disney's "adorkable" problem 🤪

Isn’t it funny how in an effort to make female characters not like other girls, Disney made them exactly the same?

Behind every adorkable Disney girl, there is an overconfident, cynical man that uses humour as a defense mechanism for his traumatic childhood ( Flynn Ryder, Nick Wilde, Maui etc)

The thing I'm really sick of is that every heroine since Rapunzel has the same f-ing face!

There is a reason why Elsa is so popular; she has her own powers, is independent, strong, protective, mostly rational. I wish Disney would realize this. We need more princesses who are not just silly characters, even though I like them

It's less annoying with Rapunzel (obviously she was the first example, so it wasn't overused at that point) but because it made sense with her story. She lived in a tower for 18 years and only ever talked to 1 person. It makes sense for her to be awkward and childlike.

It’s high time we had a female protagonist who’s painfully introverted, cynical and has traits from Dipper Pines

I hate the "chill out, kids don't care" argument. There is a TON of psychological research showing how media, and Disney specifically, affect children. In a lot of households, media is the only way that children get any idea of how the outside world works! Media consumption not only affects social attitudes (especially around gender and race), but it also plays a role in cognitive development. Children don't have the knowledge or vocabulary to describe what's happening - that doesn't mean they aren't affected by it.

We need more Kuzco-like characters. Jerks that know they're jerks. If they trip, they won't go "woopsies", they'll go "i'm gonna turn you into a goddamn ball".

Vanellope gets a pass in my book because… well, she is a LITERAL child. Not even a teen, just an actual child- and a bullied/shunned child at that, similar to Rapunzel, it’s a given that she would be ‘dorky’ considering her ‘upbringing’ and age

Someone called it the Death of Sincerity and I think that's on point. Disney is afraid to let people sit in their emotions lately and it kills me that it's so common now.

I just miss Disney princesses and stories being elegant and romantic and beautiful. I’m sick of the farts and burps and awkward moments.

The biggest problem with adorkable characters is that their personalities don’t fit their upbringing. Rapunzel grew up in a tower, so it makes sense for her to be awkward and naive, same goes for Anna. Asha has a lot of friends and a loving family, it would be much more fitting if she was more confident in her actions

Adorkable isn't bad. It really worked for a couple princesses. The problem is when you make ALL princesses adorkable.

Funny is that Elsa is kinda cold and stand off-ish and she's the one children love

When Tangled and Frozen first came out, I remember relating so very much to Rapunzel and Anna and thinking their personalities were a breath of fresh air. Now it's no longer special because all the heroines lately have the same exact quirks. I would rather have a thousand Mulans or Tianas over what we've been given lately. I genuinely feel like Wish would have been better recieved if the main character hadn't been such a basic phone-in

Merida was a great example of a young, stubborn, "princess" who was forced into circumstances she didn't like and tried to change only to end up causing more harm. She had depth and good timing without self deprecating. The creators allowed her to be good at something and showed this on screen. Modern Disney female protags feel belittling because they aren't really good at something. They don't have inner drive. They self depreciate to an extreme degree and lack confidence in anything. It almost feels like Disney's response to "give female characters more agency" was "make female characters meeker and more palatable". Since they don't have inner motives and drives or perceived confidence, they need stories that force them to save x. Otherwise they'd go nowhere. ((Moana was a bit different because she wanted to leave the island initially and wanted more for herself, but constant awkward self deprecating jokes undermine the determination and confidence she had in the beginning of the film when she's trying to explore).

This is why i loved Tiana, her thing was literally working hard towards her dreams and trying to become independent, go girl

I hate the argument "WhY dO YoU cArE?? It'S a KiDs mOvIe!" Kids deserve to have GOOD art. Taking advantage of the inexperience and lower analytical skills of children by giving them lazy, bad art is wrong. So critiquing this art and holding it to a higher standard is necessary if these properties aren't doing it themselves.

I once read somewhere that Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki once said that he highly respected the things Disney did for the medium of animation, but found his characters to be bland and phsychologically boring. While Miyazaki is in his 80s and has the image of behaving like a cynical boomer, I 100% agree with him on this. If you want to see realistically portrayed female characters, Miyazaki's own films are absolutely superior to Disney's.

"pls focus on your taxes and rent" yes because adults are not ever allowed to have hobbies or interests