The new Disney movie Tangled has added a fresh face to the Disney princesses: Rapunzel herself, voiced by Mandy Moore. This got me thinking...
Has anyone ever wondered why Alice is missing? You know, the lovable and carefree wee teenager who stumbles through the rabbit hole in perhaps the most interesting Disney adaptation ever? She is not what has been dubbed a "Disney Princess," which includes 10 different characters beginning with the first literal princess in 1937: Snow White. That black-haired beauty with the high-pitched trills was followed by Cinderalla in 1950, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) in 1959, Ariel (The Little Mermaid) in 1989, Belle (Beauty and the Beast) in 1991, Jasmine (Aladdin) in 1992, Pocahontas in 1995, Mulan in 1998, Tiana (The Princess and the Frog) in 2009, and Rapunzel (Tangled) in 2010. That means certain characters, including Tinkerbell, Alice, Wendy (Peter Pan) and Megora (Hercules) were deemed unfit to rule, so to speak. According to the knowledge of Wikipedia, Alice from Alice in Wonderland was excluded for unknown reasons. She is even included in some of the less official Disney Princess appearances alongside the princess crew, but continues to receive the official shaft. I don't think royal heritage or marrying into a royal family is the reason, or at least it shouldn't be now, because Mulan qualifies under neither. My guess is that Alice would screw up the Disney Princess art by being a full head or two shorter than the rest of the long-limb ladies. Interestingly enough, she also is the only Disney heroine to not dabble in romance. Even Tinkerbell has the hots for SOMEONE (sorry Tink, Pan likes Wendy)... but not Alice. That isn't to say the real Disney Princesses don't have real motivations and whatnot, but they all seem to walk a picture perfect line between being independent show stoppers while also attracting and pursuing a man--who in the end is included in the final shot of the movie, smooching the lips off the Disney Princess. The only exception to the kissing rule is Mulan (again), and I have to guess it's because Disney decided to pay some respect to the culture of the characters. So while I love Disney movies to death and will continue to keep my VHS versions stored behind lock and key, I also continue to believe that there are some real curmudgeons working behind the scenes at that place. But hey, at least they've committed to including more races in the lineup. Of the past five official Disney princesses, four of them were non-white characters. Now all we need is an Eskimo princess and a Latin princess--then our social experiment will be complete! "Curiouser and curiouser..." -Alice in Wonderland
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