Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore
Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host, David, and today we’re going to celebrate some amazing, animated heroines!
I realize I teased a hockey movie episode at the end of May’s Best & Worst show, but the World Cup and my OCD got in the way, so that episode has been postponed. It will still be happening, but it’ll be at the start of the hockey season instead of at the end of it.
So today is all about the Princesses. A fitting episode for Father’s Day even though most of these ladies’ fathers aren’t very good at being fathers.
You know how I feel about Disney in general, but I am all in on the Princesses, and today we’re going to celebrate four of them in our Official Cinema Wellman Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore.
I am lucky enough to have visited the real Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota three times in my life and it is a magical place, especially when no one is there and you can watch the sun come up on those big heads.
There are four presidents on Mt. Rushmore, so we’ll have four princesses on this Cinema Wellman Rushmore.
For this episode I didn’t want to just give you my Princess Rushmore, so I once again asked for help in determining the final lineup.
I ended up getting input from 15 people, so this final four came from them and not me.
While researching this episode I found that while there is an official list of Disney Princesses, there is NOT an official list of criteria for making that list.
First, the lineup of 13 Princesses!
Presented in chronological order of their film’s release:
Snow White
Cinderella
Aurora a.k.a. Briar Rose a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty
Ariel
Belle
Jasmine
Pocahontas
Mulan
Tiana
Rapunzel
Merida
Moana
Raya
And what gets you on this list?
Unofficially, of course:
*You must star in a theatrically released animated Disney or Pixar film
(NO straight to video princesses!)
*You are usually royal by birth, marriage, or tribal leadership
*You must be human/mostly human (and I’m not sure what they mean by “mostly” human)
*You must be central to the story
So if that’s what it takes to get “Princess Status,” who gets snubbed?
Mirabel Madrigal from Encanto - not royal
Alice from Alice in Wonderland - not royal, but has certainly seen some shit
Giselle from Enchanted - hybrid animation/live action character
Tinkerbell - not human
Princess Leia (not animated, but Disney does own her and she’s a princess!)
And then there’s the debate surrounding Frozen’s Elsa & Anna.
While they do meet the criteria for admission to the club, I read that the Frozen brand became too gigantic to simply place those two characters under the regular Disney Princess umbrella.
In other words, Elsa & Anna aren’t Disney Princesses because of Disney greed. The rat’s gotta eat.
Six of those “unofficial princesses” earned votes in my polling because I wasn’t about to tell someone that their character wasn’t “Princess Worthy.”
I’ll leave that to Disney.
I’ll get to our Mt. Rushmore in a bit, but first I want to talk a little about the “2nd Tier” of Princesses according to our voting.
These ladies finished 5th through 8th in our very unscientific, yet heartfelt, poll:
Merida from Brave, Rapunzel from Tangled, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, and Pocahontas from Night of the Living Dead. (just kidding, she’s a “title character,” as you know).
Speaking of title characters, of the 13 official Disney Princesses, only FIVE are given title recognition; Snow White, Cinderella, Mulan, Moana, and Pocahontas.
I just watched a film titled Ariel, but it was a bleak Finnish rom com about a coal miner.
I’m not making that up.
Merida, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Pocahontas were our worthy runners-up to our top four ladies, and all have merit and deserve some recognition.
As I mentioned, I did not vote in these proceedings. The results came from the 15 people I enlisted for help in this project and thank you to all of them for continuing to participate in my shenanigans.
I did NOT vote, but three of our top four are on my personal Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore, and I have zero issues with today’s number four.
Presenting, in no particular order…. The Warrior, The Explorer, The Rebel Princess (no, it’s NOT Leia!), and The Intellectual.
Our Warrior Princess is courageous, clever, persistent, and strong.
Our Explorer Princess is curious, adventurous, spirited, and determined.
Our Rebel Princess is self-reliant, strong, confident, and compassionate.
Our Intellectual Princess is independent, kind, brave, and intelligent.
Firing off those adjectives like an 8th grade teacher filling out a private high school application!
Let’s begin with that Warrior Princess who is courageous, clever, persistent, and strong.
AND she’s the only member of our Mt. Rushmore who has title recognition!
From 1998, it’s Mulan, voiced by Ming-Na Wen!
IMDb: “To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.”
Mulan was the very first Disney film to be released on DVD, and it features one of only two Disney Princesses to wear trousers! The other trouser wearing princess ALSO made our final four! Wearing those pants!
Mulan is one of two left-handed princesses, and we love that! The other being Tiana.
This was Disney’s first movie to openly deal with warfare and has a body count of close to 4,000!
This Princess means business!
Disney itself emphasizes Mulan’s courage, creativity, determination, and ability to challenge expectations.
Here’s a quote of Mulan’s from one of her songs that explores the inner conflict she’s facing, and everybody has some inner conflict now and then.
"Look at Me, I will never pass for a perfect bride, or a perfect daughter
Can it be, I'm not meant to play this part?
Now I see that if I were truly to be myself,
I would break my family's heart
Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection someone I don't know?
Somehow, I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried
When will my reflection show who I am inside?
You can be strong and still struggle with inner conflict, that's for sure.
There seems to be some interest in a future episode about Disney Princess sidekicks, so I’ll mention that Mulan’s sidekick is Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy.
Our next princess is our Explorer Princess, and she is curious, adventurous, spirited, and determined.
From 1989’s The Little Mermaid, it’s Ariel, voiced by Jodi Benson!
IMDb: “A mermaid princess makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to become human and win a prince’s love.”
Wow. “Faustian?” Highbrow allusion there, IMDb!
Ariel is the 1st Disney Princess with biological siblings!
Ariel is the 1st red-headed Disney Princess!
And, Ariel is the 1st Disney Princess to rescue her romantic interest! No damsel in distress here, it’s Eric in distress!
Ariel’s defining traits are her fascination with the unknown, her desire to explore, and her willingness to chase her dreams.
I’m not going to sing it, I don’t want to make you hate this movie, but once again, our princess gets her point across with a song:
"What would I give if I could live out of the water
What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand
Betcha on land they understand that they don't reprimand their daughters
Bright young women, sick of swimmin, ready to stand!
And ready to know what the people know, ask 'em my questions and get some answers!
What's a fire and why does it...what's the word? Burn!
When's it my turn?
Wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above?
Out of the sea, wish I could be part of that world!"
The old grass is greener debate brought to you by Hans Christian Andersen and Disney songwriters.
I consulted my Little Mermaid expert when it came to Ariel’s sidekick, and it would be Flounder (voiced by Jason Marin), but Sebastian (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) was also there to support Ariel and guide her way.
Our 3rd princess is our Rebel Princess, and she is self-reliant, strong, confident, and compassionate.
And she also wears trousers! Very cool Barbara Edenesque pants!
From 1992’s Aladdin, it’s Jasmine, voiced by Linda Larkin!
IMDb: “A kind-hearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier view for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.”
NO mention of Jasmine in that synopsis at all!
So while Jasmine is Disney’s 1st Middle Eastern Princess, her speaking and singing voices are provided by an American and a Filipina, so two steps forward…
Jasmine is admirable because she is someone who refuses to let others decide her future and stands up for herself and others, as shown by one of her best quotes from the film;
"How dare you! All of you! Standing around deciding my future?! I am NOT a prize to be won!"
You go, Jasmine! I, personally, have always liked her attitude.
Jasmine's sidekick is her trusty tiger Rajah who isn't voiced by anyone since he doesn't speak. He is, however, very protective of and affectionate toward our princess.
We have one princess to go and Our Intellectual Princess is independent, kind, brave, and intelligent.
Must be all those books she reads.
From 1991’s Beauty and the Beast, it’s Belle, voiced by Paige O’Hara!
IMDb: “A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman’s love.”
Belle’s blue & white dress and hairstyle were inspired by Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
Belle is our 1st brown-haired Disney Princess.
Belle is the only official Disney Princess with hazel eyes.
Belle is the 3rd Disney Princess to live in France (Cinderella & Aurora).
Belle is the ONLY Disney Princess to not wear her signature dress for the majority of the film. She only dons the yellow gown for “Tale as Old as Time” and at the very end of the film.
Belle is almost universally framed as the “book-loving” princess: curious, thoughtful, compassionate, and willing to sacrifice herself for her father.
“Can anyone be happy if they aren’t free?” and “I want so much more than they’ve got planned,” are two of Belle’s quotes that show her desire to live her best life.
When it comes to sidekicks, Belle really doesn’t have any, unless you count her “adopted” sidekicks once she moves into the castle. If they count then you have Cogsworth (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) and, my all-time favorite, Lumiere (voiced by the great Jerry Orbach).
Our official Cinema Wellman Disney Princess Mt. Rushmore is now complete! We have Mulan, Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle, and the adjectives I’ve been using throughout this episode that describe these four princesses have nothing to do with appearance.
Remember it’s what’s inside that counts, and Belle would remind us not to judge a book by its cover.
Well, that is a wrap from Cinema Wellman for a Father’s Day episode honoring Disney Princesses who are all better people than their fathers!
I can say the same about my own daughters, and I’m proud of that! (Not that I’m a bad person or anything, they’re just better…)
Next up for us will be the Best & Worst of June episode followed by a jam-packed July featuring our World Cup Episode, Cinema Wellman’s 2nd Annual Shark Week (in which we’ll rank EVERY Sharknado film, and the Top 10 and Bottom 5 of 1976 (that’s 50 years ago!), so plenty of Summer Shenanigans are planned, and we hope you’ll be here for them all!
Until then, take care.
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