These gender stereotypes, body image issues, and the general superficiality of our culture are even found in our cartoons. Found in our fairy tales. They hit us with this stuff right away. The race stuff too (I’m guessing these charts were created pre-Princess Tiana). It’s no wonder we’re so far off our center.
mulatto diaries 
Despite the (not always so) subversive messaging about race and gender roles, I just love Disney! For the princes’ names, there’s Ariel’s Eric … then both Cinderella* and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) had Phillips. The dude in Snow White just gets called Prince. But generally, they can all be referred to as Charming.
* Is that her real name? Does she keep this name once she marries the price and they live happily ever after in the shiny castle?
I grew up in the 50’s before Disney princesses were marketed so heavily. My role model was Gail Davis in the t.v. show “Annie Oakley.” Now there was a woman who could take care of herself! I also loved Irish McCalla as “Sheena Queen of the Jungle”. Yes,she was beautiful, but she also did her own stunts on the show, even to the extent of breaking her arm one time.
Not all the princess just had “attractiveness.” Belle was smart, and liked to read, if she was shallow and just cared about beauty she would have married Gaston.
They all wanted something more than the life they had, they wanted true love not just a marriage.
I grew up with Disney princesses, and though they gave us girls an unrealistic view on romance, it still gave us hope that our own prince is out there, and that we shouldn’t settle for someone or something that we do not want.
These are the first words in the Beauty and the Beast.
“Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. And as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?”
See the lines about “beauty is found within” this shows that beauty is not the only thing needed for true love.
And the Beast’s name was Prince Adam.
answer to the previous comment: “beauty is found within” in that context merely meant that her ugliness would melt away and that there was a beautiful enchantress underneath, not a beautiful personality.. =/
what about the mulan. she was the hero and SHE saved the prince and he fell in love with her cuz she saved china, 2 times!!!!!! and she save him
Belle is a kind person who cares about everyone. She saves the prince because she loves him for what’s on the inside. It has nothing to do with her sexuality.