Disney animated films feature concise stories with character arcs and conflicts that can be resolved in a tight 90-minute runtime. The key difference that sets the Disney Channel heroines and their stories apart from those of the traditional princess’ is the demonstration of growth. They go to school, face bullies and try to do good by their families while also growing up in to the kind of person they want to be.
While they do have to traverse fantastical elements and otherworldly domains, they also deal with the relatable struggles that come with youth. They’re allowed to be funny and quirky on their own without funny sidekicks and wear clothes the speak to who they are, not what they can sell as dolls. They are identifiable portraits of the kind of young people that are likely watching their stories unfold. Kids with flaws, emotions and baggage that can’t be expressed or gratified with a song.
Luz, Anne and Molly are allowed to exist and grow as exactly what they are: kids. These personality traits are not mutually exclusive to these characters and can be found in most of the modern Disney princesses, but what makes these characters stronger than the princesses is that none of them are poised to be the hero of a romanticized fairy tale none of them are being positioned to become “the fairest of them all." They are not put on a pedestal as the next ruler in line, the “chosen one,” or even the newest lead in the grand Disney animation tradition to be marketed as a picture-perfect role model. Having been labeled a “weirdo” in her human home, Luz’s passion for learning and discovery makes her feel right at home among the Isle’s griffins and giraffes. In The Owl House, Luz Noceda ( Sarah-Nicole Robles) is an aspiring teenage witch who is spirted away to a demon realm known as The Boiling Isles.
She begins the series with a bout of adolescent selfishness, but grows into her own as a devout friend and fearless champion of the Planter family. In Amphibia, Anne Boonchuy ( Brenda Song), also of Thai decent, finds herself caught in the middle of the feudal lives and struggles of a swamp-life society inhabited by toads, frogs and lizards. She is an optimistic opportunist with a love for people that drives her to be an active member of her newfound community. In The Ghost and Molly McGee, the titular McGee ( Ashly Burch) is a Thai-American tween who navigates her family’s new hometown of Brighton with a curmudgeonly apparition named Scratch ( Dana Snyder), who is cursed to be her best friend forever. Characters like Molly McGee, Anne Boonchuy and Luz Noceda demonstrate strength and relatable depth of character that surpass the likes of Belle or Jasmine. While the princess ideal still reigns over the studio’s animation on the big screen (regardless of the royal status of its lead), Disney Channel’s current ventures in television animation have brought forth some of the most fully-dimensional personalities ever attributed to a female lead under the Disney name. RELATED: 'Tiana' First Look Reveals an All-New Magical Adventure in Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' Sequel Series While more proactive and independent than their predecessors, they still sing their songs, have goofy comic relief characters at their side and wear a wardrobe’s worth of dazzling fashion. It's a bare-bones plot and basic character template, but one that has proven successful for the studio across its over 80-year history of producing animated family features.Īlthough Disney films themselves of late have sought to reinvent their feminine archetype through snide metatextual digs at their own tropes with films like Enchanted and Maleficent, characters like Moana and the Arendelle sisters of Frozen still largely retain the basic framework of the idealized princess poised to be a commercialized role model. Generally, Disney “Princess” stories are hero’s journey narratives that follow an idealistic coming-of-age heroine as she overcomes adversity and her own self-worth to achieve a clearly defined want/need, which may or may not manifest in the form of a princely romance. What does it mean to be a Disney Princess? Aside from having a showstopping musical ballad, comedic sidekicks and a highly marketable dress, Disney Animation’s pantheon of fairy tale heroines has set a precedent for the kinds of female leads the studio features in their films and the stories they tell, whether they’re technically a princess or not.