Disney Princess is a media franchise owned by The Walt Disney Company, originally created by Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney in the late 1990s, officially launching in 2000. Soon after joining Disney, Mooney attended his first Disney On Ice show. While waiting in line, he found himself surrounded by young girls dressed as princesses. "They weren't even Disney products. They were generic princess products," he mused. Soon after realizing the demand, the Disney Princess line was formed.
Despite limited advertising and no focus groups, the various Disney Princess items released became a huge success. Sales at Disney Consumer Products rose from $300 million in 2001 to $3 billion in 2006. Today there are over 25,000 products based on the franchise.
The original nine princesses were: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan and Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell was removed shortly after the franchise debuted, leaving 8 official Disney Princesses.
The Princesses to be featured in the line were chosen from classic Disney films. The characters were not chosen specifically for their royal titles, but rather for how well they fit into what Disney executives deemed "the Princess mythology". Mulan is an example of this concept; she has no familial ties to royalty but is still included in the character list. Tinker Bell and Esmeralda were once included under the same principle before it was decided that they were not suited for the "mythology". Recently, though, Tinker Bell has starred in her own Disney franchise, the Disney Fairies. Other fairies were created specifically for the franchise. The line began with a book series by Gail Carson Levine and has since spawned toys, direct-to-video movies and other products based on the characters. At one point, Jane Porter, Giselle, Anna, and Elsa were considered to be included in the line-up, but were never realized.
Most recently, the line-up has expanded to include Tiana, Rapunzel and Merida after the successes of their respective films. Moana is the next expected addition to the line up.
Several apparent rules have been enforced as to separate who is an official Disney Princess, and who is not. There are only four "official" rules, though there are also unofficial rules.
- The character must be human, or human-like in the case of Ariel and formerly Tinker Bell.
- The character must have a primary role in an animated Disney/Pixar film.
- The character must not have been introduced in a sequel.
- The character must have either been born royal, married royal, or have performed an act of heroism.
The Lineup
The character of Snow White first originated in 1937 from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Schneewittchen" about a beautiful German princess with a jealous stepmother. Walt Disney turned this classic fairy tale into his very first animated feature film. Her true love is Prince Ferdinand, who breaks her sleeping death 'slumber' (caused by the Evil Queen) with love's first kiss. She befriends the seven dwarfs during her stay at their cottage. At 14, she's the youngest of the Princesses.
The best-known version of Cinderella is the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault in 1697. In 1950, it was turned into an animated feature-length film by Walt Disney. Cinderella Tremaine is the second eldest of all the Disney Princesses. She is 19 years of age during the events of the film. Her stepmother turned her into the family's sole servant after the death of her father. With magical help from her Fairy Godmother, she attends a royal ball and meets the prince of her kingdom, and eventually marries him, thus freeing her from her life of servitude. Cinderella is often considered the leader of the Princesses; often being put in the center of the group shots.
Best known as the heroine of the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty which is very loosely based on Charles Perrault's "La Belle au Bois Dormant". Although her dress changes from blue to pink thanks to disagreement between two of her guardians, Merryweather and Flora, outside the film she is most commonly seen wearing pink. She was cursed at birth to die before the sun sets on her 16th birthday by the evil fairy Maleficent. One of the three good fairies, Merryweather, was able to weaken the curse by changing death to a deep slumber that could only be awakened by true love's kiss. By falling in love with Prince Phillip, the prince of a neighboring kingdom—and unknown to either of them, her betrothed) she was freed from the curse. Aurora is shown to be one of the taller princesses in the franchise.
The heroine of the 1989 film, loosely based on the Danish fairy tale "Den Lille Havfrue" by Hans Christian Andersen, and the daughter of King Triton, ruler of the sea, 16-year old mermaid Ariel falls in love with a dashing human prince named Eric, an extension of her fascination with all things from the surface world. Her dream of life on land makes her vulnerable to Ursula's offer as her only chance to be with Eric. Ursula persuades her to trade her voice to the sea witch (who was supposed to be her aunt in the uncut version of the film), in order to become a human and be with him forever. However, Ursula cunningly tricks her.
Hans Christian Andersen's original character dissolves into foam on the sea after the prince marries someone else, but through an act of compassion is transformed into a spirit of the air. Co-director Ron Clements felt the story was too tragic and changed the original character from the tragic but hopeful heroine, to the brave and resourceful Ariel.
The French commoner who is the heroine of the 1991 animated classic Beauty and the Beast, is loosely based on the French fairy tale "La Belle et la Bête" abridged from the version by Madame Jeanne-Marie le Prince de Beaumont. The name Belle translates from the French word for "beauty". She selflessly trades her freedom for that of her father in a bargains with the Beast and becomes his prisoner/guest. She soon learns to see the good hidden behind his hideous appearance and rough manner eventually falling in love with him over time. By confessing her love at the end of the movie, she breaks the spell placed on him by an enchantress. The Beast and all his household are restored to their human forms and Belle becomes his princess.
The spunky, independent Arabian Princess of Agrabah, who dreams of seeing what's beyond her palace and be freed from her father's constant pestering of arranged royal marriage. She falls in love with the title character in 1992's Aladdin, whom she eventually marries.
She is loosely based on Princess Badroulbadour (Arabic بدر البدور, badru l-budūr, "full moon of full moons") featured in the story of "Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp" from "One Thousand and One Nights" of Scheherazade. Interestingly, the original story took place in China and not the Middle East.
Disney's Pocahontas is loosely based on the real-life Native American "princess" of the Powhatan tribe (a name also borne by her father, the chief). Her real name was Matoaka, since Pocahontas was her nickname and meant 'Playful One'. She falls in love with a man named John Smith, who helps her prevent a war from commencing between their people. At the end of the film, John is wounded and sent back to London for treatment.
Fa Mulan (or Mulan Fa) is a brave Chinese heroine who dresses up like a soldier and goes to war in place of her crippled father, risking death and dishonor. She is a friend of the Emperor and his daughters, however she has no relation to the royal chinese family, therefore she is not a royal princess.
She is loosely based on the heroine from the well-known ancient Chinese poem "The Ballad of Mulan" (木蘭詩). She is the only Disney Princess who is not royal by blood or marriage and is literally not one. However, she has the honor of a princess because she achieved honor from the Emperor himself by saving China. During her stay in the army, she falls in love with the captain, Li Shang, whom she starts dating by the end of the film.
Partly inspired from E.D Baker's 2002 novel The Frog Princess, and the original fairy tale "The Frog Prince". Tiana is the heroine of the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog and is the first Princess of African-American descent (and the only American one). She dreams of opening her own restaurant through hard work. By kissing Prince Naveen in frog form, she is turned into a frog because she kissed him for material gain, not love, and the magic can only be broken by a princess, so they are forced to set on a journey to find a way to undo the magic. Eventually, she finds herself falling for the handsome, but spoiled prince and willingly gives up her personal wants to be with him. By marrying the prince, Tiana becomes a real princess and with her love breaks the spell with a kiss. They finally open their own restaurant at the end of the film.
She is the first and currently the only Princess whose story was inspired by an original fairy tale, a novel and a real life person.
The heroine from the animated feature Tangled is loosely based on the German title character from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rapunzel". Her long hair, which is said to measure 70 feet in length, not only has magical healing powers, but can be used as a weapon. Given the power by a magic golden flower, Mother Gothel kidnaps her as an infant to use her power to keep herself young. 18 years later, Rapunzel sneaks away from her tower with a thief, Flynn Rider, and sets on her own journey to find the flying lanterns that float into the sky every year on her birthday. To free her from Gothel's clutches, Flynn cuts her hair, thus destroying her power, and she is returned to her family. Rapunzel was "officially welcomed into the Disney Princess Royal Court" during a promotional event at Kensington Palace in London on October 2, 2011. Interestingly, even though Rapunzel's long golden hair is cut off in the movie, changing it from blonde to brown, her redesigned image shows it fully restored back to blonde, although somewhat shorter than its original 70-foot length.
Merida is the 16-year old daughter of Queen Elinor, who rules the kingdom alongside her husband, King Fergus. Queen Elinor's expectations and demands of her daughter make Merida see Elinor as being cold, unfeeling and distant causing friction between the two. Despite Elinor's desire to see Merida as a proper royal lady, Merida is an impetuous girl with wild, unruly ginger hair and a passionate desire to take control of her own destiny. Merida has honed her skill with the bow, and is the most skilled archers in her kingdom. She is also well trained in sword-fighting and an expert horsewoman, riding wildly across the countryside on her horse, Angus.
She is the second princess from a Pixar film (the first is Princess Atta from A Bug's Life), the first original princess in the line-up that not inspired by either literature (Snow White, Cinderella, etc.) or real-life (Pocahontas, Tiana) works and the first without a love interest. She also never sings a major song, thus breaking away the traditional line-up, though as a child, she sang a small verse of a song in Gaelic, and Merida's rich Scottish brogue makes her the second Disney Princess with an accent other than Standard American.
Likely Future Disney Princesses
Born on the island village of Motunui, Moana is the daughter of Chief Tui and Sina, with an inherited love for the seas and voyaging. When her island becomes endangered, Moana is chosen by the ocean to journey across the sea to save both her people and the world.
Former Princesses
When the Disney Princess franchise was formed, Esmeralda was part of it, along with Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas and Mulan. She had remained in the franchise until 2004, appearing in many products, and also in some events. However, since 2005, she has not been seen along with the other Princesses in any product, or event related to the franchise. Some issues may have led Disney to make that decision:
- Her sultry pose in the film may have influenced the decision.
- The fact of not having connections with royalty.
- Her clothes deemed inappropriate for a princess.
- The unpopularity of her film.
- The fact of living on the streets, and not in a respectable family, like all the other Princesses.
- Not generating enough profits.
- The dark plot of her film.
Giselle would have been the first official Disney Princess to come from a film that is not part of the Disney Animation Canon. She would've also been the fifth Disney Princess (the first being Snow White, the second being Cinderella, the third being Aurora, the fourth being Ariel, the sixth being Rapunzel) to have a female antagonist in their film.
Disney had planned to include Giselle in the Disney Princess line-up, to the point where a prototype Giselle doll appeared at the Toy Fair in 2007. However the plans were quickly dropped when the company realized they would have to pay royalties to Amy Adams for using her likeness.
Tinker Bell has the dubious distinction of being the only character dropped from the official Disney Princess line-up, her brief tenure coming to an end when it was felt she didn't fit the mythology. She was later made the mascot of the Disney Fairies franchise.
Unofficial Princesses
Kairi - Kingdom Hearts
Jane - Tarzan
Daisy Duck
Alice - Alice in Wonderland
Maid Marian - Robin Hood
Minnie Mouse
Eilonwy - The Black Cauldron
Megara - Hercules
Kilala Reno - Kilala Princess
Kida - Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Sofia - Sofia the First
Elena - Elena of Avalor
Melody - The Little Mermaid 2
Ting-Ting, Su and Mei - Mulan II
Vanellope von Schweetz - Wreck-It Ralph
Skipped Princesses
Anna is the Norwegian heroine and main protagonist of the 2013 animated feature Frozen. Anna is loosely based on Gerda, the heroine from the Danish fairy tale "Snedronningen" or "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen.
She is a member of a royal family and the younger sister of Elsa. While Elsa is known to be beautiful, elegant and loved by the townspeople, Anna remains somewhat of a free spirit. Anna is more daring than graceful and, at times, can act before she thinks. But she's also the most optimistic and caring person you'll ever meet. She has a very close relationship with her older sister until this bond is shattered by an accident when they are children. When trying to reconnect with her, Anna messes things up at Elsa's coronation, leading to Elsa revealing her powers over ice and snow and accidentally cursing the kingdom. Anna then embarks on a dangerous journey to set things right. She longs to reconnect with Elsa, as they were close during their childhood.
Elsa the Snow Queen is the deuteragonist of the 2013 animated feature Frozen and Anna's older sister. She is loosely based on Kai and The Snow Queen from the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen.
She was the crown princess of Arendelle and was crowned Queen until her powers over ice were exposed, causing her to flee and become the feared Snow Queen. However, the bond between her and her sister warms her frozen heart, allowing her to use her magic for the greater good.
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Frozen is so financially successful that Disney opted to omit its princesses from the line up.
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Yes, Disney Princess gets an OT before Disney does.
Fite me.
