Disney princesses rocked our childhoods and continue to do so for new generations. True role models for little girls, they convey strong values that evolve over time and adapt to an ever-changing society. The "Disney Princess" line was launched in 1999 by Andy Mooney, a former Nike employee newly hired by Disney's consumer products division, with the goal of increasing the multinational's then-declining revenue. His objective: to strengthen the image of Disney princesses around the world, making them the stars of every little girl. Here's a summary of the 13 princesses who have made the biggest impact on Disney history!
1. Snow White
The iconic film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937 and marked the beginning of a new era: Disney princess Snow White paved the way for all the princesses who would follow. The story of this princess is inspired by a German fairy tale called "Schneewittchen," written by none other than the famous Brothers Grimm. Snow White lived with her father after her mother's death. Her father then remarried a woman named Lady Tremaine, but he passed away some time after this new marriage, leaving his daughter in the hands of this authoritarian stepmother, who made Snow White a true scapegoat, persecuted notably by the queen's two daughters, Anastasia and Drizella. Optimistic and determined, Snow White finds refuge with the forest animals and spends her time singing while she does household chores in the castle.
Lady Tremaine, jealous of Snow White's beauty, hires a huntsman and asks him to kill the princess. However, the man cannot bring himself to do it and instead decides to abandon the young girl in the woods, thinking she would be devoured by wild beasts. It is from this moment that Snow White's quest begins, leading her to discover the seven dwarfs and the prince she will marry in the future. This film is a true metaphor for child abuse, a taboo subject at the time, and it helped to open up discussion.
2. Cinderella
The film Cinderella was released in 1950 and is also inspired by another fairy tale, written by Charles Perrault. Similar to Snow White, Disney princess Cinderella also experiences difficult times since her biological parents passed away. Her stepmother is a wicked woman who prevents her from leaving the castle grounds. Cinderella then meets her fairy godmother, who allows her to go to the royal ball on the condition that she returns before midnight. At the ball, she meets a prince. Time passes so quickly, and she realizes that the clock will strike midnight in a few moments, so she flees at full speed, dropping her glass slipper. The prince then embarks on a desperate search to find her and marry her.
3. Aurora
Disney Princess Aurora is the heroine of the film Sleeping Beauty, released in 1959. She is a humble and loving young woman, placed under the protection of three good fairies at her christening, at her parents' request. However, a sorceress named Maleficent invites herself to the celebration and casts a spell on the princess: if Aurora were to accidentally prick her finger with a spindle, she would fall into a 100-year sleep. To protect his daughter, the king immediately has all spindles removed from the castle and forbids all palace inhabitants from using them, on pain of death.
However, when Aurora turns sixteen, she unfortunately finds a spindle in the castle attic. Curious, she removes the sheet covering it and begins to weave, but she ends up pricking her finger and falls asleep, as the curse has been activated. Not only Princess Aurora, but the entire castle and its occupants fall asleep. Over the course of a hundred years, the castle is overgrown with vegetation. Then, a prince, son of the king of a neighboring kingdom, discovers the castle and awakens Sleeping Beauty with a gentle kiss.
4. Ariel
The film The Little Mermaid was released in 1989 and tells the story of Ariel, a Disney mermaid princess who is Triton's daughter. Fascinated by the human world, Ariel dreams of discovering the world and becoming human. One evening, accompanied by her friends Flounder and Sebastian, a small fish and a crab, Ariel decides to go to the surface to observe a ship celebrating the birthday of its owner, Prince Eric, with whom she immediately falls in love. However, a violent storm breaks out and the ship is shipwrecked, leaving Prince Eric drifting unconscious on an island. Ariel rescues him and takes care of him until he wakes up. When he regains consciousness, she decides to flee so he doesn't discover that she is actually a mermaid. Her father, King Triton, is informed of this incident by Sebastian, and furious, he decides to visit Ariel to express his anger.
Distraught after her father's departure, two moray eels named Flotsam and Jetsam visit poor Ariel and convince her to visit Ursula, a very powerful sea witch. Ariel makes a pact with Ursula: in exchange for her magnificent voice, Ursula offers the princess the chance to become human for three days, replacing her mermaid tail with human legs. She informs her that if she hasn't kissed a prince after three days, she will become a mermaid forever. This is where Ariel's many adventures begin, as she strives to fulfill her wish despite all the obstacles in her path and the trap set by Ursula…
5. Belle
Belle is a Disney princess from the film Beauty and the Beast, released in 1991. This film pays homage to our country, as the action takes place in a small French country village. Belle is the daughter of Maurice, a somewhat eccentric inventor who aims to develop a revolutionary machine for cutting wood. As her father decides to go into the forest in search of materials, his cart breaks down and he gets lost in the middle of the forest.
Scared and pursued by wolves ready to devour him, he flees at full speed until he finds himself in front of a decrepit castle that looks abandoned. Maurice enters the castle and comes face to face with the Beast, who is actually a prince under a curse. Worried about her father's disappearance, Belle embarks on a desperate search for him, until she arrives at the famous castle, which will mark the beginning of her love story with the Beast and allow her to free her captive father.
6. Jasmine
Disney Princess Jasmine is the heroine of the film Aladdin, released in 1991. This film takes place in the East and pays tribute to this culture. Jasmine is the daughter of the Sultan of Agrabah and lives in a sumptuous palace. Forced by her father to marry a prince, she marries Sultan Jafar even though she is not in love with him, and she despairs of ever finding true love. It is then that she crosses paths with Aladdin, the King of Thieves, and she immediately falls under his spell.
Unfortunately, Aladdin is poor and not worthy of the princess. However, Aladdin finds a magic lamp during one of his expeditions, and in it lives a genie who has the power to grant three wishes in exchange for the promise to set him free forever. Aladdin then asks the genie to transform him into a prince, but over the course of the film's adventures, Aladdin refuses to free the genie despite their agreement, and the magic lamp is stolen by Jafar. Jasmine then moves heaven and earth to help Aladdin and thus live her love story with him openly.
7. Pocahontas
The film Pocahontas: An Indian Legend was released in 1995. It tells the story of a young woman named Pocahontas, who is the daughter of the chief of the tribe in which she lives. This Disney princess is very close to nature and animals, which she protects at the expense of her own life. In 1607, a ship sails to her continent, specifically Virginia, to find treasures and various riches. On board is Captain John Smith.
During his exploration of the island, he meets Pocahontas, and the two discuss their very different ways of life. An impossible love story then begins between these two young people who are opposites in every way. A true metaphor for colonization and ethnocentrism, the film generated much discussion upon its release and profoundly contributed to transforming mentalities.
8. Fa Mulan
The film Mulan was released in 1998 and is inspired by the famous legend of Hua Mulan. This time, Disney honors China, through magnificent mountainous landscapes. As the country is at war following an enemy invasion that occurred in the middle of the night, the emperor declares that one man per family must join the army. Meanwhile, Fa Mulan, the only daughter in her family, was destined to marry to honor her family and prevailing traditions. But she arrives late for her wedding and provokes the anger of the matchmaker, the woman whose role it is to give a blessing at a Chinese wedding, which leads to the wedding being canceled.
After this incident, Mulan decides to go to war in her father's place, who is deemed too old and frail. To do so, she disguises herself as a man, as women are not allowed to join the army. Her dream is to become a powerful samurai, and she trains tirelessly to become better, impressing all her comrades-in-arms. Later, she meets Shang, with whom she experiences a fantastic love story, and she is finally recognized for her worth. Through this Disney princess, the film seeks to raise awareness about the role of women in society and to show that they are equal to men.
9. Tiana
Tiana is the Disney princess from the film The Princess and the Frog, released in 2009. The story takes place in New Orleans, in the 1920s. Tiana is a waitress in a restaurant in her city, and her dream is to open her own luxury restaurant, in tribute to James, her deceased father. At a party at a much wealthier friend's house, Tiana meets Naveen, a prince transformed into a frog by Doctor Facilier, a voodoo sorcerer. To break free from the curse, Facilier begs Tiana to kiss him. Tiana complies, and she is also transformed into a frog.
The two protagonists then embark on a search for Mama Odie, a powerful voodoo priestess who can free them from this spell. After many adventures, Tiana and Facilier finally decide to marry in their frog forms. But, as Facilier is actually a prince, the curse breaks on its own thanks to this marriage, and Tiana transforms into a princess! She can finally open the restaurant she had dreamed of for so long and live a beautiful love story.
10. Rapunzel
The film Rapunzel was released in 2010 and features the Disney princess of the same name. One day, Rapunzel's mother and queen of the kingdom falls gravely ill. The entire kingdom searches for a miracle cure, an unknown medicinal herb. The king's men eventually find the Golden Flower, which they bring to the queen to make a potion. Saved, she gives birth to Rapunzel, who has the particularity of being born with magnificent long, blond hair. Some time after the child's birth, a witch named Gothel breaks into the castle during the night with the intention of stealing some of Rapunzel's hair, since legend said that this magical hair would make one eternally young.
Gothel then cuts a lock of Rapunzel's hair, but the lock immediately dulls. Gothel therefore decides to kidnap the princess and raises her as if she were her own daughter in a tower hidden in the forest, thus benefiting from its power thanks to a song taught to Rapunzel which allows the magic to spread to make Gothel a little younger each day. Imprisoned in this tower that she cannot leave and forced to live in hiding, Rapunzel nevertheless meets Flynn Rider, a thief who stole her crown. Flynn helps Rapunzel escape from this ivory tower, and the two protagonists embark on an adventure, thus introducing Rapunzel to the outside world while restoring the truth about her princess status.
11. Merida
Merida is a Disney princess, heroine of the film Brave, released in 2012. The story pays homage to Scotland, during the medieval period. Princess Merida reigns with her parents over the kingdom of Dunbroch. On her sixth birthday, her father gives her a bow and arrows, to her mother's great despair, which will make Merida a future fearless warrior. Here again, through the different scenes of the film and the problems encountered, Merida always finds a solution and shows great bravery, a sign that girls are just as formidable as boys both on the battlefield and in terms of strategy.
12. Anna & Elsa
Anna and Elsa are the Disney princesses who appear in the film Frozen, released in 2013. A true commercial success, this film features Anna and Elsa, two sisters who are both opposites and yet deeply connected. The story begins when Anna tells her sister Elsa of her intention to marry Prince Hans, but Anna refuses to give her sister her consent. In anger, Anna reveals a power she had long tried to hide: that of controlling ice and snow.
Unable to control herself, she accidentally plunged the kingdom into an eternal winter and decided to flee to live in peace and no longer harm those around her. Elsa, of course, set out to find her, ready to move heaven and earth to find her sister and bring her to her senses. On her way, Elsa meets Kristoff and his reindeer Sven, as well as a living snowman named Olaf. Together, they face all challenges to find Anna and thus break the curse that imprisons the kingdom.
13. Moana
Moana is a 2016 film. The story takes place in French Polynesia and is largely inspired by Polynesian mythology. Disney princess Moana is the daughter of Tui, the chief of her tribe. Following an incident 1,000 years ago, Te Fiti's heart, a symbol of the ocean and an object of power, was destroyed.
Consequently, the islanders were punished and could no longer sail beyond the waters surrounding the island. However, the depletion of fishing resources began to be felt. Moana was then chosen by the ocean to try and repair Te Fiti's heart, in order to allow the fishermen to find fish again and to be able to discover the world once more. She then embarks on an exceptional adventure, accompanied by the friends she meets along the way, to undo the curse that afflicts her lands.
