Entries Tagged 'Disney Princess Culture & Fairy Tales' ↓

I have lowered the price on Love Distortion: Belle, Battered Codependent and Other Love Stories. 

My intention with this book is to help parents understand the way the culture sets girls up for victimization, coercion and manipulation by distorting what love is. Some of the messages are subtle and some are overt.

My intention is for people to read the book. Therefore, I’ve lowered the price to $3.50 plus shipping and handling. Which covers the cost of the book only.

Simply click here and order NOW.

The Girl Revolution is proud to announce the release of Love Distortion: Belle, Battered Codependent and Other Love Stories. 

Order Now for only $9.99.

In this compilation of blog posts, I draw a parallel between the reality of dating violence, domestic violence, molestation, rape, date rape (if there is such a thing) and cohesion with the messaging of todays culture and media. Taken from almost 900 blog posts, I’ve chosen 30 posts that draw a concise and compelling picture of the Girl Traps, most stemming from a distortion of the word Love. 

Love Distortion takes a critical look at the Disney Princess Culture and the messages within that set girls up for dating violence and disastrous expectations about transforming bad guys into loving guys, the messages encouraging girls to give up their voices, their talents and their families for the “love” of a boy or man.

Love Distortion also takes a harsh look at other girl culture phenomenon like the Twilight Series and Bella’s willingness to give up her mortality, family, education and future to be with Edward; Gossip Girls, and their emotionally violent and disastrous games to achieve “success” with boys; Hannah Montana and other extensions of the Disney Brand; and posts about dating and domestic violence and the ways in which the word Love is used to coerce and manipulate girls and excuses violent and sexually predatory behavior against girls.

Love Distortion clearly explains the distorted thinking about love on both the part of the girl or woman and the boy or man in a violent, manipulative or abusive relationship. The book makes the connection between the thinking of participants in unhealthy relationships and the cultural messaging we are all inundated with day in and day out.

So as not to leave readers with defeated feelings, Love Distortion provides resources for more positive messages about, what I call, Authentic Love. Readers are given concrete exercises to do with their sons and daughters so as to prevent the distorted beliefs about love that they are inundated with through television, literature, music, Internet, video games, movies, advertising, radio and even, other adults in their lives.

Order Now for only $9.99.

LOL. I’m not sure where this image is from, a friend emailed it to me.

For those who haven’t seen the new Disney Princess movie, Tangled, allow me to state simply that you and your daughter will love it. There is not a bit of “girls as victims who must be saved by a man” messaging. The Princess is literally a healer and has tremendous power. There is a love story, but it’s fun. Now, take your daughters, and your sons, to see this epic Disney film and then come back and read the rest of the review because . . . SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s start with the premise of Tangled. Princess Rapunzel gets kidnapped at birth. Parents very, very sad. Quintessential Disney. Rapunzel’s hair doesn’t spin gold (as in the Grimm Brother’s Fairytale), it has the power to heal when she sings.

The traditional Evil Stepmother archetype, Mother Gothel, is different, more modern and realistic, than Disney’s last attempts. She’s a vain woman who kidnaps Rapunzel so that she can hold her hair while Rapunzel sings. This keeps her young, beautiful and healthy. Mother Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked in a tower, both to keep her healing powers all to herself and so that she never risks losing her Fountain of Youth.

Mother Gothel is more subtle than other Evil Stepmothers. The character is an editorial comment about the modern fixation with youth, beauty and plastic surgery. Mother Gothel keeps Rapunzel where she wants her with snide criticisms, masked as jokes, to lower her self-worth. She also instills fear in Rapunzel of all the horrible things that can happen to a vulnerable young girl in the outside world. She reminded me of a typical Mean Girl or some Emotional Vampires I’ve known in the past. You know, the type of friend who’s compliments are backhanded, followed with a laugh and “just kidding.”

Rapunzel, look in that mirror. You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. [Rapunzel smiles] Oh look, you’re here too, laughs Mother Gothel.

Mother Gothel is the type of friend or relative who is deeply negative and feeds off other’s positivity and energy. Like the Dementors in the Harry Potter Series. The Fear-Instilling part reminded me of Cable News, (don’t live, it’s dangerous out there). What I enjoyed about Mother Gothel is that she’s symbolic of real dangers, which gives us good talking points with our daughters about what kinds of people and behaviors to avoid.

I approved of lots of choices about Rapunzel’s character, the healing powers, her ability to knock an intruder out with a frying pan, her realistic internal conflict about defying her mother, but my favorite was her Internal Compass. Locked in a tower, you have a lot of quiet time to think and listen to that inner voice, the one everyone has, which tells you who you are and what path to follow. She listened to hers and it said, “Those lights are about you. Go there.” Though Mother Gothel brushed it off, dissuaded and forbid her from going, she had to follow her path. This is, in my view, the most central thing we can teach our daughters. This voice is in you, it can be trusted, it’s best to follow it, it will keep you safe, it will lead you in the right direction, it’s yours, it’s only for you, no one else can hear it, it is meant only for you, it’s a gift from God.

I loved how they used the metaphor of Light for both her path and her magical powers. It’s the same metaphor in the Bible and most other spiritual traditions.

The Prince Archetype was . . . wait, there is no Prince. She’s the Princess. He’s no great prince either. He’s a Bad Boy Archetype. Very cute, prone to stealing, a total phony. She doesn’t immediately fall for him. She knocks him out with a frying pan and holds him captive until he agrees to help her escape from the tower to follow her dream. She doesn’t marry him right away either. At the end, when she is reunited with her parents, she allows him to court her for several years.
Then. . . they live happily ever after.

The saving. Yes, in this Disney film, there is some saving. . .but that’s all I’m saying. I literally {{{gasped}}} out loud at the turn of events and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone.

Tangled is, in my opinion, Disney’s best Princess Movie. The Princess is a Girl Heroine.

Thanks Disney. I’ve been waiting a long time for that pleasure.

All Images Copyright of The Walt Disney Company.

I’m torn between wanting to write a full critique of The Princess and The Frog, the way I have for the other films in the Disney Princess Culture. You know, deconstruct the whole thing and look for meaning, obvious and subtle, relate it to the Feminist Promise of Past and today’s Working Mother Reality. I want to at-once say this film was accurate in terms of teaching our daughters to dream and warn poor Tiana that dreams get exhausting and perhaps less fulfilling or important when you throw a baby  or two into the mix.

And seriously, Tiana do. not. marry. a. man. who. does. not. see. the. value. of. an. honest. day’s. work. A spoiled, poor prince playboy? Oh, my goodness. One could an entire doctoral thesis on today’s Hip Hop Pimp culture, current African American demographics and family crisis and the gender/work theme in this film.

But, unlike the rest of the Disney Princess Genre this movie just came out.

I don’t want to ruin it for you or your children. Really, I don’t.

Instead, I’ll say “hurray” for Disney. They finally have an African American Princess in Tiana.

The plot was fun. The story was creative. The themes and romance was appropriate for children. The cast was darling. It was super-colorful and interesting and fun. The film even poked some fun at its own genre with one character insanely obsessed with marrying a prince at any cost. Its setting is in New Orleans, a town with a rich and colorful heritage that could surely use the boost.

Both my son and daughter enjoyed this film equally, and frankly, so did I.

Take your kids to the movies during Christmas break. They don’t make a new Disney Princess movie everyday. As much fun as it is to deconstruct them an, it’s equally fun to go see them and experience them with your kids. Disney Princess films are, after all, an integral narrative to our love stories, for better or worse.

Belle, Battered Codependent

Cinderella Should Have Saved Herself

Ariel, The Little Mute