The Misguided Modernization of our Heroines

Recently, Disney got flak for it's decision to make the protagonist of Brave, Merida, more effeminate, to welcome her into the ranks of the Disney Princesses. In her transformation, she's become curvier, has more luscious lips and is wearing a nicer dress with golden details which reveals more of her shoulder. Gone too is her trademark bow and arrow. Essentially, they shaped our red-haired heroine into an all-too familiar figure which girls are supposed to look up to, and model themselves after.

I honestly don't know what to make of this issue. On one hand, it's the forces of demand and supply which dictates that these sort of characters be made. We want them, and Disney (and other companies) gives them to us. But on the other hand, we can argue that they are distorting our view of what is acceptable and what is normal through the perpetuation of this misguided notion of what a woman should be - slim, doe-eyed, smiley and seemingly subservient (I may be reading this wrong). 

Just take a look at the Disney Princesses...they all look the same! Even Mulan! Mulan was a gangster! That girl from Tangled whose name escapes me isn't even supposed to have long hair anymore, yet here she is...simply because it fits the image better! And if you look at the picture of Merida above, you'd see that the one on the left doesn't fit, while the one on the right totally does.

The worrying thing is that this is a trend happening across the board. Look at Tinkerbell and her sexy fairies! They're supposed to be fairies but they're so...sexed-up, and they're all of one shape - slim, with nice legs (yes, I said it). Now the thing is, a part of me is thinking that we should indeed strive to be like this...because it's healthy. But the thing is, it's an exaggeration of what being "healthy" is. Sometimes, no matter how much you diet or exercise, you're not going to fit into the image that popular media is saying you should fit into.

Tinkerbell is curvier than Shakira.

To some people, this is going to cause lots of pain and torment, because they literally starve themselves just to get that look. It also sets a climate whereby we are judged by society based on unrealistic standards set by the popularized norms. It's a vicious cycle - society influences the media and the media influences society, and both influence the way we behave. The way it's going is sadly not to our favour. We are destroying ourselves as we try to turn into something that we're not.

Take a look at similar transformations of our favourite heroines.

Dora the Explorer. #whatpubertydidtome

Not sure what this is, but the 'before' photo is super hipster.

How do you ride horses in such tiny skirts?

This isn't too bad actually.

Where's the Snooki one?

So what does beautiful really mean? The modernization of female characters seem to suggest that the ideal girl is slim, big-eyed, smiling, with nice proportions. To me, beauty is about being comfortable with your own body - taking ownership of it...exercising and dieting if there are things you want to change, accepting certain things that you can't. Some people just complain that they're fat, or getting fat. Just exercise, or eat less, or maybe accept that that's just how things are meant to be. Accept it.

Do what you can. Make peace with the things that you can't change. Be nice. Don't judge. We are not plastic dolls or drawings. We are so much more than our fat thighs, or lack of height, or manly hands, or weird noses. Let's get real. Raymond out.

PS: This post feels a little rushed, but I hope you get a gist of what I'm trying to say. I'm still trying to get the hang of working, and haven't had as much time to devote to this. I'll get my shit together soon, I promise.