How Disney Heroes Have Changed Over Time
The Past: “Someday my prince will come.”6
I teach my students about the past and the present. One way to help them visualize these abstract concepts is to look at change over time. Typically, I look at how clothes, cars, schools, toys, and video games have changed over time. I will look at how Disney has changed their heroes over time in this unit. I will be focusing on the movies starring the Disney princesses. From 1937 through 1989 Disney released three movies that I have chosen to use in my unit. I first of these three I previously addressed, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I will now explore the heroic journey undertaken in the other two films.
Sleeping Beauty
This film begins with the birth of Princess Aurora. The king and queen are overjoyed to have a child and throw a celebration. They invite friends, families, and three good fairies. They do not however extend an invitation to Maleficent, an evil sorceress. Maleficent crashes the party and curses Aurora, saying that she will die on her sixteenth birthday when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel. One of the fairies is able to temper the curse so that she will merely fall into a deep slumber until awakened by a true love’s kiss. To protect their daughter, the royals send their princess off to be raised deep in the woods by the three fairies. On her sixteenth birthday Aurora meets a prince in the forest. It is love at first sight and they agree to reunite that evening in her cottage in the forest. Sadly, Aurora is discovered by Maleficent, whose curse puts her in a trance at the spinning wheel. The prince is gifted with a magic shield and sword and undertakes a quest to save the princess. He slays Maleficent (who has transformed into a dragon) and awakens Aurora with a kiss. They then live happily ever after.
By Campbell’s definition, there is no hero in this movie. Much as in Snow White, the prince saves the day (and in this case vanquishes the villain) but he does not undergo a transformation. He is the same character all through the picture. The true protagonist of the film is Princess Aurora. She does leave her home (as an infant) to avoid the curse, but she also does not grow as a character. She hopes for a man to love her and her hope is fulfilled without any character change on her part. Much like Snow White, she is simply wishing for a man to make her dreams come true.
The Little Mermaid
Ariel is the youngest daughter of King Triton, leader of the mer-people. She is a headstrong explorer that is infatuated with the surface world. One day, while Ariel is exploring, she happens upon a ship carrying Prince Eric. Ariel is smitten with the prince and she becomes determined to be with him. When her father bans her from returning to the surface, she leaves and goes to Ursula the sea witch for aid. The witch offers to transform her into a human for the price of her voice. However, if Ariel is unable get Eric to fall in love with her and deliver a true love’s kiss her soul will belong to Ursula. Ariel agrees and goes to the surface world. She encounters challenges from her inability to speak and a double cross from Ursula, but with some help from her friend Sebastian (a crab from under the sea) she is able to overcome the challenges and get Eric to love her. Unfortunately, Eric is late on the kiss and she belongs to Ursula. There is a final confrontation between Ariel (returned to mermaid state) and the sea witch. When things appear dire for the princess, Prince Eric rides in (on a ship not a horse) and slays the malevolent witch.
Ariel sings in one of her songs “Lookin’ around here you’d think, sure, she’s got everything.”7 And in terms of Joseph Campbell, she really does. She leaves her regular world (the ocean) and ventures to a strange new place. She overcomes difficulties and is transformed (physically). She returns back to her world, albeit briefly before she goes back to Eric on the land. She almost has everything. But, she doesn’t really. She does not gain new power or wisdom over the course of her journey. She is the same girl at the end that she was all along. Even in the students’ words about the hero, she doesn’t save the day or beat the bad guy--Eric does. Of course, Eric really does leave his home and return later changed in some way.
The Present: “Its time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I’m free!”8
Technically, all released Disney films are in the past, but for my purposes, I’ll call the movies from 2012 though 2018 movies from the present. These films include Brave, Frozen, and Moana. As I have covered the film Frozen already, I will briefly detail the plot and evaluate the heroes of the other two movies.
Brave
Disney’s Brave is the story of a mother/daughter relationship. Merida is a rebellious and determined Scottish princess. Her father is King Fergus and her mother Queen Elinor. Elinor has been training Merida to be a queen herself someday. Merida chafes under the requirements of growing up a princess. The kingdom’s tradition is to marry off the princess to a son of a chieftain in the clan. When she learns of her fated marriage, she rebels and declares she will not be marrying. This causes a rift between her and her mother. She visits a witch and purchases a spell that will change her fate and free her from her mother’s demands. The witch, being a bit of a trickster, instead transforms Elinor into a bear. Bear and Merida go on a quest to restore the Queen before the change is rendered permanent. Over the course of the adventure, they must come to understand one another, while dodging the bear hunting Fergus and his men. They also have to overcome a powerful entity in the form of Mor’du, a previously transformed bear who is malicious. The two come to understand each other better and in the climax, Merida defends her mother from her father just as the Elinor-bear defends Merida from Mor’du. Elinor is restored to human form and they live happily ever after (and Merida remains blissfully single).
While Merida is the main character, both her and Elinor are true heroes in this story. They both leave their home, face mortal danger and emotional turmoil, and are changed by their newly earned understanding of each other. They then return home stronger for the experience with a much closer familial bond. Merida is a particularly interesting character as she yearns not for a prince (like so many princesses pined for in Disney’s past) but for her freedom to do as she wishes.
Moana
Long ago a trickster demigod named Maui, stole the sacred heart of Te Fiti. When he committed this act, a being made of lava named Te Ka rose and attacked, striking Maui down and casting the heart deep into the ocean. The theft of the heart unbalances nature and causes a slow sickening of the oceans and islands. Hundreds of years later, the ocean chooses to give the heart to a young girl name Moana. Moana, the daughter of the island chieftain and destined to lead, yearns not for island life but for a life of traveling the seas. The ocean selected her to find Maui and with him to return the heart to Te Fiti. Moana embarks on a journey that sees her recruit Maui, and overcome many obstacles. During their voyage the pair escape the Kakamora (a cross between coconuts and pirates), enter and return from the land of monsters, and ultimately confront Te Ka. Moana is able to understand the nature of Te Ka and Te Fitti and returns the heart. Nature is set back in balance and she returns home. Once home Moana takes her place as a village leader but then leads her people back to the sea as the voyagers they once were.
Moana’s journey mirrors Joseph Campbell’s monomyth very closely. She experiences many of the twelve stages of the monomyth, but I’ll only be focusing on the three main steps. Moana is very much a hero and similar to Merida and Elsa, she is granted her fondest wish, to be free.
Not only did the desires of these princesses shift from marriage to freedom, but Disney also transitioned nicely their choice of heroes. Initially the heroes were all white males. That demographic aligns with about 4% of my student population. If we look from the past to the current Disney offerings, the range of heroes grows to represent both sexes and multiple ethnicities. If I were to include other films in my study 100% of my class could be represented.
I have focused my unit on six Disney pictures. However, most of the studios movies could be used for this activity. Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog would all lend themselves to a study of heroes.
Character Traits that Compliment a White Hat
“There’s a hero, if you look inside your heart.” – Mariah Carey9
Kindergarten is where I begin to help students develop the desirable skills of the learner. Many of our heroes, including the princesses from the “present” group of Disney films, exhibit these skills. My students would be excited to become hero-like by mimicking these heroes.
Foremost among traits that I would appreciate in my students is perseverance. In Frozen, after her memories of Elsa’s powers are removed, Anna repeatedly tries to reconnect with her sister. Each time she is rebuffed but she never gives up. Anna’s perseverance is rewarded with some close moments with Elsa at the coronation and a complete reconnection at the conclusion of the story. The message to kids should be heroes continue to try even if they fail and fail again. The next time could be when you succeed. My students could apply the never give up approach to learning their letters, sounding out words, solving an addition problem, or any other of a large number of challenges that await in their kindergarten year.
Cooperation and teamwork are also traits of our heroes. In Brave, Merida and her mother butt heads fiercely in the beginning of the story. As the story progresses the two find ways to work together to solve problems. They are able to defeat the villain through cooperation and they save each other’s lives on numerous occasions. My students won’t be saving lives but they can surely help each other solve problems in class through cooperation and help giving.
Heroes are also brave and my students should be, too. For many students offering an answer aloud is a cause for fear. So is trying something new (which is most everything they are asked to do in this grade.) I could ask my students to be brave like Rapunzel in Tangled. Rapunzel has been raised in a tower isolated from the world around her. Yet, when she is given the opportunity to leave and explore this new world she does. That takes bravery and the heroes of my class will have ample opportunities this year to follow her lead.
One other character trait I would cultivate in my students is integrity. Integrity is being honest and doing what you know to be right. I explain it to my kids as making the good choice even when no one is looking. Tiana from The Princess and the Frog exhibits great integrity. Tiana’s dream is to open her own restaurant. She works hard to make this dream happen. At one point, when it looks like she may fail, the Shadowman (villain) offers to make her dream come true if she helps him in a plot. She makes the good choice despite the fact that she may lose her dream if she does. That is integrity. I would love for my students to model themselves after Tiana in this area. If they would really like a brand new crayon and a peer had one in their supply box, I’d love for them to do what is right instead of going with easy gratification.
Throughout the school year, as issues arise, additional character traits may need to be introduced. I will have no problem circling back and revisiting our heroes to remind my students that heroes show certain qualities and that every single member of our class can sport a white hat.
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