2/18/2017 0 Comments Life: we all need a role modelAt three-years-old I may not have been a fully formed human—but I could certainly recognize the kind of human that I wanted to be. For little Leah Zielke, Belle from Beauty and the Beast was my ultimate “goals”. Pretend games around my house constantly involved recreating scenes from “Be Our Guest”, or spinning around the room singing ~~ tale as old as timmmme~~. I would wander around the house pretending I knew how to read, trying to perfect my ‘Belle with her nose in a book’ look. It went beyond pretend games though. There were aspects of Belle’s personality I began to relate to and recognize as qualities to aspire to. She was smart, she was brave, she was a little weird and she loved to read. I learnt from her that I wanted to be someone who was okay with deviating from the norm and embraced being different. I learnt I wanted to be someone who looks beyond others’ appearances or reputations, and takes the time to get to know people. I learnt I wanted to be someone who would do anything for the people they love. And I learnt I wanted to know how to read. ASAP. All of these qualities can be found in many of the other Disney princesses, however it was Belle who I consistently looked up to. The number one reason for that being: She looked like me. She had brown hair and was White, and because of that I was able to project myself onto her. I could see myself embodying her qualities because I was able to essentially watch myself act them out. Everything she did was something I would one day be able to do; weird brunette girls who love to read could be princesses and I was stoked. Being able to find myself in a Disney princess, or any other kind of childhood hero, didn’t mean I was a normal little girl doing what normal little girls do…. It meant I was a normal little White girl doing what normal little White girls did. At the time that I would have watched Beauty and the Beast there were only two non-white princesses. Jasmine and Pocohantas, however, are not without their problems. Respectively, each provide grossly over-simplified and ‘disneyfied’ renditions of Arab and Native American cultures, and thus all other races besides white were virtually cut from the available princess roster. I really can’t imagine watching every single Disney princess movie and not finding someone who looked like me. I was even lucky enough to have choices: there was Belle or Snow White! I could then decide which I identified with beyond looks and personality! (by a landslide it was Belle). Until 2009 when The Princess and the Frog came out, the reality for Black girls was that no princess looked like them. For Asian girls there was Mulan in 1998, a whole 60 years after the first Disney princess waltzed on-screen. Most disabled characters are seen as villains with hooks, and within the entire Disney franchise there has never been an openly LGBTQIA character. I do think Disney is moving in the right direction, showing an increasing interest in depicting diverse characters but #giveElsaaGirlfriend already! There are so many groups of people underrepresented in the entertainment we consume. So many little girls and boys looking to the T.V. only to see images of princesses and heroes they will never be. But they can be! And our entertainment should reflect that! Disney, Marvel, Universal, and Teletoon ETC have started making progress to fill in the holes of representation, but they are still largely gaping. Imagine if there were as many Asian princesses as there are blonde. Imagine if there was a princess who didn’t look like she stepped off of the Victoria Secret fashion show, or if there was a princess who needed a wheelchair. Imagine if all little kids could look to their entertainment to find the guidance I found in Belle. Keep going Disney -- it’s not yet enough. -Leah
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