Although Disney has made a point to diversify their image by including princesses of different ethnicities and social backgrounds, it refuses to change its passé beauty standards.
Soon after releasing the controversial 2013 Disney Princess designs to the public, Disney quickly swapped out its whitewashed and historically inaccurate depiction of Mulan for a design more faithful , albeit glittery, version of the original character, albeit glittery. In the previous design, which included blue-tinted eyes and fair skin, the Asian warrior is paler than her fellow princess, Snow White (named for her white-as-snow skin).
The most recent redesign has darker skin and brown irises. Disney’s changes are somewhat reassuring. They have clearly taken note of public outcry, so why are they stopping at such minor changes?
Even with the newly revamped Mulan, the beauty standards of Disney princesses remain disappointingly outdated, showing little promise for change in the media’s beauty ideals.
Compare the long, flowing hair and sparkly hanfu (traditional Chinese dress) worn by Disney’s version of Mulan to the unobtrusive pompadour and functional armor donned by Mulan in ABC’s Once Upon A Time, portrayed by Jamie Chung. Which image captures Mulan’s true likeness as a warrior, a fighter and a hero?
And let us not forget about the other princesses.Disney Princess Ariel’s iconic skin-bearing sea shell bra top was replaced with a more conservative, off-the-shoulder dress; however, Jasmine’s similarly revealing top remains unchanged.
The sexualization of both characters is immensely less distressing than the difference between the ways they were treated.
While Ariel’s seashell top adheres to the age-old image of mermaids, Jasmine’s top bears no historical parallels to the traditional outfit of Arab women, much less to the daughter of a sultan. In fact, Jasmine’s costume is more similar to that of a belly dancer’s.
Such historical inaccuracies are insulting. Centuries of romanticizing the Arab culture through a single aspect has resulted in less acceptance of the culture as a whole.
The unnecessarily offensive addition of dangling feather earrings to Pocahontas’s Native American get-up is not only a tasteless attempt at decoupaging a complex culture but also uncomfortably reminiscent of Victoria’s Secret’s racially insensitive Native American “costume,” complete with a feather headdress.
Her apparent lack of muscle tone is disappointing, especially compared to modern and powerfully built female leads such as Korra from Nickelodeon’s animated series Legend of Korra.
2013-02-21