Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
Economists have pointed out that the ‘princess’ fantasy seems to grow during times of economic slowdowns.
Some parents worry how the ‘rescue me’ message of the princess fantasy will impact their daughter's expectations in life.
Sociologists see the 'princess scenario' as an easy way to categorize girls and women when the complexities of our true nature allude us.
But what do you think about the fantasy? Do we make a big deal for nothing, or should we be cautious even when it comes to a little girl’s favorite dolls, toys and play games?
The princess debate is no new topic. From the feminist perspective regarding Cinderella, to the hidden meaning behind Julia Robert's Pretty Women, we are anxious about how we culture our young. But still, the fantasy is as old as it is endearing, so are we reading into this way too much?
Re: Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
mmh, interesting... I would be interested to know if this is a trans-cultural phenomenon. like, is there something like this in China, and if so, does it only come from Disney movies being available here? anyone?
personally, I don't think playing princess will do too much harm, really. Particularly, I wouldn't think the 'rescue-me-message' is the only thing girls go for here (if at all), even if we consider the whole thing having big gender role implications. Doesn't being a princess also imply being special, pretty etc.? Boys want to play cowboy, too, and this probably does not imply they want to live alone among cows...
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Re: Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
I don't recall wanting to be a cowboy when i was little ... though I do remember wanting to be Luke Skywalker.
Try as I might, I can't seem to connect and neuroses and/or problems in my adult life that are directly connected to my hours of pretending to swing a light saber and shoot a ray gun at imaginary enemies.
(though in the strictest sense, if I spent that time studying physics instead, perhaps I'd be Einstein now)
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Re: Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
true, admin - for the record, I don't recall wanting to play princess, either. But I agree, pretending to be Ronia the Rubber's Daughter probably won't come up in any psychotherapy sessions of mine, either.
And I doubt that Einstein himself did spend his childhood studying physics! He was probably running around, happily pretending to be a knight or something...
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Our daughter seems to have made an amalgam of ballerina, fairy, princess, and butterfly play. She is 4.5 and doesn't watch Disney films, though she is attracted to their line of princess characters in toy stores and on stickers. She does have some storybooks about princesses, but that came after she already had a thing for them. It all began, according to my wife, when Reina was plying with older friends who were already into princesses (dress up, toys, bags, etc.). Presently, Reina likes tiaras, wings, wands, dresses that flow well when dancing. I cannot speak to other children, but the whole dress up and pretend thing is fun for my daughter. She's still has no interest in Disney films as they are too scary (she's not a fan of mean characters) and we're happy not to bother with them, but for now I've got a ballerina-fairy-princess on my hands.
Admn, Han Solo was a cowboy. I guess Luke was a knight in whining armor. It is interesting how influential the Star Wars franchise was on our generation (and even today's generation to a degree).
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My Daughter's Kindergarden is a strong advocator of No Princess Fantacy to Children, and I am all hands& Feet up to support it, but in the reality lift, it dosen't stop my 4 and half year old daughter insisting dressing up as Snow White to every party she attends. We just cannot live a life without exposing to Princesses - Disney defiantly made it worse. How much do I wprty about it? Only at the moment when my daughter gazing herself in the mirror and totally forgot brushing her teeth, and asking if she does look like Snow White. Well I guess I can say: I bet Snow White bushes her teeth everyday, because I can imagine the prince willing to kiss her with bad breath and full mouth of yellow teeth with holes( cavities). Got to remember to use that next time!
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Re: Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
I don't think this is exactly worrying but it does have an effect on girls, definitely, and we should know it.
It sends a message that girls should be pretty and need a prince to be happy ... So it's probably best to balance princess tales with other stories and heros, which show other qualities than being patient and a good housekeeper (yes I'm looking at you, Cinderella).
At home we have a few Disney movies but they're mainly Pixar stuff (Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, ...) and so far, our 4 year-old daughter likes Rapunzel just as much as Spiderman. At school she plays with girls and boys alike - although at first, the boys wouldn't play pirates with her. What we did is we showed her pics of Elizabeth Bennet from Pirates of the Carribean (yeah well, it's not like the world is roaming with lady pirates) and explained to her that hell, she can be whatever she likes. Now the boys seem good with that and as far as I know, they all play and fight together.
Hopefully though, she'll find out piracy isn't maybe the best career path ever before getting into college ...
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Re: Princesses: Should We Be Worried About the Fantasy?
Emilie B, you make a good point about not teaching them they need a prince to rescue them. So far, Reina's penchant for dressing as a princess has nothing to do with a prince and everything to do with the clothes and the accessories. She likes to look like a princess while she is playing other things (like buy kitty from the pet store for the thousandth time).
I do know of one pirate girl that boys and girls alike can relate to, Penelope the Purple Pirate. I blogged about the storybook here.
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Actually, this is very prevelant amongst grown women here. Especially in Shanghai...
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