The Princess Archetype Ain't What It Used To Be

[dr_pretentious]

I thought I knew what princesses were to the current generation of children, because I knew what they meant to my nieces.

With Disney hyping its long lineage of princesses to young girls, there is much fretting in Parentland about princess-ness as a commodity that preschool girls think their parents can buy for them. True, Disney's film princesses are pluckier and more well-rounded as characters now than they used to be, but Disney can't sell pluck and well-roundedness in shrink wrap in the kids' section at Walmart; Disney can, and abundantly does, sell frilly clothes and sparkly plastic jewelry.

Although my son does know enough about girl-culture to identify anyone in a frilly pink dress and a tiara as a princess, he has an entirely different idea of the distinguishing features of princess-ness that matter most.

For him, the foundational princesses are from an episode of The Backyardigans in which the female characters pretend they're princesses escaping from a tower. They're not only brave and resourceful--they have MacGuyveresque skill at inventing equipment they'll need for their escape, and concealing that equipment in their frilly dresses, glass slippers, and Princess-Leia-parody hairdos.

How did I find out that my kid's definition of the word princess was about physical heroism and engineering prowess?

I heard him declaring, "I am a princess!" and when I turned around expecting to see him cross-dressing, I saw him standing on a stepladder, poised to swing, Tarzan-like, from the string of the venetian blinds.

(Yes, I know, no blinds with strings in a house with small children. Childproofing is one of those projects that never ends.)

There may not be much help for my nieces until they're old enough to read Robin McKinley's novels and Jack Zipes's wonderful collections of revisionist fairy tales, but at least the reimagining of princesses that's happened for older audiences has trickled down enough to reach some boys. When Katherine, Zoe, and Eleanor are old enough to wear their frilly dresses for male eyes rather than their own or their female peers', there will be at least a few boys out there, and maybe more than a few, whose buried childhood mental associations for those dresses are with martial arts moves and rocket slippers.

Comments

[garybart.livejournal.com]

Zounds!

Did fetch the step-ladder for himself, or was it out for use during the fixing of the patio?

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

At my height, I need a stepladder routinely, just to empty the dishwasher. Gareth recently got strong enough to move it around the kitchen by himself. We need to get more cunning about securing it.

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

Darn! If only the princess outfits of my own childhood had come with rocket slippers and ninja throwing stars! I had to make the throwing stars myself out of tin-can lids, and rocket slippers never even occurred to me. Climbing trees in frilly dresses mostly just gets you yelled at by your Mom for ruining them though...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

My first thought: Did the throwing stars work? What did you use to cut them into shape, and how did you balance them?

My second thought (I'm such a mom): You could have gotten tetanus!

My sister's made sure her girls have plastic armor and plastic medieval weaponry, but apparently those are used for separate, and very different, play from the princess-play, which mostly involves pirouetting in front of mirrors. My sister-in-law doesn't allow toy weapons of any kind, but then, she also doesn't allow television, so there's less pirouetting and mirror fixation for that niece.

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

The throwing stars were made by utterly ruining a pair of scissors, were largely unbalanced, but occasionally would go where you wanted them to (and once got stuck too high up on a telephone pole to retrieve). I avoided the tetanus lecture by the expedient of forgetting to mention them to any adults whatsoever. As childhood experiments go, the do-it-yourself throwing stars weren't really all that successful, but I remember them fondly.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

FANTASTIC!!

Must get a copy of this series for the nieces.

Oh, and I have discovered that the payment for our Happy New Person gift did not go through (using a US-based website). Much embarrassment. We will rectify.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

No need for embarrassment, and thank you for thinking of us.

And yes, your nieces must have (and may already have) The Backyardigans. Wikipedia says it's released in a British version with different voice actors, so kids can hear it in a familiar accent.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

Can my daughter hang out with your son for a bit, she thinks being a princess is about the glitz and glamour and having servants /sigh.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

If I ever make it to the Twin Cities, I would love to make that happen. (Am I right in remembering that you live in the Sucking Vortex of Milk and Honey? I've started assuming that everyone whose geography is uncertain lives in Minnesota.)

If you allow television for your daughter, you might want to get the other princess-related Backyardigans episode, "The Secret of the Nile," in which the character pretending to be a princess starts out glamor-obsessed and bossy, but goes on a quest for better manners so she can save all of Egypt.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

We used to be in the sucking vortex but somehow managed to escape the gravitational pull. We now live in Co. Kildare in Ireland. Kate generally watches CeBebies which is the BBC's children's channel but has more recently started watching Tiny Pops which I 'm not as happy about. I'll have to check into the Backyardigans it sounds like a delightful series.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Wow. How wonderful.

[spookyhandle.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic.

we've got a whole wide world to explore...

[(Anonymous)]

The Backyardigans rock!
So far my boy only associates princesses with dresses.
I mean, he puts one on every night (his tub-exiting towel: "daddy, get my princess dress!") but hopefully that association will change over time.
I'll look for the tower episode.
thanks! -greg

Re: we've got a whole wide world to explore...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

And for bonus college in-joke, the episode's title is "Break Out!"

When Gareth finishes his bath, we sing him the old Vassar Hygiene Song while we towel him off.

[tracyandrook.livejournal.com]

My brother found Disney to be a successful fail-safe vacation for his family. They are very high on Disney. The girls have all manner of Disney Princess stuff. But, as children, they find transitioning to a clever, adventuresome identity not so difficult. Things are not so fossilized into this versus that.
The swingset becomes an airship, and we sail forth over the landscape of Raritania.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I hold out hope for that transition. A friend who grew up with a collection of Barbies assures me that Barbie dolls are as likely to be used as characters in epic improvisational puppet theater with transgressive plots as to be used for learning fashion norms.

[happy-dr-friend.livejournal.com]

My little one associates princess with being the person who gets to boss others around. While wearing frilly clothes. She likes the clothes and dressing up but it's the being in charge part that really intrigues her.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Looking around at the novels I've got on my shelves, I have to concede that being in charge seems to intrigue me, too.

[puckmls.livejournal.com]

Reading your post reminded me of when Rowan was going through toilet training and had a Disney Princess potty. catpaw67 found this ironic and amusing.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Hey, whatever works.

One of the weirder ancient objects that used to be in the ancestral Adirondack cabin was a bone-china Limoges chamber pot with hand painted gold flourishes. I remember thinking it looked like something that ought to be under a princess's bed.

So, if little girls around the world now have princess potties to entice them to learn their potty skills, I wonder what actual princesses' caregivers resort to.

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

Ha, we were watching that episode yesterday, as requested by my son. Those rocket shoes were really cool and using the frilly dresses as parachutes was brilliant.

There is a book by the title of Tatterhood with fairy tales featuring female protagonists. I will have to check my copy but I think it is for slightly older than preschool age kids. Also if you get a more extensive fairy tale collection rather than just the Disney favorites there are a fair number of ones with girls in an active role.

That being said, my not yet 2 year old daughter is practically obsessed with plastic beads and other dress up jewelery. And I'm not sure what message (mixed?)I'm sending by getting the kids wooden trains to paint and making hers "princess pink." At least it cuts down the chances of her brother stealing it. Maybe I should try and paint one to look like the train in the Backyardigans Catch That Train episode.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

I have 'Tatterhood' - it's fab!

I'm sure there wasn't this amount of pink and glitter around when I was little. There are very few photos I can find of my sister or myself (or any other kids) wearing it in the 70s. Now, when you go to the kids' department of any shop, there's far more emphasis on khaki and blue for boys and what T calls "the explosion of pink" for girls.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I've stockpiled extra copies of Tatterhood for the nieces, for when they're old enough to like a book with so many words and so few pictures. This year, they should be just about old enough for The Paper Bag Princess, which every little girl needs.

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

Definitely putting The Paper Bag Princess on my daughter's holiday gift list.

And in another strike at gender equity in out house I got both my son and daughter glittery pink princess storage bins with wheels (on clearance). They have both been happily wheeling toys around in them for days.

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

I think that the pink in the 60's-70's was more likely to show up as things like bedspreads and curtains for canopy beds... at least when it wasn't showing up as hot-pants paired with go-go boots. I had a few pink dresses, but they were generally of the Easter dress variety (which were just as likely to be yellow or green or lavender).