Dream

Disney Princesses

I thought it would be interesting to put the Disney Princesses in order of when they each were created to see how each are a product of the year they were made as well as the evolution of them. 

Snow White (1937)

Cinderella (1950)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Aladdin (1992)

Pocahontas (1995)

Mulan (1998)

Enchanted (2007)

Princess and the Frog (2009)

Tangled (2010)

When looking at the order of these movies, I realized a definite shift before the little mermaid. She is the beginning of a shift toward a much stronger female character, which makes sense. Female stereotypes/gender expectations in the fifties and before were for the woman to be protected by the man. That still exists today, but there is also the idea of girl power, equality, and independence.   

Also, the look of the characters was definitely influenced by the times it was created and what was seen as beautiful then. Some of these elements are more obvious than others. The puffy sleeves of the 80s (Ariel), the stronger eyebrows of the late 50s (Aurora), and the hair and almost cupid-bow lips on Snow White (30s).