She Was a Beautiful Girl and All of the Animals Loved Her: Race, the Disney Princesses, and their Animal Friends

Abstract

Disney Princesses are well-known for their magical relationship to animals. They can charm the beasts with nothing more than a smile and a song, and they count on the animals’ help and protection when they get into trouble. However, this special relationship is imagined differently depending on the race of the princess in question. How does the Disney Princess Line teach audiences about their own subjectivity, about their gendered, racialized bodies, through these human/animal relationships? I contend that, in keeping with the historical linkage of people of color and animals, the Disney Princess Line presents two mirrored images of the ideal woman. White princesses are shown in positions of authority over a happy servant class of animal “subjects” who labor in their stead. Princesses of color are shown alongside animal “sidekicks” who are portrayed as being of equal stature and importance and with whom they must work in tandem to achieve their aims. While Disney’s definition of princesshood initially seems to be welcoming to girls of all races, it actually sorts its aspirants into different categories. Thus, while the gestures towards diversification in the Disney Princess line seems designed to allow the Disney corporation to reassure its audience that the company in inherently inclusive and progressive at heart, the text of the Disney Princess films continues to imagine what it means to be a “good girl” differently depending on race. Animal characters serve to illustrate these differing registers of “goodness,” different ways of relating to the world that, the films suggest, are appropriate for different types of girls.