Enchanted, Lima packed the film with enough Disney easter eggs to make your average Marvel movie look like an empty nest by comparison. From recreating specific shots to recruiting Disney princess voice actors to play minor roles to naming a fictional law firm after the composers of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Lima has claimed there are literally thousands of easter eggs and references in the film, at least some of which are categorized on a whole Wikipedia page devoted just to the topic. Lima also brought an animator’s eye to the composition, physical comedy, and visual jokes of Enchanted.
Yet Lima’s best efforts likely would’ve been for naught if Enchanted hadn’t found the right star. Disney wanted a big name, but Lima fought to cast an unknown who could fully embody Giselle. Enchanted has one of those famed casting processes where hundreds of people audition but none of them quite work until suddenly the right person walks into the room and magic happens. Speaking about Amy Adams’ audition, Lima told The Hollywood Reporter, “What she brought (to it) and what I was looking for the whole time was someone who didn’t judge the character’s naïveté, an actor who could disappear into the role and never wink at the role while they were playing it (and) never think that what they were doing was ridiculous. And she was a revelation.”
It would be truly impossible to overstate how fantastic Adams is in this star-making turn—both when it comes to selling the film’s comedic tone and when it comes to giving actual heft to Giselle’s emotional arc. The only actor who comes even close to rivaling her is James Marsden as the hilariously dunderheaded Prince Edward, who follows Giselle to New York to rescue her. Both Adams and Marsden also get to show off their hugely impressive singing voices in a series of uber-catchy songs written by Disney vets Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz—two creators who, as they pointed out at the time, had already been putting tongue-in-cheek jokes in Disney animated films for years.
As the film’s straight man and love interest, Patrick Dempsey—then at the peak of his Grey’s Anatomy fame—has the least showy role in the film. But he delivers just the right grounding counterbalance to Giselle’s whimsy as a world-weary divorce lawyer Robert, who discourages his 6-year-old daughter from reading fairy tales because he doesn’t want to “set her up to believe in this dreams-come-true nonsense.” What makes Enchanted work so well is that it’s simultaneously a modern day romantic comedy and an old-fashioned fairy tale romance. Robert and Giselle are a classic opposites-attract rom-com pairing, each of them pushing the other to find balance in their perspectives (Giselle gains some pragmatism, Robert some optimism). Yet because of its fairy tale roots, Enchanted also gets away with imbuing their pairing with a mythic romantic quality too. Enchanted is both incredibly funny and genuinely romantic, which is easier said than done in a rom-com. I always find myself surprised by just how much I’m swept away by the film’s climatic dance sequence—an homage to the big dance in Beauty And The Beast.
It’s in Giselle’s positive impact on Robert—and, indeed, her positive influence on pretty much everyone she meets—that Enchanted makes its strongest argument for the value of the Disney princess, even in her most archetypal form. Giselle sees the best in others, approaches problems optimistically, and never judges books by their covers. When her call for woodland friends is answered by the vermin of New York City, it’s both a hilarious gag and a chance for the movie to demonstrate Giselle’s radical kindness. Soon enough she’s happily singing to three helpful cockroaches perched on her finger—a demented nod to Mary Poppins and a perfect encapsulation of Enchanted’s core ethos.
Indeed, in our rush to condemn the early Disney princesses as just “waiting around for a man to rescue them,” we sometimes throw out the glass slipper with the bathwater. As this provocatively titled but incredibly intelligent ScreenPrism video essay convincingly argues, “[Cinderella] isn’t a story about a man stepping in to save a helpless woman, it’s about a woman who faces adversity head-on, who chooses kindness and optimism even when it’s hard, and who uses her own creativity and inner strength to rescue herself.” Though Enchanted offers a brief action climax where Giselle picks up a sword to save Robert (while kicking off her heels no less—take that Jurassic World!), it doesn’t transform her into a quippy badass in order to prove she’s a strong character. Instead, like Cinderella, Enchanted argues there’s inherent strength in kindness, empathy, and compassion—traits traditionally associated with femininity and therefore frequently undervalued.
Enchanted is the rare film that perfectly achieves everything it sets out to be, which leaves us just to quibble about whether its aims were high enough to begin with. One of the big critiques against the Disney princess genre—and against media aimed at women in general—is how often it centers on romance. I’ll admit that’s an aspect of the Disney princess legacy I’m still parsing. Romance was such a normalized part of my media diet from such a young age that it’s almost impossible for me to imagine anything else. And maybe there’s something weird about that. On the other hand, is it any weirder than centering so much kids’ media on violent crime fighters? I genuinely don’t know, but I do think that in the way we understand that kids can watch Batman cartoons without immediately setting out to be vigilantes, it’s equally possible for kids to watch Disney princess films—or romantic comedies in general, for that matter—and not immediately try to emulate every exact plot point in their life.
Growing up, the Disney princess genre gave me a diverse lineup of female protagonists in a whole bunch of different narrative contexts. In 2018, when we’re 20 films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not one of them has had a solo female lead, I do think there’s a lot of value in genres like romantic comedies and Disney princess films, which have been proudly putting women front and center for decades (that’s something I wrote about more for Boing Boing). Perhaps the best way to grapple with Disney princesses is just to be cognizant of the context in which they were made, both as a franchise and as individual characters. Once we appreciate how far the Disney princess has come, maybe we can stop praising Disney for finally subverting something it’s actually spent the past 30 years subverting.
Next time: Why are Hallmark Christmas movies so addictive?
152 Comments
this feature is so good – this and Age of Heroes is some of the best movie criticism around right now. And well done AVClub too – this is exactly the features we want on this site.
Agreed! It’s so much fun to come here every Friday and read a thoughtful essay that feels like the old days.
Late to the party on this but seconding everyone else — this is a consistently excellent column and a great partner with Age of Heroes for Fridays. It really is nice to have writing like this to look forward to in the NCC/MYOF/Box Of Paperbacks etc. vein.
imagine what you might see if they’d ever hire minorities
You need to take your meds
whoa there, don’t get too ahead of yourself. why get the perspective of POC when we can have an educated white person dictate it to us instead? keeps it simple, much easier to distance ourselves from the guilt that way.
I could not agree more!
I agree as well. It was the essay work of things like My World of Flops and Scenic Routes that got me hooked on this site, and I’m glad that features like this one and Age of Heroes exist.
Well said. Love this feature.
I also miss Apocalypse Then, AVClub’s treatment of nuclear war movies, which so far has only covered The Day After, Miracle Mile, and Threads. I really enjoyed this coverage, but I know that they may skew a bit older (GenX who actually remember the Cold War) than what the site is currently going for.
This article convinced me maybe it should have been on Age of Heroes for the 2007 entry.
first time I saw Amy Adams was in Junebug. Her line reading of “you where not…” when her sister-in-law tells her that she was born in Africa, was brilliant, and feels like the audition for this role.ps James Marsden ftw. I’m hoping he has an Alec Baldwin career – thinks he’s a hunky serious leading man, really a perfect comic actor.
I also watched and noticed her for the first time in Junebug. She was just a delight, but also heartbreaking. A lot of people find Adams really boring, but I think she’s almost always remarkable. Even in the lighthearted Enchanted, you can tell how much thought she put in that character. So many priceless moments in that movie.
How can anyone call Amy Adams boring?! The perfect counter argument to that is to watch any scene of hers in Enchanted and then any scene of hers in Sharp Objects. Case closed.
Believe me, I don’t get it. My love for Amy Adams is no secret because I post about it any chance I get on the Newswire forums.
I won’t call her boring but I wish she was never in that piece of shit “Leap Year”.
Julie & Julia for me. A while after that I heard her interviewed on NPR and she came across as professional, smart and nice. I’ve dug her ever since the two.
Marsden was one of those guys I was pretty dismissive of at first, but this movie was arguably the first stop in getting me to reassess and appreciate his talents.Stupidly, I also didn’t like Paul Rudd at first, but realized later I was just unfairly blaming him for “200 Cigarettes.”
Where were you when Clueless came out? That’s when everyone else fell in love with Rudd!
Enchanted was the first time I saw Amy Adams on screen. The next was in The Fighter. Made me appreciate her range.
the bathroom scene in The Master. You know the one.
I first encountered her in Talladega Nights, where her character is the most connected-to-reality of any of the characters but not actually any less idealistic than her character in Enchanted. Catching her in a rerun of West Wing (where she plays a local when Tobi and Josh get lost in Indiana) was a bit of a shock.
didn’t know she was in Talladega Nights. Thats one of those movies that I keep meaning to watch, now I have one more reason. Thanks.
“Whatever “just sit around and wait for a prince!” messaging Disney princesses theoretically brainwash into young girls clearly didn’t happen to me.”Yes! So many people assume that the worst will happen. I was brought up on horror movies, Arnie actions films and Robocop – but I’m pretty much a pacifist who hates violence. I played with guns as a boy but am anti-gun. I was brought up in a middle class, white, straight (or hidden gay) school, yet hold no prejudice against black, world class or gay people.
Just because you see something as a child, doesn’t mean it’s going to make you that as an adult.
i watched every WB cartoon many times as a kid and have yet to drop an anvil on anyones head.
It’s a pity. It’s so helpful when you run out of things to say.
But how many rabbits have you attempted to murder?
none actually. I’ve tried, but every rabbit season, I discover it’s actually duck season.
But how many rabbits have you attempted to murder?
Me too, except for that second part.
“There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we’d all love one another.”-Frank Zappa
I will say I look back at my self in his school and college and wonder how much of the energy i devoted to finding a boyfriend is the result of believing that is the main plot of a woman’s life… not blaming Disney, really think it was much more micro in cause, that was all my mother was interested in hearing about. But that culture is the water around a lot of girls, and more stories like, say, Zootopia, where the female lead has a career and a quest and DOESN’T end up “snagging” the male lead romantically, those are important.
I think, like you said, it’s virtually impossible to separate the Disney Princess junk from the culture. I remember really wanting a boyfriend, or even just boy *drama* so I’d have something to talk about with the other girls who’d gone through all of that. I wasn’t ever hoping for a prince to come take me away, like the Disney movies promised; I was just looking for fitting in with the culture (and I didn’t *mind* the idea of a romantic relationship, either; I *had* hit puberty, after all). Basically, for me, I don’t think Disney influenced that at ALL. I do see some people (men and women) who are overly invested in the idea of someone perfect from day 1, instead of someone you grow to like, then love. Maybe we can pin that on Disney?
I don’t know, these people might have a point. I took up sewing after watching The Silence of the Lambs.
After I watched Fight Club, I was in two minds about it.
hey-yo!
Shhh…don’t mess with the groupthink!
I will cop to trying out a few Stooges moves on my little brother until I almost broke his nose – which I immediately felt horrible about.
Dangerous things to watch as a child are things like wrestling. Suplexed a boy in the playground once – did not end well.
I played with Barbies, a LOT, and today they’re considered anti-feminist, etc, but my Barbies were busy executives with a fabulous two-story condo (our 70s side table!), a great wardrobe that I made and a fast driver of a fun convertible. She was in charge of her life. And that’s how I live as an adult – don’t have ALL the fancy stuff I envisioned for my Barbie – but I’m in charge of my life. I wonder if toys are just a way to express who we already are and envision what we want to become?
When Twilight the book was at its peak (immediately pre-movies), I finally read it because it was HUGE with my students. In my next few conferences, I brought up the problematic relationships, and how I wanted them to be clear that watching someone sleep isn’t romantic, etc, etc. The first couple of kids I did this to just nodded along.Finally, one day, a particularly vocal girl just gave me a look, and said, “MRS. MORBIUS. He’s a vampire. Of course he’s creepy! It’s not supposed to be real!”I felt a lot better about Twilight after that. That goes x1000 for Disney Princesses, who don’t have *nearly* the problematic elements to their relationships that Twilight does. Side note: I remember liking Sleeping Beauty the best of the classic Disneys because the prince actually had to *work* for her. I LOOOOVED Cinderella, but that prince was super lame- he couldn’t even put on her shoe himself!
Also, great article.
I was going to show it to a reading group. But I can’t just put it on paper: we’d miss the wonderful music.
I really need to rewatch this one. I enjoyed it a lot when it came out, but now my 4-year-old daughter is a total princess head. I should show it to her. I’m sure she’d love it.
My 4 and 7 year old love it!
Wow, just realised that in almost everything in the past two decades that I’ve seen James Marsden act in, he’s always cast as the nice handsome dude who on paper is perfectly fine for the leading lady. And yet, he’s not quite what she wants, and he ends up being more into her than she is into him.(ETA: Just looked at his acting credits and this fact seems to also be true for his roles in a lot of his films I haven’t seen. I’ve seen him in the X-Men movies, The Notebook, Ella Enchanted, Westworld … but never seen Superman Returns. He’s credited as Lois Lane’s fiance … oh boy!)
Maybe he’s so handsome people subconsciously decide “Maybe you shouldn’t get everything.” He’s great though. Love when he does comedy.
But, in Superman Returns, Marsden’s character is clearly only Lois’s fiance because Superman isn’t around. You get the “I’ve settled with this guy, because my one true love isn’t around anymore” vibe from the moment his character is introduced.
Marsden’s character in Superman Returns, a movie largely about adoption and fatherhood, is a brave and heroic stepdad. And he stays with Lois. That movie is so close to being great.
Marsden is far and away the most charismatic and likable character in Superman Returns. Which would be fine, except for the fact that it’s supposed to be a fucking SUPERMAN MOVIE.
Good point. That’s a little in the way. So is the stalker-y angle. I think the movie could have been hugely recovered had it not been Luthor AGAIN with a real estate scheme AGAIN. Back to your point, in defense of Returns, the Superman movies since then DON’T EVEN LIKE SUPERMAN!
I thought Superman Returns did a good job at making its characters sympathetic; the implied messiness of Superman entering Lois Lane’s life again cut deeper because of the choice to make James Marsden’s character likable instead of a usurper that the audience was supposed to hate. There’s a moment in the film that made a strong impression on me: after locating the ship his fiance and son are trapped in, he shows some agency and takes his seaplane there himself. Lois, expecting someone else, blurts out, “How did you get here?” and is met with the reply “…I flew.”
The problem with ‘Returns’ is that Superman himself is not relatable at all. He abandons his elderly mother and his significant other for 5 full years, without warning or any contact at all. What kind of a jerk does that?Also, Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth are so young that it’s difficult to imagine them the deep history of the Lois/Clark romance, much less tack five years of estrangement on top of that. And they have NO chemistry on-screen, which is deadly for the story that Singer was attempting to tell.Superman Returns does attempt to be lighter and more affirming than Snyder’s garbage, but that’s also what makes the stalker stuff so tonally wrong. At least if Henry Cavill’s Superman was stalking Lois, I’d think ‘Yeah, that seems about right for this guy.’
Hey, in 30 Rock he plays Tina Fey’s nice love interest who she actually gets with, something not even Matt Damon could accomplish.However, you could argue that he’s really the Cyclops to Alec Baldwin’s Wolverine, but I think that’s a misreading of the show.
you could argue that he’s really the Cyclops to Alec Baldwin’s Wolverine, but I think that’s a misreading of the show.
Only because Baldwin is clearly Professor X. He’s a mentor who grooms, manipulates, and lies to Fey’s character.
Except that Jack didn’t want to fuck Liz, like at all. On the other hand, that was the kind of sick shit it turned out Xavier was into when it came to Jean Grey.I think Onslaught really is the worst thing that ever happened to the Marvel Universe…even worse than when Peter Parker traded his and his wife’s happiness to give his extremely elderly aunt a couple more years of life.But on the topic of Enchanted, I’ve been so out of touch with movies this century I didn’t even know it existed. Now I’m gonna watch the hell out of it because it looks like a lot of fun.
I can’t stand Onslaught either, or the icky idea that Xavier had sexual thoughts about Jean. But just like Xavier used psychic mental blocks to control Jean’s power, Jack used psychology to try to mold Liz as an executive ( and person) in his own image.
I’ve developed a fondness for Marsden. He did what he could as my favorite X-Man. Which is to say, very little. I hated how they portrayed Cyclops in those first three movies; he may be an uptight prick at times, but that’s not the entirety of his character. But I digress.
But then I saw him in Hairspray, and then 27 Dresses (the wife says it’s the only reason I bother to watch it whenever it’s on its millionth cable viewing. She’s right). And turns out he is a fully capable and invested actor…he was just really given direction to play Scott Summers with the emotion of a (jealous) wooden plank.
I have this personal theory that you can tell how good an adaptation of X-Men you are watching by how necessary Cyclops is. Wolverine always gets all the fan worship, but he is the reckless outsider, that is what we are trained to love. Somebody has to get up every morning and do the stuff to keep the team together and that is *always* Cyclops. Sometimes he *is* too uptight, but you kinda need that on a team full of seething rebels, lighthearted swashbucklers, and clueless teenagers.
My theory is that a perfect X-Men adaptation takes the stance that you need Cyc and Wolverine. If either one is show to be just wrong the whole tone of the narrative suffers.
This is why I *still* think that X-Men 1 and First Class are the best X-Men movies. All the later X-Men movies sideline Cyc and just end up feeling “off”. First class doesn’t have either as main characters but Xavier and Magneto basically occupy the “do it right/get it done” dynamic in their place.
He really does have a knack for playing second-best to the leading man, huh?
He’s a Baxter.
It’s a trend for sure, and I’m dying for him to make his own movie with meta commentary about it
You should see Welcome to Me. He’s definitely not his normal typecast self in that.
His role in Hairspray isn’t that either.
ENCHANTED is *fantastic.*
Not enough Marsden in this review! Amy is great, but his absolute dedication to the oblivious sincerity makes me giggle just thinking about it.
Agreed. In my book, this is Marsden’s Apex Mountain (to borrow a term from The Rewatchables).
This article is all that I’ve ever wanted in regards to Disney princesses, thank you.
Oh Amy Adams, no matter how famous you get, you’ll always be “that girl from that episode of Smallville who was fat until kryptonite made her skinny but she ate a freakish amount” to me.
She had just been good in “Catch Me if You Can” as well, so she wasn’t a total unknown when this hit.
She had also been Oscar nominated for “Junebug” in 2005.
Tara’s horrible cousin in Buffy The Vampire Slayer too, unless I’m mistaken.
There’s a part of me that will also always remember her as that young woman who came to the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin one day to sell purses and went out on a date with Jim.
It was Drop Dead Gorgeous for me. It was a weird one that lampooned beauty pageants but didn’t exactly feel pro-women, either.
I wonder how Pam feels about the way their careers turned out
All of the criticism of the princesses is stupid. Yes, we were different in 1937. Kiera Knightley, like most actors, particularly child actors, is a half-educated moron.
I really loved this movie when I saw it, but that was a decade ago—I feel I owe it to myself to see it again.Honestly, one of my least favorite things about the new Disney movies, even the really good ones, is that they feel the need to “subvert” the Disney stereotypes. A big part of the reason it bothers me is because, as you point out better than I ever could, so many of those stereotypes haven’t been true for a long time, if ever!
Also, while I don’t think I can attribute anything truly subversive to Disney, I think it’s kind of brilliant that as a little boy, nearly all my favorite movies had female protagonists. That’s a pretty incredible thing for the “Disney Princess” machine to have achieved.
I actually saw this film in theaters and it still holds up. While I love the Disney Renaissance films there are issues with their depictions of the Disney Princess’ which are pretty obvious. However, modern Disney has been doing a damn good job of recontexualizing their most popular character types in a way that is really good starting with Tangled. Though I think they hit their stride in Frozen and Moana, even if Zootopia a non-princess film is way better.
Tangled gets my vote for the most psychologically fucked up. Not as a message to girls, but screwed up within its own world. Girl is basically getting over Stockholm Syndrome.
Moana is better than Zootopia. It’s a feminist epic.
I’d take Zootopia as the better feminist film, actually. Moana is cool and all, but she’s on a mythological quest that I wouldn’t exactly call relatable. Judy Hopps is fighting for respect in a modern working world, and she could be any one of us. Zootopia is teaching kids about prejudice and tolerance, and one of the themes that feeds into that is this girl who is constantly being underestimated for no reason other than who she is, and the movie is all about the value she brings, how she’s just as good as anyone else, doesn’t have to fit into a label, and can pursue any job she wants. It’s literally about equality.
Well, Zootopia is more focused on racism than sexism. If the main character had been a bear instead of a bunny she should have had gotten way less shade than than if she were a man instead of a woman.
I’m a huge fan of Lilo and Stitch. I love the edgy humor that I never thought I’d see in a Disney film, like someone throwing up on-screen (in this case a robot, but still).
I’m getting really goddamn tired of people not recognizing how transgressive and forward thinking those movies actually were, especially compared to Disney’s prior output, starting with Little Mermaid great pains were taken to push the gender politics of the traditional Disney styled story forward while also maintaining the house style set forth by the 9 old men 30 years prior. Just because something like Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast aren’t “woke” by today’s standards doesn’t mean the heroines aren’t free thinking, strong, and capable. Little Mermaid literally starts with Ariel saving Eric’s drowning ass, people bring up Stockholm syndrome in Beauty but Belle realistically could have left whenever the hell she wanted, those wolves weren’t gonna be outside forever and she didn’t have any problems leaving, it was when the Beast saved her and was harmed in the process that she CHOSE to stay because she witnessed a different side of him. The movies are only problematic if you’re intentionally looking to read them that way, which us true of almost everything. There’s a whole joke on Twitter about it even with the “describe X poorly” threads
Yeah, the gold standard for a nuanced read, both in the literary and the insult sense, of the Renaissance Disney era is still Lindsey Ellis’ discussion about whether or not Belle has Stockholm Syndrome (hint: she does not, and that’s not the real problem with the BatB narrative):
Thank you! Haha I posted something similar (though more Ariel-focused, because I can’t help myself), albeit I got to this post a bit late.
Watched Wreck It Ralph 2 with the kiddos yesterday. Disappointed Giselle was not within the “Gaggle of Disney Princess” scenes.
She’s not an official Disney princess. This is true – they were going to make her one, but stopped because they’d have to pay Amy Adams likeness rights, so they dropped her from their plans.
Though they weren’t sticking strictly to Disney Princess canon in Wreck-It-Ralph 2 (Moana is not one either), I imagine Giselle wasn’t in there for the exact same reason.
Moana should be a princess.
Dunno if you think we’re arguing right now or something? I’m not saying she shouldn’t be, I’m just saying she isn’t. I think it’s generally assumed she eventually will be, if Disney continues to highlight that brand. The official princesses right now are Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida, which means that Elsa and Anna, also present in the scene, aren’t capital P princesses yet, and it seems pretty much a foregone conclusion they’re in too, free to laugh from on high at Megaera, Esmerelda, Eillonwy, Kida, Jane, Nani and Lilo down in the gutters.
Not arguing at all. Just stating my opinion that I think Moana should be an official princess. Didn’t realize the scene in “Ralph” had many “unofficial” princesses in it, since I haven’t seen it.
I think she will be eventually.
Moana is a daughter of a Chief, as well with Pocahontas. By technicality alone they are all princesses. That’s why they both appeared in Ralph Breaks The Internet.
Yeah, there’s a difference between a Disney princess and a Disney Princess. The former is, you know, daughter of royalty in some capacity, or as Maui puts it, someone in a dress with an animal sidekick. The latter is a brand line at Disney, used to like sell big floofy gowns and shit to impressionable 7 year old kids. There’s 11 princesses in the official line, including Mulan, who is not born royalty and never marries into royalty. If it was actually just royalty in there it would have excluded Mulan and included Disney movie oddballs like Kida, princess of Atlantis, and Eillonwy, princess of, I wanna say, it’s been ages since I read those books, Caer Colur?
But yeah, the group in the movie would suggest it’s the active Princess line plus the most likely additions in the near future.
Surprised that the Frozen gals aren’t part of the official Princess canon yet. Though I guess it’s a trifle complicated. After all, Elsa is actually a queen. Anna, while a princess and the film’s protagonist, is arguably the less interesting, less glamorous character of the two. It’ll be mildly interesting to see how they handle bringing one or both into the Official Princess fold.
Frozen is selling really well as its own merchandising line which is about to be refreshed by the sequel, so getting its characters into Disney Princess may be a while off.
I’m glad you said “arguably” because I do like Anna better than Elsa! It’s a shame she doesn’t get more love because her personality is a lot more fun! And as you said, she’s the damn star of the movie! Elsa just gets all the attention because she has powers. Marcia Marcia Marcia!
They are already part of canon. They are both appeared in Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Would you want animated Giselle or live-action Giselle? (Because a real-life Amy Adams in the background of the scene somewhere would be pretty funny)
I did spot a one-legged pigeon in Wreck-It Ralph 2, and wondered if that might’ve been their nod to Enchanted.
Fantastic article.I normally hate movies like this, but an ex a long time ago forced me to watch it, and I liked it. I was genuinely surprised at how funny it was.
Even before I got to his name or picture, I was thinking “and Patrick Dempsey!”
If you want to see what we might consider the earliest “progressive Disney princess”, may I suggest the nearly forgotten Princess Eilonwy from The Black Cauldron? I recently re-watched this film, and I was surprised how she is pretty much treated as an equal to the main hero Taran, and in a matter-of-fact way that doesn’t appear to be any kind of statement, or repudiation of a stereotype. Neither character really “saves” the other, they simply meet up and join each a collective quest. If the movie had not bombed, perhaps she would be more fondly remembered today…or remembered at all.
This article which dropped a couple months ago about the Prydain stories was a pretty interesting read also: http://www.full-stop.net/2018/10/09/features/jesse-schotter/prydain/
Eilonwy is fantastic! Honestly, The Black Cauldron gets a lot of flak, but most of the issue with it was it was pretty damn dark for Disney at the time (and it was constantly behind schedule, as the studio was nearly failing at the time, so it never had a chance at making its money back); I too wish it were better remembered.(Odette is fairly progressive for her time, too, but The Swan Princess isn’t a Disney film.)
The movie is, indeed, fantastic, but putting Idina Menzel in major role in a Disney musical and then not giving her any songs is a crime.
I actually found it refreshing. Idina can do more than just musicals.
Well, they did make up for it with Frozen
Hot take: I don’t particularly like her voice. There. I’ve never actually heard anyone say that before, and it feels good to get that out there. I recognize its technical merits, but I’m not a fan. Sorry, Idina. Everyone else still loves you!
Cinderella is and has always been one of my favourite movies. As a kid, it taught me a lot of things, but waiting for a prince was never one of them:
1. Be kind to all creatures, big and small – even if they’re jerks. (Lucifer)
2. Never stoop to “their” level (the sisters)
3. Learn skills so you can make the things you want (I made my own grad gown)
Another: you’re not “bad” just because mean people treat you badly.
I remember when this came out and thinking “live action Disney”? That’s probably not going to go well. And it is SO good, for all the reasons Caroline listed. Seriously, if the “That’s How You Know” sequence doesn’t max out your happy-meter, have someone wake you up from your turkey coma.
Legit watching this on tv right this second as I opened AV Club and saw this article. How fun!
“it’s equally possible for kids to watch Disney princess films—or romantic comedies in general, for that matter—and not immediately try to emulate every exact plot point in their life.”I definitely agree with this point but think it’s worth pointing out that most “boy-centric” (if I can put it that way) pop-culture features romance too, it’s just done differently.I think, basically, boys get taught that sex/romance is a reward for beating-the-baddies/being chivalrous/being funny etc. and women get taught that romance completes them? I’d probably need more room to flesh out the idea but it’s something close to that.And I don’t think kids take the individual films literally but they do to a degree normalise that message and take it with them into their relationships and interactions with the opposite sex/same sex (whichever applies).So I don’t think girls (or-boys-that-really-connect-with-disney) are necessarily waiting around like a Disney princess to be rescued but I do think they sometimes are coming into relationships with ridiculous expectations. They’re expecting entering into a relationship to be their happy ending, not for it to be hard work at times, and their expecting their partner to fulfil them in a way another person can’t. (see also cultural assumptions around weddings)And guys are expecting women to just be handed to them if they do certain things or act a certain way (see rape culture).
Yep for boys, the romance or ‘girl’ is the reward for completing the goal. For girls the goal is the romance.
I just came here to say that Amy Adams is a national treasure, and it’s a legit crime that she hasn’t won an Oscar yet. I’m serious. The entire Academy should be in jail. (I mean, for a lot of reasons, but mostly just for not finding some way to award Amy Adams an Oscar).
Amy Adams was so loved in Enchanted, I remember long-shot wishful thinking in some circles that maybe, maybe she could get an Oscar nomination for this movie.
Amy Adams is such a joy in this, with as you noted zero winking. The way she throws herself into sadness when she meets the couple getting a divorce. Patrick Dempsey does do one great wink: “Why do people keep giving you things?”
I remember reading a review of this movie that made the point that the entire plot revolves around the fact that you as the audience have to believe that Patrick Dempsey would find this random woman on the street who is covered in dirt and talking crazy and then bring him home to spend the night in the same apartment as his daughter, who he is established as being very protective of. If you as the audience don’t buy that then the entire rest of the film doesn’t work.
The review praised Amy Adams for actually selling that his character would find her and find himself unable to leave her there. That is *not* an easy sell, and you don’t even question it.
“That’s How You Know” is so infectious. Still stands the test of time even after all these years.
I took my little sister to see this movie and she was embarrassed by how much I laughed at that scene.
I love it. That scene is just a chemical reaction of Movie New York meeting Disney Princess Classic. Of *course* the whole city danced with her!
This article is outstanding. I love that the movie is basically a thesis on why Disney animated classics need to exist: a cynical world needs a little innocence and magic.
Thanks for this great review. And for recognizing that children are not the amorphous globs of clay they are sometimes considered. I once watched a Disney movie with my daughter, who, afterward, told me the parts that she thought were ‘smart’ and the parts that were ‘stupid.’ It was one of the more insightful analyses of cinematic influence I have ever encountered. She was 6.
I unabashedly love this movie, but there’s just one thing I wish the movie had underlined a little bit. As a joke early on, Dempsey, who has forbidden his daughter from reading fairy tales, gives her a very serious-looking book about “Famous Women In History” or something and it’s played as a joke.Later, there’s a very fleeting glimpse of Giselle noticing the book and peeking inside. But I wish they had made just a little more of a meal out of that moment. Maybe actually having Giselle and the daughter reading a quick excerpt and Giselle being impressed by the stories of the women inside.That way, not only does Giselle’s positivity from the fairy tale world improve the lives of those around her, but Giselle is herself inspired by the real world to rise above her princess-y limitations.
That would have far too heavy handed in its message.
No.
Yes
This movie always struck me as more clever in premise than in execution, being an official Disney product kept the satirical potential to an almost shocking minimum, with the jokes coming across as toothless and eventually non-existent when the movie seems to decide it’s tired of mocking the material 45 minutes in and is just going to be a traditional fantasy romance film. Points for trying and the very obvious level of thought and care put into the final product, but man did this need to be funnier and more cynical to work for me personally
And Amy Adams really carries the movie but, for the reasons you cite, the onslaught of chipperness just becomes draining.
I never was much of a Disney princess fan, but damn I wanted to hang with Mowgli and the gang in the forest of Jungle Book. But on another note, I have to say that my sister and I usually spend a day or two making cookies watching really cheesy Hallmark Christmas shows. Which is why this twitter thread made me spit out my coffee a few days back:https://twitter.com/joeldoubleyou/status/1064583279746125827?s=12&fbclid=IwAR1KfB3p0kk6mLraVv5n7QO8GImvFgsA6JZ9y9P2cOV31to0M_r36VKnzWo
Thank you for this terrific and incisive article. I am not a Disney fan and have little to zero interest in the Disney princess franchise. I rented Enchanted several years ago on a whim, and had the most uncanny experience watching it: I cried through practically the entire film! I began unexpectedly blubbering again when I played your link for That’s How You Know.Your analysis leads me to believe that the reason the film touched me so deeply was that it depicts a childlike, open-hearted idealism coming up against real world harshness and cynicism. In real life, our inner child might be trampled (at worst) – forced to “grow up” at the very least. But in Enchanted’s scenario, both worlds bend to accommodate each other. It’s a vision of resonant beauty, a wish to build a dream on.
You mentioned Frozen without noting that Idina Menzel was in Enchanted also…we even see her in the clip you chose.
Amy Adams is sheer perfection in this film and I totally agree the film stands or falls on the way Giselle is played. Adams’ range is amazing – this movie, her other lighter fare like The Muppet movie to the complex lead in Nocturnal Animals and American Hustle to the subtle and moving performance so scandalously overlooked for an Oscar in the magnificent Arrival. She is one of the most versatile and talented actresses around in my opinion. Enchanted is pure joy!
Caroline, that’s a great point in your first paragraph. Media obviously shapes us – and creators’ own biases shape media as well – but children aren’t acritical consumers of media.
My biggest problem with the movie is when they dance the King’s Waltz and the song is in 4/4 time.
It’s such a delight to come here and read these essays every week. They’re always so on point it’s ridiculous, and this one is absolutely perfect. (Also, thank you VERY much for the recommendation of the Cinderella video, I need to watch it right now and see justice done to that movie!)
I remember this movie, and while it wasn’t targeted at people like me, my wife and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I just wanted to say that this was an excellent entry. I have never gotten around to seeing this and have always meant to. I actually haven’t watched any of the Disney renaissance films that aren’t Pixar. This looked funny and I did know who Amy Adams was at the time. Not sure for what. I remember the Ebert and Roeper review for Junebug, which I did not see, but I believe I saw her in something before this came out.
First off, thank you for crediting Ariel in ‘89 with being the beginning of some real noticeable change in the agency of Disney heroines. The Little Mermaid has always been my favorite classic Disney film, and I feel like nearly everyone who criticizes it misses a very important point… The late, great Howard Ashman describes it himself — in the wonderful documentary about the Disney renaissance, Waking Sleeping Beauty — when he’s pitching his songs for the film to the studio and animators: Ariel’s big introductory musical moment, her “I want” song, has nothing to do with a man. (She hasn’t even rescued Prince Eric from drowning yet!) Her big character showcase song is about wanting to be human (so she can do exciting new things, like dance! and read books!). Maybe the confusion with some people comes in because the Reprise of that number does occur post-Prince Eric (and the lyrics change to “part of your world,” but… dammit, I just get super annoyed when people write Ariel off as “traded her legs for a dude/a vagina.” Just… no. The desire to change herself and experience a different world/life was already there! That was the whole point!*climbs down off soapbox* Haha, I’m sorry. I just… really love Ariel, and I get defensive on her behalf, which is ridiculous, as I am now in my 30s, but there you have it. (She’s also still my favorite princess in terms of how they animated her, but that’s the art nerd in me talking, so I’ll stop there.)Anyway, I completely agree re: the shortsightedness of some parents just outright banning young girls from watching these films; it erases so much that’s there to be enjoyed. And like you point out, children aren’t the brainless, sycophantic little receptacles for total suggestion that people seem to paint them as when they want to shield them from something. (All other pop culture that girls are exposed to, while we’re at it, emphasize romance as an endgame, still. TV commercials, magazine ads, targeted advertising, most “adult”/live action films with any sort of love interest plot going on… Why single out Disney for this?)This feature remains great, and this entry just reminded me how much I loved Enchanted — could anyone but Amy Adams have pulled off what this movie required of her role? I honestly can’t imagine anyone else doing it — and that I need to rewatch it, because it’s been a while. (And yes, I do, of course, love Jodi Benson’s little cameo role as Robert’s assistant.)…Also, how did I never put together that Lima directed this, when he also directed A Goofy Movie, which I also love? Awesome.
I dont like the dragon at the end of this movie. that is what keeps it from being perfect. but i still think it’s great and watch it every few years.
One thing I liked about showing this to my daughters was that the romantic rival (Idina Menzel!) wasn’t presented as evil, just different, and not the right person for Dempsey. But at least she got good cell reception in the animated world with Marsden — my son had seen X-Men first, and he loved watching Cyclops get run over by a bike race, so he was happy with that, too.But two women who were just wanting the same thing, and not enemies. Well, that was gold for a father to be able to show his girls.
One aspect of the film unmentioned here (in what is still a fantastic writeup of a great movie!) is the role future Disney princess/queen Idina Menzel plays in it. She ends up falling for the simplistic charms of Marsden’s character and marrying him, which not only allows the story to have happy endings all around (pairing the two rejectees off in movies where people in committed relationships fall for each other is usually a trite plot device, but damn if it doesn’t work here), but also quietly teaches the message that there’s nothing inherently wrong with embracing the “old-fashioned” lifestyle of traditional Disney Princesses if that’s what you decide you want.
WHY isn’t this streaming son Netflix or Amazon, though!? (I don’t have Hulu so can’t check…) Man, I wanna rematch this so bad now… There’s a bunch of other Disney films that show up when I search for it, so it’s not a blanket Disney thing… Aw, I’m a sad now.
I missed this article when it first ran, due to being the Thanksgiving Holiday. This film has charm galore. It’s really something special and Adams is such a perfect delight. How can you not fall in love with her? I need to watch this again.
Unequivocally love this movie, Amy Adams was a revelation in it.I absolutely love how the pests are the animal friends who come to help, also the Central Park song with Patrick Dempsey’s straight man act in it.
“When her call for woodland friends is answered by the vermin of New York City.” Yes, I don’t care for New Yorkers myself.
What a thundering bore Keira Knightley must be. So called progressives are the new joyless (and hysterical) puritans.