It’s been quite a while since a princess was wearing an ethereal conical hat that had a shimmering veil that hung from the top. However, the way we imagine princesses of today is more influenced by our collective fantasy about the princesses rather than Royal reality.
Nowadays, girls are obsessed with fairy tale princesses. With the lure of puffy gowns and plastic tiaras that inspire gendered segregation in the toy aisles. The popularity of the preteens is inspired by Disney’s Disney Princess franchise, which was launched in 2001 to take advantage of the shared dream for all girls to be princesses. This isn’t just an innocent game for children. The uniform pink hue of the more than 26,000 Disney princess line has boosted worldwide profits of Disney Consumer Products from $300 million in 2001 to $4 billion by 2009.
Parents and feminists who are concerned are not happy with the flood of pastel-colored merchandise. They refer to the prevailing whiteness of the princess culture –Disney just invented their debut African American princess in the film The Princess and the Frog in 2009–and also the promotion of a passive female ideal. In the end, it’s an essential characteristic of the fairytale princess that she waits waiting for her prince.
Then there’s Shrek‘s Princess Fiona, which was hailed as a fresh take on the fairy tale of the princess, deliberately lays in wait for her knight-in-shining armor to save her, determined to stick to the fairy tale storyline. Although she fights men in the film to defend her virginity (an essential characteristic for princesses), the final reward is the union of her rescuer with her princess, which follows all the traditional rules.
The widespread availability of princess accessories, which include movies, dolls, and costumes, indicates that the biggest accomplishment for a girl is to be deemed attractive enough to draw male interest. You might be forgiven for believing this feminist revolution was only a dream. Perhaps princess culture is an ill-informed reaction to feminist advancements? The issues of women working full-time and carrying the bulk of the burden of the household and children could tend to invoke nostalgia for clear, traditional female and masculine roles.
Culture of the Princess: Mary of Denmark.
The emergence of the princess culture for girls of the twenty-first century is the emergence of a new group of princesses from the real world, which includes Kate Middleton and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. While neither is promising to be a Germaine Greer in the British and Danish monarchy, they both symbolize an evolution in the expectations of the ideal woman and offer the possibility of rewriting the myth of princesses that keeps generations of girls in the grips.
The current princess has previous experiences before her marriage. She was not swept away from her parents’ house by a handsome prince, perhaps even for a short period in the role of a teacher at kindergarten like Diana Spencer, the future Princess of Wales who got engaged at the age of nineteen. However, Kate Middleton is the first British princess bride to be awarded an academic degree from a university.
Princesses from other countries show an international trend towards educated and independent women. Queen Masako of Japan holds a degree in Economics from Harvard and was employed by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Princess Maxima from the Netherlands has an economics degree from her home country of Argentina and also worked in finance. In Spain, Letizia, the Princess of Asturias, obtained two journalism degrees prior to becoming a news anchor on television.
With more experience in the world prior to the wedding, including Kate as well as Prince William’s past relationship, there’s no chance of public declarations of the bride’s virginity by family members, just as was the case with Princess Diana thirty years ago.
