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Princess Archetypes Research Paper

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Are Princesses Really Fit to Lead? When someone was a child, it is most likely that they watched a princess movie or a fantasy movie and wanted to be like them or even imitate them.The princess fantasy is one of the most common and pervasive archetypes in popular culture and can be traced to ancient literary and oral mythological traditions. The fairytale genre of fiction that emerged in Europe and North America in the seventeenth century continues to influence depictions of both male and female characters. The princess remains one of the most common depictions of women in fantasy, and elements of this archetype influence the way that “non-princess” women are depicted in film and literature (Isitt, “Princesses”). However some critics believe …show more content…

Although these characters are just fiction, children are still able see them and learn from them. Young girls especially begin to wonder why they do not have a tiny enough waist like Ariel or why they do not have the ideal face of a princess. These princesses may look really adorable but little do people know that girls are judging themselves because they do not fit the ideal princess archetype. “Villains all have one common feature- obesity. They are all overweight, with double chins and over-exaggerated curves. This is because such representations have taught us to see obesity and anything that is essentially not a size zero figure as an unpleasant element, which is far from the truth” (Laha). To Disney, not having a perfect body shape, being a little overweight, and even being obese is considered a bad thing. Usually when someone sees a villain in a princess movie they are ugly or obese and that should not be acceptable. Children are being taught at a young age that people are “bad” if they do not ideally look like the princesses from the movies. Young girls should be taught that every body shape is beautiful no matter if it is not considered beautiful to

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