The Tiara and the Thong

I'm moving from blogging about South America, Hugo Chavez and race to write about princesses.

The LA Times has an interesting piece today on the popularity of "princess" culture. Here's some of it:

In Los Angeles, Disney Princess teas held in conjunction with the release of "Princess Diaries 2" on Wednesday at the El Capitan Theater sold out their Saturday and Sunday spots weeks before the movie premiered. Those teas and other princess-themed events have become popular permanent additions to Walt Disney World attractions. In Japan, princess classes, which began in Tokyo three years ago as an attempt to introduce the new princess brand, have spread to five cities — last year, more than 15,000 girls paid $150 a pop to learn from Snow White how to love animals or from Ariel how to sing.

Recent movies like "Ella Enchanted," "The Prince & Me," "A Cinderella Story" and now "Princess Diaries 2" have hauled out all the time-honored symbols of the mythology — the jewels, the dresses, the handsome boyfriend and, of course, all that dancing.

The films, like the books many are based on, all have slight post-feminist twists, but they still adhere to the basic princess ethos: You may think for the moment that you are a normal, powerless girl plagued by mean friends and nagging parents/stepparents, but really you are a princess, with liberation and a truly excellent wardrobe just a few plot points away.

"Whether feminists like it or not," says Gary Foster, spokesman for Disney consumer products, "at some point in their lives, most girls want to be a princess."

I haven't seen the Princess Diaries 2 yet. I saw the first one back in 2001, and thought -- seriously -- that it was one of the best films of the year. I've rented it twice since.

As a pro-feminist concerned about young women, I'm not particularly troubled by the resurgent popularity of "princess-ness". The Times article explains my reasons why:

Wish-fulfillment story lines fuel many of the books and films aimed at tween and teen girls, which gives princess culture the staying power it needs to transcend the fairy tale reading years. In the preadolescent and adolescent years, many girls are beset by self-doubt, and they look to transformative narratives to give them hope and confidence.

The "rags-to-riches story is everywhere these days," says Rachel Simmons, author of "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls." "All the teen and tween movies are about girls who go from being unloved and uncool to being incredibly popular. Which is what happens to princesses."

Simmons, who works with the Empower Project, a Washington, D.C., group devoted to improving the lives of girls, says she has been surprised by the number of princess T-shirts and paraphernalia she has seen on the streets of New York and wonders if it isn't a response to the tough skate-board girl mentality that has also fueled fashion and attitudes among teens. "The princess is the last frontier of acceptable girliness," she says. She applauds any arena that allows girls to access playfulness and protects them from sexualizing themselves before they are ready. "It points to how crazy our times have become that I, as a feminist, am promoting princess culture because, hey, at least you don't have a 12-year-old wearing a thong."

Rae Dubow, a Los Angeles drama teacher, tried to show her 5-year-old daughter the other side of the fairy tale myth by reading her "Cinder Edna," a retelling of the famous tale by Cinderella's sensibly shod, eco-friendly neighbor. Cinderella, by contrast, is made to seem vain and silly. "My daughter was not at all interested in Edna," says Dubow. "All she wanted to know was why Cinderella didn't have a bigger part because she is so pretty."

Parent Erika Schickel has mixed feelings about her role in providing the items necessary for a modern princess. "As a feminist, I think, 'Of course they're obsessed with princesses because princesses are being crammed down their throat and not just from Disney, but from all these tweener movies.' But then I remember as a little girl just craving really pretty things too."

The bold emphases are mine.

Schickel is quite right when she implies that the story of the princess is deeply imbedded in our culture, and perhaps, in the psyches of a great many young girls. It would be absurdly ahistorical to give 20th-century Hollywood the credit or the blame for creating the popularity of the princess archetype; even a casual student of folk culture knows that "princess stories" (often with a rags-to-riches theme) go back many centuries in European culture.

But what I really appreciate about princess culture is that it offers young girls (and not-so-young ones) the opportunity to celebrate the feminine without having to cope with dangerous, exploitative, premature sexualization. Princesses, at least as portrayed in the first "Princess Diaries" film, aren't merely pretty girls with nice clothes (though the clothes are important). Princesses are also expected to be brave, kind, thoughtful, and, yes, independent. (The "queen" in both films, played by the incomparable Julie Andrews, is a widow; clever, witty, and very strong.) If the popular "princess classes" mentioned above are teaching young girls how to love animals (though most young girls don't need to be taught that) and how to enjoy a proper tea, than I say "hallelujah."

The culture of the thong (which I've written about in other contexts here and here) revolves around the sexualization of young girls. "Thong culture" teaches girls that the attention and the validation that they crave can be had easily, both by displaying flesh and by being sexually accessible to young (and sometimes not so young) boys.

For all of its silliness, "tiara culture" seems far less bound up with the urgent pursuit of male attention. Look, when and if I have a daughter, my first choice would be to have her in track spikes and soccer cleats from the time she can walk. But if faced with the choice between having her walk around with a tiara on her head or in a thong that rides up out of her low-cut jeans, I'm pretty clear on the fact that I'd pick the former.

Perhaps I'll go to Target and buy a whole bunch of plastic tiaras for the girls in my youth group at All Saints.

Comments

[Russell Arben Fox]

Excellent thoughts, as usual Hugo. As the father of three girls, the oldest of which has just turned eight, the whole princess is something that Melissa and I have resigned ourselves to. And frankly, we have discovered, to our surprise, that we don't mind, for pretty much the same reason you express: there are many better "worlds" our girls could project themselves into (like, for example, Olympic gymnastics, which they are also lapping up)...but there are many worse ones as well. On the balance, I'm happy to have my daughters (especially the oldest one) imagine themselves as one of these 21st-century princesses, because that just gives us one more way to help them distinguish themselves from the tawdry and debased attitudes and expectations which dominate the lives of so many other young girls.

Incidentally, my wife took our two oldest girls to Princess Diaries 2; she said that while it wasn't nearly as funny or cool as the first one, it did manage one very neat trick: beyond simply resisting the idea of arranged marriage and striking a blow for choosing one's own love, the movie actually ends with Princess Mia becoming queen without being rushed into any marriage whatsoever. The only wedding in the film is Queen Clarice's.

[Jen]

I actually really liked Princess Diaries 2. I thought it was just as cute as the first and showed a very mature and wise Mia.

I think that 'CinderEdna' is a really cute book and a must read if you have little girls.

I also think it's a shame that we don't have our girls looking up to women like Crown Princess Mary of Denmark or Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. But, this could go back to US kids not knowing any other culture than their own. (arg!)

Ok, enough randomness. Should have just made my own blog about this, but it's much more fun to write on your blog. ;-)

(And my girls will never have a thong that is visible. I am going to raise them with more self respect.)

[Luis]

Great blog, my friend. I'm adding the feed of your blog onto my Bloglines subscription list.

Good job, and keep up to work.

Latin American blogger, Luis

[Emily]

Interesting. If I can remember accurately that far back, when my 25-year-old was a kid in the 80s, the dolls and fantasies on the market were about warrior princesses. She had several. I think one was called "Shanna, Princess of Power".

When my daughter was seven and in a grocery store with me, she was daydreaming about this. She took a broom in the household goods aisle and brandished it, proclaiming "I am Shanna, Princess of Power."

The Warrior Princess fantasy suggests a dangerous world where warrior women come to the aid of the oppressed. Even those little horses with wings that were popular in the 80s spent their time coming to the aid of the oppressed.

[elizabeth]

I can't believe Russell gave away the ending of the movie! =)

Seriously, though, Hugo, what a great topic.

[Col Steve]

Perhaps Jessica Cutler should have seen the first movie.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54736-2004Aug10.html

[Hugo]

What rock do I live under? How had I avoided hearing about Jessica Cutler until this link?

How blessed was I in my previous ignorance!

[Lawrence Krubner]

"But what I really appreciate about princess culture is that it offers young girls (and not-so-young ones) the opportunity to celebrate the feminine without having to cope with dangerous, exploitative, premature sexualization."

Perhaps you could clarify this. Are you saying that in the best of all possible world's you'd be opposed to princess-themed stories, but you'll support them for now because our culture is so hyper-sexualized, or are you saying, simply, that you support princess-themed stories, because young girls like them and find them a way to express their wish-fulfillment fantasies?

[Hugo]

Good question, LK. I'm saying a bit of both. I certainly am not comfortable with princess-themed stories as the only narrative presented to young girls, just as I am not happy about warrior-themed tales as the sole narrative for their brothers. But I do think the princess story, when presented alongside others, speaks to something very deep inside the psyche of most young girls.

[Lawrence Krubner]

"Perhaps Jessica Cutler should have seen the first movie."

I'd be careful about drawing that conclusion. I think a woman can believe in princess fairy tales and still engage in a bout of promiscuity between long term relationships. If belief in princess fairy tales actually lead to healthy relationships, then that would be a wonderful fact in favor of such fairy tales, but what I've seen is mostly the opposite. Often the women who cling the most tightly to princess themes have the hardest time dealing with the actual reality of building a relationship with a man.

Also, (I wrote about this on my weblog) though the Washington Post tries to present Jessica Culter as something new, she fits a pattern I've seen ever since I went to college, almost 20 years ago: a woman ends her long-term, monogamous relationship and briefly engages in a bout of promiscuity. If Culter is still dating 6 men 2 years from now, then maybe she represents something new, but to sleep around for a few months between serious relationships is not something new. I can speak from personal experience on this, that's been going on at least since the 80s, and probably much earlier than that.