The way Disney princesses have evolved over the years is reflective of the progress women have made in the real world. Girls and women have outstandingly achieved what most people thought was impossible for them. They have become doctors, lawyers, pilots, police officers, astronauts and much more.

Disney movies have been a very important part of every generation, with its amazing movies and influences on the general thinking pattern of the masses. I am really enjoying the way it is making its movies now. I mean why should a girl wait all her life

for her prince charming to come and sweep her off her feet? Doesn’t she have the right to live life the way she wants to? Of course she does! Why should a girl locked up in a castle just because a person tells her to?

I think a girl is not weak and has the right to live the way she wants and should not act like a damsel in distress and wait for a prince to come into her life and make it meaningful.

The current Disney movies focus on their princesses in a way to show them stronger than their predecessors. One of the other things which I like about the new movies is that they have enhanced the idea of true love in a better way. True love doesn’t only mean that it has to be between a girl and a boy. It can also exist in the relations of mother-daughter and sister-sister. An act of true love doesn’t mean that only a true love’s kiss can awaken someone from a curse, an act of sacrifice also shows the attributes of true love, and I personally think the latter is more realistic than the former.

I would like to quote Olaf (from Frozen) in saying that: “Love is putting someone else’s needs before yours”.

Let’s explore the evolution of Disney concepts more. Our very first Disney princess is Snow White. A beautiful and charming young girl, with skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood … she became the target of her evil stepmother. Yes, beauty is important for a girl, in this case a princess, but we should also focus on how the person is from inside as well. We should also focus on how intelligent someone is. What their heart is like from the inside.

Now comes Cinderella, a very enigmatic character with beauty that makes her stepmother and step-sisters extremely jealous. The focus is on beauty again.

I love Cinderella a lot, but I would have liked it even more if some emphasis was on her intelligence too. It would have been much better if the prince did not always fall for only the external beauty of the girl. Somehow I don’t understand how such love at first sight becomes so deep.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was a lovely girl and extremely easy for anyone to like but my question is, how could she immediately trust and love someone she just met or danced with? How can the kiss of that person be the only answer for all her problems? Or the cure to the strongest of curses?

Ariel (Little Mermaid) is an energetic princess longing to see the world above. I really liked the curiosity and the urge to discover which she had. But again how could she fall in love with a person she just rescued? She had not even talked to him properly!

I think Belle (Beauty and the Beast) was a turning point in the Disney princess character. She was brave, smart, intelligent and beautiful too. She not once hesitated to save her father from the wretched beast. She too fell in love, but she loved the beast despite his flaws and saw goodness in him. Even when he changed to a handsome prince, she first looked into his eyes and made sure he was the beast that she knew, that she was actually in love with.

Even Jasmine (Aladdin) was a driven young woman and fell in love with a commoner. She preferred the person she felt comfortable with instead of some rich and sophisticated guy in her social circle. She liked to do what she wanted and what made her happy.

If we look at Pocahontas and Mulan, they are the best examples of girls being underestimated and then becoming someone that surprise the people who didn’t believe in them. Both of them were very inspirational. Pocahontas didn’t marry her significant other, but still didn’t break down.

And why shouldn’t a girl fight in a battle if she is actually a very good warrior? Mulan had to dress up as a boy because people said girls were not capable of fighting, but she showed extreme courage and still didn’t lose hope. She fought with all her might and came out victorious.

Tiana (Princess and the Frog) was a very hardworking person and dreamt of opening her own restaurant with the money she earned herself. She did not give up and tried to find a cure of the curse she was in.

Rapunzel (Tangled) was an all-rounder in my mind. She used to perform household chores, paint, read books and did much more. She was really brave and curious, someone who wanted to explore and fulfil her dreams. She took her time in falling in love with her dream guy, when she found out exactly how he was.

Merida from Brave continued the tradition of being brave and making her decisions herself. She genuinely felt ashamed of what she did and tried her best in turning the clock backwards. I really liked that she spoke her mind and stood for herself. She did not just wait for any prince charming to come into her life.

In the more recent Disney princesses, the beauty factor is there but emphasis on the characteristics, qualities and nature is also there. And now finally our latest Disney princesses Elsa and Anna from Frozen just stole our hearts with their performances.

Elsa was really beautiful, but she was also intelligent and loving. She loved her sister from the bottom of her heart and did all she could to protect her. She even tried isolating herself, but it was no use. She found out that hiding from our weaknesses only makes them stronger. She faced her fear and tried using her power with love and it worked.

Anna, in the beginning, was a typical teenage schoolgirl type, desperately looking for her true love, not knowing the full meaning of love itself. This is something most girls go through. She was beautiful in her own way and was really confident, brave and daring. She is a figure for most to look up to. In the end, she showed the exact attributes of being an amazing leader, one who can lead to inspire. She sacrificed herself to save her sister even though she knew that if she just stood there waiting for her true love, she could save herself. She was selfless in her choice and made a very daring decision to save her sister.

And that my friends, is to me what true love is all about.

As my article nears the end I would like to give credit to all the Disney princesses for their sheer courage, beauty and selflessness, and to Disney for visualising the immense power that these fairytales held. We owe these tales some of the best moments of our childhood. I dearly love all these princesses and their stories as I, along with billions of others, have gained something from each one of them.

It is every girl’s dream to be like a Disney princess, and Disney is definitely a world “Where dreams come true”.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 2nd, 2016