Princess Power, Pro or Con?

Parents, Disney, and Barbie… These are two main culprits behind Princess Culture. Our civilization has become so concerned with distinguishing gender and being normal, that children’s personalities are being left at the wayside.

            Children absorb information at an alarming rate. According to one site, “Decay is loss of information from memory as a consequence of die passage of time and lack of use. It has been suggested that memory is stored in memory traces, which disappear when not used for a long time.” It is also said that 2 hours after learning something 50% of information learned is loss. A mere 6 hours later less than 15% is retained. This, accompanied with media logic, can be extremely dangerous, particularly in young girls are involved with shows marketed to them.

            If you were to analyze a classic Disney movie such as The Little Mermaid one would find a bevy of underlying detrimental themes. To continue with The Little Mermaid, a viewer could see Princess Ariel (lead) as an active female character. Empowering for women right? Only on the surface…

            The messages presented are also much more detrimental. What it really shows to young women is an abundance of personality flaws. Ariel gives up everything in pursuit of a man. She essentially sells her sole to a witch. Her talent (her voice), her family, her life, and all of her friends are given up in pursuit of a man. This encourages young women to make negative and drastically life altering decisions for a man.

            Similar negative effects can be seen in young boys. A young boy could see this and immediately think that love will find him if he can look good enough and fix all of someone else’s problems.

            After the decay happens, what are children left with? Truth be told, children are not remembering all of the show, only that though Ariel was active in the story, it required a man to come save her. I am not bashing Princess or Superhero cultures but instead offering an alternative. Don’t put the pressure on your children to assume a role. Remove the gender barriers and let your children decide.