The Death of the Disney Prince?

Written by Shae Rufe

There is always a lot of buzz around Disney Princesses, but how often do we sit and talk about the Princes? Ideally, a prince is tall, handsome, and saves our darling princess from peril. We see this in so many Disney movies, so really, he's the ideal hero, right? Or is he? Is the Disney Prince dead? There are four Royal Princes in the Disney line up that serve as the classic ideal of a dreamy prince. The Prince from Snow White who doesn't even get a name, Prince Charming from Cinderella, Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty, and Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. These guys are Royal by birth and save their heroines, but technically only two of the damsels in distress are princesses by birth, Snow White and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Does that really matter? Not really, we are talking about the Princes. These guys are noble and rich which makes them very coveted by a lot of other ladies, right? So why does it seem like the Disney Prince has disappeared from all of their movies?
 
After these movies we have several others where the Prince ends up being...not what we thought. Aladdin is a thief who lies to get the girl, John Smith straight up leads a team that tried to kill Pocahontas' people, Mulan was more of a man than Shang was, Prince Naveen was trying to find a lady who was rich, Flynn was also a lying thief just after Rapunzel's crown, and Kristof....that one doesn't need an explanation. Now I didn't mention Belle and her man, yet. Every movie after Beauty and the Beast portrays the Prince role so different, I'm not sure they really count as Princes. Technically, Anna and Kristof aren't married yet, so that doesn't really make him a Prince. The ideal still counts though, as he's supposed to swoop in and save her. No, Frozen isn't the only movie that has sister power and love, but it is the only Disney movie to show True Love as more than romantic love. Thus, contributing to the Death of the Disney Prince.
 
What changed? Beauty and the Beast, that's what. After generations of little girls grew up with the classic princess being saved by handsome prince, Beauty and the Beast changed that up. Belle is the one to make the sacrifice to save her father. Which, does make her a strong character to say the least, but what else does it all mean? It means that while the Beast is meant to be our Prince, and while he technically is one, he's not the ideal Prince we grew up with. He's not kind, or handsome, or even rich really, and he doesn't save the day so much as Belle breaks his curse and he becomes human. Gaston on the other hand is supposedly handsome, well off, even well built. He's a total jerk, but he is the ideal Prince figure searching out his ideal princess, Belle. At the end of the movie Gaston literally dies, and well, so does the idea of the Disney Prince. Every movie after Beauty and the Beast has gone on to feature their characters differently. There is no Prince to rescue the princess, not in the traditional sense anymore. Instead, the girls have become the stronger characters.

Case and point Brave doesn't even have a protagonist male character to go along with our sassy princess. The movie is more about mother/daughter communication than it is needing a man. Frozen's leading lady Elsa doesn't need a Prince, and Anna chooses to save her sister over a kiss from the guy she likes. Mulan does hook up with General Li at the end of the film, but she saved all of China, and for her Father no less, not for romance. And Rapunzel? She saved Flynn's life. So, did Disney kill the Prince in its modern era? Or has the Prince evolved with the times?

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