2/15/23 *WARNING* There are some spoilers to some of the princess movies.
By: Caitlyn Bayne
Ever since 1937 when Snow white and her seven dwarves were made, Disney Princess movies started to be one of the most popular movie series for children. Not only are they popular movies, but children often believe that the characters are people, and may model their own behaviors after them. Children learn through mimicking or witnessing behaviors of others, and this effect can be greater if the child feels an attachment to that person. Viewing mental illness may lead children to develop mental illness behaviors themselves. Studies have shown that babies as young as 14 months old will copy what they see on television and in movies. Also children that are two years old are more likely to be imitating what they see, even when it is a stranger or someone that is acting. It's clear that your young children are learning by copying you and what they see around you, including your behaviors, things you're interested in, and most of the other things about you.
Disney princesses are a delicacy to everyone who loves disney, and people who don’t. The way that the Walt Disney Company makes the princess, they make them seem happy and nothing wrong with them. But as you think about it more, then the more you can tell that they kinda do represent mental disorders. Like Snow White, the first ever Disney Princess, she is said to have, “Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental disorder in which a person has an inflated sense of self-importance. This can be seen as Snow White is always singing, meaning that she thinks that she is important and greater and or better then others, seemingly making her stand out and be noticed more. This could also be the reason that the old witch decided to give her the apple, because the witch might have thought that snow white was being annoying when she sang and acted like the best.
The second Disney princess that was made was cinderella. She is said to have complex trauma or Dysphoria, Dysphoria is a state of feeling uneasy, unhappy, or unwell. This could be from her untimely death of her father, [00:02:25], and perpetuated by the abject emotional abuse of her step-family. The theory behind her maybe having Dysphoria could be from her fathers death and her step family, but we don't know that. In the movie, the creatures do not give a lot of back story, so the reason for her mental disorder could be from her past and not the present in the movie. A different reason could be from her having to do all the work around the house. Well, the rest of her step family is having fun at the ball, which she was not supposed to go to. When I asked Dorothy Hamilton about what she thought about the theory she said, “So i do believe in the disney princesses having mental illnesses because a lot of them have some weird characteristics like cinderella marrying a man she met the night before."
Skipping around to the 4rth Disney Princess, who made her debut in 1989 after Disney went three decades without producing a princess/fairy tale movie. Ariel, she is said to have disposophobia- the fear of getting rid of stuff. A persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. This can be seen in the movie when the craters did a close up on Ariel in front of all of her stuff. The reason for Ariel having disposophobia could be from her wanting to be human and be able to walk, so she collected stuff from humans but ended up getting disposophobia and not wanting to get rid of it/ the stuff. When I asked Wren Ferguson what she thought about the theory she said, “ It actually makes a lot of sense because it shows that people are perfect and it makes me feel good and better about me not being perfect. It also shows how people that are perpetrated to be perfect aren’t perfect.”
In the end every Disney, Pixar or really any other Princess movie has some sort of theory behind it. But as we can all tell, the theories may not be true. No one has confirmed with the creator that any of the theories are true. Just note that mental illnesses are very serious and can sometimes be really bad. If you or someone you know is struggling with any mental illnesses, there are many places where you can talk to someone, get help, or just help people in need.
Contributors bio:
Caitlyn Bayne is an 11 year old girl in 6th grade who loves to write articles and do art in her free time. she also loves to get away from electronics and spend time with her family. She also plays the trumpet in a brass band with a couple of her friends.