Hi, this really belongs in the ask box but I don’t have a tumblr account so I’m sending it in this way, I hope that’s ok.

Basically, a couple of months ago my friend was applying for a job at Disneyland Paris where, she told us all, if she got it she was going to be paid to dress as a Disney princess all year (I know, I know, and I haven’t even got to the isn’t-society-awful part yet). Well, she got the job but was told that to be hired as a princess you have to be a UK size 4-8 (US 0-4) but that she could be an ugly stepsister if she liked since the criteria for those is a UK 8-12 (US 4-8); she’s about a UK 12/14.

My instinctive reaction to this was along the lines of OMFG SOCIETY Y U SO DISGUSTING but then I thought maybe in this particular instance (just with reference to the princess thing) it’s more about accurately replicating a specific image (the original Disney Cinderella or Snow White or whatever) - they’re not trying to say “you can only be beautiful if you’re this size”, they’re saying “the picture of Cinderella etc. depicted in the Disney movies would be about this size and we want someone who’s going to look as much like her as possible”. That’s not to say the original image of what a “beautiful Disney princess” looks like isn’t rooted in thin privilege, just that if we’re going to nostalgically preserve things like Disney movies etc anyway and this surface discrimination is just a symptom of a deeper problem (namely the fact that something with such enduring cultural significance in certain places also unfortunately imposes these outmoded and fatphobic ideas) should we just accept the portrayal of beauty as part of the whole Disney package? It’s easy to say that it’s just a relic of an antiquated culture but when it’s imposed on undiscerning children doesn’t that do more harm to their developing outlook on life than can be justified?

So I suppose my question is, if we’re going to keep doing this “Disney princesses coming to life” thing, do we say “this is what Cinderella would have looked like, see she’s the same as the drawing in your book/on your video at home, but she’s not beautiful or anything, she’s just a princess, don’t read to it” (ie. retain the image but try to divorce it from any meaning) or do we try to “translate” it into a more modern idiom where there isn’t a single concept of beauty and an old picture of Cinderella continues to be a representation of a beautiful woman but which can correspond to whatever interpretation of that you wish to glorify? Personally I think the whole idea of beauty is a bit irrelevant but if my hypothetical future kids are going to grow up believing there’s a way they should want to look, I’d rather they have a few options to choose from.

This turned out much longer than I was expecting, sorry it’s so inarticulate and rambly, I’m typing it on my phone, anyway I’d be really interested to hear your take on it.

Mod response:

Are you fucking kidding me? This is Poe’s Law in action. I seriously cannot tell if you’re actually asking this or you’re a troll.



But what the hell.



Do you really think that kids will somehow magically not recognize Snow White or Belle because she’s a size 8? A size 12? Bigger?



I mean, even leaving aside the fatphobic design esthetic of Disney princesses, even leaving aside the nasty way in which requiring face characters to be that thin reinforces fatphobic ideals of beauty and gives little girls a very false impression of what they can expect their bodies to look like as they grow up, even leaving aside the discriminatory hiring practice, even leaving aside all of the incredibly obvious stuff…



Are you seriously fucking saying that kids aren’t going to immediately recognize Disney Princesses because they don’t have 24" waists? Really?



-mg

Here, have some fat Disney princess cosplay, everybody else: