A New Era: Disney’s Warrior Princesses

Fig. 1 Pocahontas

Pocahontas (Figure 1) is an Indian princess who lived around the time that the English came to America.  She is another princess who knows there is more to the world than the small part that she lives in.  She teaches girls to follow their adventurous side and explore their options before making life changing decisions.  Her father is the Chief of her tribe and has laid out a plan for her to marry the strongest warrior in the tribe, Kocoum.  She struggles with deciding whether or not to marry Kocoum or to follow her own path.  Once she meets John Smith, an explorer from the New World, her adventure changes.  She now spends time teaching him things about her world, falls in love with him, and saves him from being killed.  This movie has a new twist that had never been done before: when John Smith asks Pocahontas to join him in England she refuses, saying she must stay with her people.  Pocahontas is sending a message that she is not ready to give up her life for love, she wants to explore herself further.  In this movie the princess may not end up with the man of her dreams, but she does find her happily ever after.  

Fig. 3 Mulan

Fig. 2 Mulan as a warrior

Mulan is truly a warrior princess.  She is looked down on by her community because she is not as ladylike as women are supposed to be.  When the Huns invade China her elderly father is called to fight in the army.  To save him from almost certain death, Mulan disguises herself as a boy and goes in his place (Figure 2).  She trains with the rest of the new recruits, having to perform strenuous tasks without revealing her true identity.  While training, Mulan begins to fall for her superior officer, Shang.  When the army is attacked on mountain, Mulan is the one who comes up with a brilliant plan to get them out of trouble, but shortly after her secret is exposed.  Mulan is outcast for being a woman, and has brought great dishonor to her family through her actions.  Shang refuses to speak to her and leaves her on the mountainside.  It is not until the very end of the movie that Mulan, once again, uses her wits to save China from the Huns.  Shang appreciates her only after this and she is finally accepted and honored for who she is as a woman (Figure 3).  Throughout the movie Mulan is watched over by an ancestral dragon (male), named Mushu.  He is mostly a guardian, and never abandons Mulan, even when she is an outsider.  Mulan is a smart, independent girl who is not afraid to stand out.  She is even willing to put her life in danger for the greater good.