Princesses

I finally watched "Frozen." We rented it.  I will probably buy it.  Here are my thoughts:

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• I thought it was cute.  I like the music.  "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" has been in my head for 3 days.  
• That crazy Mormon blogger lady who said it was a secret message about gay marriage . . .  what was she smoking?  It's like saying "Robin Hood" is trying to push a liberal agenda to socialize America or that "Shrek" is giving it's approval to obesity in America.  I don't know.  You can stretch anything to make it seem like what you want. (Did the woman who wrote that know that Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa, played a lesbian character in the original Broadway cast of "Rent?"  Is that why she didn't approve?)
• I liked Kristoff and of course Olaf and Sven.
• And then my thoughts led to what could be a long dissertation on Princesses, but I'll try to keep it brief.

I really like Disney. I really like Disneyland.  I think Disney movies are by far the most wholesome, good, family friendly movies out there.  However, maybe it is my tomboyish nature, lack of interest in fancy dresses, or stubbornness to do things on my own, but I've never liked Disney princesses.  I think "Robin Hood" was one of my favorite movies growing up, not the "Little Mermaid" or "Cinderella."  I've always had issues with princesses.  I would go so far as to define them as stupid-girls-who-can't-be-validated-or-confident-without-some-dumb-prince-to-save-them.  I've always wondered why we would encourage little girls to fit the role of the helpless princess and in our home (though Molly does have her fair share of princess crap), we have intentionally tried to keep things 1) gender neutral and 2) non-princess. Molly loves books, toys of all kinds, and all sorts of things.  She likes Disney stuff and can identify most princesses, but it is only one small part of her 3-year-old repertoire.   

To my point . . .  I commend Disney for the new-style princess in more recent movies.  Here are some examples and what I like about them.

• "Tangled" - though she is a bit naive, she doesn't hesitate to stand up for herself and hit anyone who crosses her with that frying pan.  She wants to leave the tower to pursue her dream and not just to find a prince.
• "Princess and the Frog" - This character wants to own her own business, is extremely hard-working, and is skeptical of everyone.  Though she has to find a good balance of work and family in the end, she does it on her own terms.
• "Brave" - Merida, too, has her own thoughts and opinions on things.  She can be a little disrespectful to her parents, but she doesn't know any other way to get her point across.  She challenges tradition because it is not what's in the best interest of her generation.  In the end, she finds a way to still love her parents and choose her own destiny.
• "Frozen" - I think what I liked about this was that "true love" in the end was the sisterly love.  Elsa and Anna save themselves without having to involve a prince at all.  Plus, the hard-working middle class Kristoff is much more gracious to the girls than the prince ever was.  I liked that.

I could go on, but I will stop.

Basically, my point is that I liked "Frozen" and I like recent Disney movies that send better messages to young girls than some of the older classics.  The end.

I could go on about how this relates to crazy Mormon women protesting General Conference because the want to hold the priesthood, but I'll stop before you get the wrong idea.