6 Things That Disney Women Taught Us!
If you were ever a fairy tale or mythology fan, then you have probably grown up being a Disney fan too.
For me, Disney has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And here are few of the things that Disney taught me about women:
1. “I’m a damsel, I’m in distress, I can handle this.”
The stereotypical Disney princess/girl is often showcased as a damsel in distress like Cinderella or Snow White who need a prince to save her from her scary life. However, despite of this stereotype, it was the fast talking, no-nonsense human heroine Megara who ended up saving Hercules, an actual Greek God and gave us the phrase from above. She taught us that as far as a problem is expected, we can have it covered, provided we believe that we can handle this.
2. You don’t need anyone to complete you.
Although most of the Disney women like Ariel needed a man to be happy, Brave’s lead heroine, Merida never wanted to get married. She wanted to stay single and ride through the glen firing arrows in the sunset. And not to forget how beautiful it was. Merida taught us that it’s okay if finding love isn’t your top priority. What needs to be your priority is that you follow your heart and live the life you wanted to.
3. Falling in love doesn’t mean sacrificing your dreams. It means that you have someone else to support you on your way.
In The Frog Prince, Tiana wished upon a star but not for love, for her restaurant. She had this unquenchable passion in her to make her restaurant work, which did not vanish throughout the movie. Not to forget that even after she and Naveen fell in love, she never gave up on her dream. She showed us the way things should be when it comes to dreams and love.
4. Never “conceal, don’t feel.”
Throughout Frozen, Elsa tries to always ‘conceal, don’t feel’ her true nature which ended up nearly destroying as well as her sister until she realized to let it all go. Elsa taught us that it is okay to follow one’s instincts and that everything would turn out okay in the end (as long as those instincts don’t say to freeze a whole country).
5. It’s okay to be different and not let the society define you for you.
When the story of Beauty and the Beast began, everyone thought that Belle was a queer girl just because she would read books and wasn’t like everyone else but she never let that get in her way. When the beast initially kidnapped her, we know that the beast was a beast by nature too. But slowly, as the story unfolded, we realized that he began respecting her, which in turn made her respect him too. Thus, even though they had their differences, they were able to love each other so it’s okay to be a little different.
6. Never lose hope and be kind.
Even though Cinderella’s step-family would always pile her with loads of work and wouldn’t let her even sleep on her own bed, she had hope. She taught us that it is okay to dream on, and hope that things would turn out for the better in the end and to not let go of her principles merely because some people didn’t have some. Cinderella taught us that being kind can mean happiness too. (And who knows, if luck has it, maybe the person you are kind to turns out to be a fairy godmother to grant you wishes.)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is written by Ritika Chhabra, our intern.