emma_in_dream (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
emma_in_dream) wrote2011-05-13 07:03 pm
emma_in_dream) wrote2011-05-13 07:03 pm
Disney Princess Magazine
Pearl just loves her Disney Princess magazines, but allow me to share my comments on one of the stories from her latest volume.*
This is one of the better stories, better than the one about sentient tools in the Beauty and the Beast being kept prisoner, and better than the Mulan story about how the other village girls pick on her for not having a nice dress.
* Thanks Baby_Elvis. I know how hard it is to resist those begging puppy eyes - I just got her the Angelina Ballerina magazine.
Aurora’s Surprise
One morning, Prince Philip went into the forest to speak to all the creatures there. ‘I want to plan a wonderful surprise for Aurora,’ he said to them. ‘Can you help me come up with an idea?’ [Positive: I like that the Disney characters interact with animals a lot. Negative: Of course, he couldn’t ask Aurora’s friends because she has none. She has no peers, no support group, no friends, no human interaction at all prior to meeting Philip.]
A rabbit sugested that the Prince give Aurora a bouquet of flowers, which gave the Prince an even better idea. [Philip is variously called by his name and title or just by his title. Aurora (who is also a Princess in her own right) is only called by her first name.]
Soon, he and his courtiers were busy planting the most beautiful shrubs in the palace garden. ‘What a romantic surprise for Aurora!’ the fairies said as they flew past. [Romantic! This magazine is aimed at little little kids - this audience should not be thinking about romance.]
Meanwhile, inside the palace, Aurora had been planning a surprise of her own - a special ball she would hold in the Prince’s honour! ‘And this satin material will make a beautiful ballgown,’ she said. [Of course there has to be a ballgown, because the Disney versions of fairy tales are all about conspicuous consumption.]
As the fairies made her gown, Aurora gathered some fabric into the shape of a flower. ‘Let’s decorate the ballroom with satin flowers tomorrow!’ she smiled. [On a positive note, she wants to make things. On a less positive note, guess which colour the material is? Hint: it begins with P and ends with ink.]
The next day, Aurora prepared the ballroom. ‘How beautiful it looks,’ she thought with a smile. [Until I wrote it out like this, I had not noticed that Aurora spends a lot of time talking with smiles, giggling and laughing. Which is OK in itself but Philip never does this, and it's definitely placating, stereotypically female behaviour.]
But outside, the Prince wasn’t feeling as happy. Not one flower had bloomed in the garden overnight. [This is what ticks me off about Disney. Of course flowers don’t bloom overnight; they bloom after you put work into a garden. The whole make a wish, dream a dream and it will come true, annoys me enormously. A much better message is that you can make a wish and then work at it and then it may come true.]
Just then, Flora passed by. ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, ‘The garden I planted for Aurora has no flowers,’ the Prince replied sadly.
‘I’ll take care of the flowers,’ Flora smiled. ‘Just bring the Princess here when the first stars appear in the sky.’ [Female fairies smile as well. Pearl asks why the female characters smile, giggle and laugh all the time.]
The other fairires wanted to use magic to make the flowers grow, but Flora told them there was no need. ‘We have all the magic we need right here,’ she said, taking down Aurora’s silk flowers. [I like this message that you can make things better through your own work.]
The fairies hung Aurora’s fairies in the Prince’s garden. ‘Now the happy couple will have a double surprise,’ said Flora. ‘A romantic garden ball.’ [No! No! No! Not for this age group!]
Later that evening, Prince Philip and Aurora met up, both dressed int heir finery. ‘I have a surprise for you,’ said the Prince. ‘And I have one for you!’ Aurora laughed. [I like that they are both dressed up, but look at how he gets a status and she doesn’t, while she does the emotional work of the conversation and he doesn’t.]
He took Aurora’s hand and led her to his garden. Just at that moment the first stars twinkled in the sky. [Or, if we wanted to expand their vocabulary we could tell them it was twilight.]
‘It’s magical!’ cried Aurora and Prince Philip at the same time, when they saw the garden ball. ‘The only magic we used was your love for each other!’ Flora said. [Actually, I quite like this Gift of the Magi ending about mutual love and affection, though I query why it has to be in the inappropriate form of a romance.]
‘Which means we have plenty of magic left for this!’ Merryweather said with a laugh, and with her wand she lit up the sky with glowing flowers. ‘Oh, it’s another magical surprise!’ Aurora and the Prince said together. [Well, it’s nice that they are speaking together, but, once again, they aren’t really equals of one is a rank and the other is a first name.]
This is one of the better stories, better than the one about sentient tools in the Beauty and the Beast being kept prisoner, and better than the Mulan story about how the other village girls pick on her for not having a nice dress.
* Thanks Baby_Elvis. I know how hard it is to resist those begging puppy eyes - I just got her the Angelina Ballerina magazine.
Aurora’s Surprise
One morning, Prince Philip went into the forest to speak to all the creatures there. ‘I want to plan a wonderful surprise for Aurora,’ he said to them. ‘Can you help me come up with an idea?’ [Positive: I like that the Disney characters interact with animals a lot. Negative: Of course, he couldn’t ask Aurora’s friends because she has none. She has no peers, no support group, no friends, no human interaction at all prior to meeting Philip.]
A rabbit sugested that the Prince give Aurora a bouquet of flowers, which gave the Prince an even better idea. [Philip is variously called by his name and title or just by his title. Aurora (who is also a Princess in her own right) is only called by her first name.]
Soon, he and his courtiers were busy planting the most beautiful shrubs in the palace garden. ‘What a romantic surprise for Aurora!’ the fairies said as they flew past. [Romantic! This magazine is aimed at little little kids - this audience should not be thinking about romance.]
Meanwhile, inside the palace, Aurora had been planning a surprise of her own - a special ball she would hold in the Prince’s honour! ‘And this satin material will make a beautiful ballgown,’ she said. [Of course there has to be a ballgown, because the Disney versions of fairy tales are all about conspicuous consumption.]
As the fairies made her gown, Aurora gathered some fabric into the shape of a flower. ‘Let’s decorate the ballroom with satin flowers tomorrow!’ she smiled. [On a positive note, she wants to make things. On a less positive note, guess which colour the material is? Hint: it begins with P and ends with ink.]
The next day, Aurora prepared the ballroom. ‘How beautiful it looks,’ she thought with a smile. [Until I wrote it out like this, I had not noticed that Aurora spends a lot of time talking with smiles, giggling and laughing. Which is OK in itself but Philip never does this, and it's definitely placating, stereotypically female behaviour.]
But outside, the Prince wasn’t feeling as happy. Not one flower had bloomed in the garden overnight. [This is what ticks me off about Disney. Of course flowers don’t bloom overnight; they bloom after you put work into a garden. The whole make a wish, dream a dream and it will come true, annoys me enormously. A much better message is that you can make a wish and then work at it and then it may come true.]
Just then, Flora passed by. ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, ‘The garden I planted for Aurora has no flowers,’ the Prince replied sadly.
‘I’ll take care of the flowers,’ Flora smiled. ‘Just bring the Princess here when the first stars appear in the sky.’ [Female fairies smile as well. Pearl asks why the female characters smile, giggle and laugh all the time.]
The other fairires wanted to use magic to make the flowers grow, but Flora told them there was no need. ‘We have all the magic we need right here,’ she said, taking down Aurora’s silk flowers. [I like this message that you can make things better through your own work.]
The fairies hung Aurora’s fairies in the Prince’s garden. ‘Now the happy couple will have a double surprise,’ said Flora. ‘A romantic garden ball.’ [No! No! No! Not for this age group!]
Later that evening, Prince Philip and Aurora met up, both dressed int heir finery. ‘I have a surprise for you,’ said the Prince. ‘And I have one for you!’ Aurora laughed. [I like that they are both dressed up, but look at how he gets a status and she doesn’t, while she does the emotional work of the conversation and he doesn’t.]
He took Aurora’s hand and led her to his garden. Just at that moment the first stars twinkled in the sky. [Or, if we wanted to expand their vocabulary we could tell them it was twilight.]
‘It’s magical!’ cried Aurora and Prince Philip at the same time, when they saw the garden ball. ‘The only magic we used was your love for each other!’ Flora said. [Actually, I quite like this Gift of the Magi ending about mutual love and affection, though I query why it has to be in the inappropriate form of a romance.]
‘Which means we have plenty of magic left for this!’ Merryweather said with a laugh, and with her wand she lit up the sky with glowing flowers. ‘Oh, it’s another magical surprise!’ Aurora and the Prince said together. [Well, it’s nice that they are speaking together, but, once again, they aren’t really equals of one is a rank and the other is a first name.]