What's Wrong With Cinderella Summary

In “What's Wrong with Cinderella?”, Peggy Orenstein retaliates against the princess culture that bombards her daughter's life. Princesses, it seems, dominate the market for toys to young girls due to their inexplicable appeal to being pretty, pink and - as most girls see - perfect. As a feminist mother, Orenstein feels the need to rebel against this not-so-sudden craze that attracts her daughter's attention. The author assumes that the subliminal messages presented to her daughter's developing mind aren't beneficial to her future expectations in life. Because of this, she critiques the faults of princesshood in order to demonstrate the possible detrimental impacts that the princess culture may have on a young girl. However, in consistently

Yet, Orenstein claims that they have focused largely on the princess culture and also that these princesses have advanced from being simple storybook characters to now representing a negative influence on a female’s expectations in life. She suggests this idea in her article with the notion that other women, especially mothers, would agree with her opinion. Although, what she fails to acknowledge is that Disney isn't trying to sell messages of the “nice and pretty” girl or the perpetual “happily ever after” ending to young children. Instead, they are only marketing their products to a specific, easily influenced audience. Orenstein places blame on Disney, shaming them for taking advantage of the pre-existing princesses for their own profit. In becoming so focused on the negativity that she believes these princesses may impose, she doesn't realize the potential greatness that companies, like Disney, try to advocate. To some, princesses create dreams for girls and it gives them inspiration at a young age. It shows them to be brave, like Mulan or even strong-willed and persistent, like Cinderella. It gives developing guidelines for positive characteristics, this way, when they encounter difficult situations later on in life, they already have a premise for how to deal with it. In being so distracted with her strong feminist beliefs, she doesn't take the chance to see the beneficial possibilities of the princess