A Bleak Future for Disney Princesses(R)?

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

so here comes this article alleging that the Disney Princess® is about to become obsolete or at least endangered, here are a few quotes:

"They may come back later because someone has a fresh take on it," Lasseter's Disney Animation co-chief Ed Catmull told the L.A. Times, "but we don't have any other musicals or fairy tales lined up." One reason is because the studio is fearful of alienating young boys, who supposedly won't see something like last year's "The Princess and the Frog." The other reason, frighteningly, is that young girls consider themselves too cool to want to be princesses.

Media critic Dafna Lemish, who has written about the influence of film and television on children, said in the same article, "By the time they're 5 or 6, [girls are] not interested in being princesses. They're interested in being hot, in being cool. Clearly, they see this is what society values." (That's right: A girl born in 2005 already is worrying about how "hot" she is. Have fun with that, moms and dads of the world.)

I have to think that Disney is not about to completely stop the Princess® biz, or at least the associated moichandise

hell, up until the Renaissance and Pixar, the Princess® formula was the only consistent breadwinner (insert jokes on that here) of the Disney media empire after Walt himself died

but to an extent, I do think the Princess® formula is extremely stale, and IMO it peaked with Sleeping Beauty, and all others that have tried since are mere imitators at best, including the somewhat overrated Beauty and the Beast (don't throw any rotten tomatoes, please!)

couple all this with Disney's buyout of Marvel and the many Marvel properties about to be pimped out for years to come, it is almost like Disney is trying to be to the male demographic what it has been (for the most part) to young girls over recent decades

on a side note, I wonder how well the influence of John Lasseter is going to translate in his role outside of Pixar in trying to rejuvenate non-Pixar Disney animation

I am a tad concerned he may try way too hard to be all things to all people like Katzenberg/Eisner miserably failed in doing rather than just telling good and interesting stories like Pixar has pretty much done consistently since Toy Story

your thoughts?

discuss...

[DevRei17]

Screw Disney. There time has come and pass as the king of animation. Are world has change far too much for any of Disney's old formulas to work on today's society. They'll still have the classics and they can always leech off Pixar (overrated but still better then the latter and Dreamworks IMHO).
As for me, I'll look to Japan and possibly Russia for quality animation.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

Russia?

I have heard of South Korea and even Canada having a serious animation industry, but Russia?

I know Russia is desperate to diversify its economy beyond energy, but animation?

[Skyler]

Russia?

I have heard of South Korea and even Canada having a serious animation industry, but Russia?

I know Russia is desperate to diversify its economy beyond energy, but animation?

You read my mind
whats this i hear about Russia?

[Xard]

itt amerifags who have no idea about Russia's rich and artistically deep animation history

See for example Yuri Norshteyn and films like The Old Man and the Sea

[DevRei17]

itt amerifags who have no idea about Russia's rich and artistically deep animation history

See for example Yuri Norshteyn and films like The Old Man and the Sea

I love ya Xard!
See also Hedgehog in the Fog.

[lilim]

the reasoning that girls just don't want to be princesses because they'd rather be hot and cool is just disgusting. when i was little, i didn't care about any of that crap. actually. i don't care about it now either so maybe that's just me. but it's depressing to think that Disney is going to change like that :/

i don't think they should totally eliminate the princesses, why can't they just do movies like that occasionally? it's not like there are THAT many good stories to work with for that genre and they won't ever have quite the same charm as the Disney movies anyway. at least this way if they did something like Princess and the Frog every so often, it might get kids interested in the older ones, and it'd be cool for the older fans who might miss that. i thought that movie did a pretty good job of being a throwback to the old Disney.

[Xard]

I love ya Xard!
See also Hedgehog in the Fog.

It never ceazes to amaze me when (stereotypically) americans go "wait what, there's culture in Russia...AND EVEN FROM USSR PERIOD? :O" again and again. All things considered Russia's cultural heritage is still richer than the New World's

[Xeroko]

I'm not too cool to wanna be a princess :P

but that'd be a shame if they went away, most of my favorites have them, though I still need to see the Princess and the Frog...

[TehDonutKing]

They should keep making the movies, but only hire people that have actually seen the damned things to make the merchandise.

[C.A.P.]

Eh, business as usual for animation here in America. It'll be back; didn't they say the same thing years ago?

And Sleeping Beauty was not the peak of Disney aniamtion.

[Xard]

And Sleeping Beauty was not the peak of Disney aniamtion.

That would be way back in 40s

Well, I really like Atlantis too. I can't be the only one...right?

Oh well, best american animated film from last two decades is Iron Giant. What an amazing film. I even rank it above Pixar's films (well, Toy Story 2 is up there...)

[TehDonutKing]

Atlantis is even better once you know of the events it was based on.

[Xard]

Atlantis is even better once you know of the events it was based on.

I didn't know Atlantis is one of those "based on true events" films...

[C.A.P.]

That would be way back in 40s

Indeed.

[TehDonutKing]

I didn't know Atlantis is one of those "based on true events" films...

Somewhat. The main idea and the characters were based on a true story.

Milo, Vinny, and several others were killed when the submarine wrecked. At least that's what the survivors said. I might be wrong, because this is just what I remember from a book I checked out from the library back in September.

[BrikHaus]

couple all this with Disney's buyout of Marvel and the many Marvel properties about to be pimped out for years to come

The Marvel pimp-out was well under way before Disney bought them.

itt amerifags who have no idea about Russia's rich and artistically deep animation history

You guys act like you've actually seen these pieces of shit. No you haven't, don't even pretend.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Hm... do girls these days want to be princesses, or Ripley from Alien?

A lot of little girls still like that princess idea, but I'm not sure if ages 0-10 is a very profitable marketing target anymore; male or female. After girls hit 10 they're interests start to diversify into other things. From my experience with kids that age, they suddenly have an iPod and a Nintendo DS in their hands. Sometimes even a cell phone. They like talking with friends, listening to music, and a whole lot of other things that take place of the bed-times stories the kids of yesteryear enjoyed.

They still like romance and things like that, but it's not so fantasized in medieval castles and dragon-slaying knights anymore. It's been more modernized, and there aren't many obvious archetypes for modern day princesses anymore.

[Oz]

Having worked as a library assistant for 3 months, I can tell that princesses are still very much loved by girls below the age of 10. There's always someone asking for princess books or actually borrowing something without even asking for help.

[toe mash]

your thoughts?

If I was still a 9 year old girl I'd be weeping right now.

Regarding the stereotypical uneducated amerifag, just yesterday I was re-watching scenes from Fantastic Planet. Fightan the stigma! :lol (well not living in the US already teaches you a lot I suppose)