Why your daughter(s) should be looking up to them

Basic Themes of (some) Princesses Belle Mulan Anna Elsa Don’t judge a book by it’s cover Don’t let society shape who you become True love is not always what it seems

What can be learned Independence Bravery Kindness Friendship Love Compassion Strength Images from disneyworld.disney.go.com

What age groups benefit Girls ages 2-8 can get a head start in learning the pro- social behaviors that each Disney Princess exhibits Girls ages 9-13 start picking up the deeper messages Disney is portraying and can actually understand what they mean Young woman can also gain great advice from the messages within each of the movies and can take those messages and apply them to every day life

Belle Book worm Sacrifices herself for her father’s sake Shows kindness and patience to someone people are afraid of Defends those who are out cased

Mulan Sacrifices herself for her father and her family’s sake Saves her entire country with the risk of being killed Breaks traditional/racial/gender boundaries

Anna Learns that “true love” isn’t always about finding the perfect guy Sacrifices herself for her sister’s sake Never gives up even when all of the odds are against her

Elsa Learns that love is something that can solve virtually any problem Once she allows herself to be who she really is, she learns that that is what will make her truly happy

Children and how they react the what they watch Children are very susceptible to displaying actions and behaviors in the types of movies/television they watch When a child watches good behavior in someone they idolize, they will most likely follow the lead and act like the character When a young girl watches any princess she learns that she is not only beautiful on the outside, she is beautiful in every aspect of her life

Every threat has a target Because Disney is such a major corporation worldwide, there are MANY smaller companies who want to try to take it down Most of the critics such as “Belle is trapped in a violent relationship”, “All of their problems are solved with ‘true loves kiss’”, and “All they care about is beauty” all are looking at the extreme surfaces of what Disney is showing Non of those claims are actually as simple as they sound

Belle Beauty and the Beast has always had some negative feedback because of the aggressive nature of Beast There are claims that this teaches girls to accept poor treatment Thinking about what Belle actually does is nothing of that nature however Belle takes the time to understand why Beast is so angry, shows him kindness, and is able to bring out the best in him

Mulan Mulan has always been a hard worker around the house to help her mother and her disabled father She hates the fact that she can’t provide for her family the way a man can As soon as she learns her father has to go to war, she disguises herself and takes his place instead to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself further Even though Mulan is a woman, she is still able to withstand every task a man can and ended up saving her entire country

Anna Anna never gave up on trying to have a relationship with her sister Elsa She always had a good attitude about life and was willing to spread that to everyone she met When Elsa runs away, Anna stops at nothing to help bring her home safely despite how hard Elsa has tried to push her away Anna realizes that the real form of true love can be found in loving your friends and family and it doesn’t have to be from finding “the one”

Elsa Elsa embodies every girl who has to fit into every mold they are placed in perfectly; they have to act this way, dress like this, and never do this Once Elsa breaks free of that hold, she realizes just how happy she is with herself She also realizes that she can’t shut people out in fear that they might not accept her for who she really is She learns that the people who love you deeply will always accept you and care for you

Images from disneyworld.disney.go.com

Although not every Disney Princess was discussed in this presentation, you can see that your children can learn great, intelligent, and important lessons from each of the princesses Disney is also one of the most family oriented companies in the world so you can be sure that there are no hidden messages in their movies like many critics like to assume

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