I have a hidden — and ultimately useless — talent. My husband calls it “English Majoring.” As in, I don’t understand why some of the songs in Les Miserables have the same melody, can you English Major that? And I can make up, on the spot, a plausible — and maybe even correct — answer, … Continue reading “Look At Your Face In The Mirror” ‘Beauty And The Beast’ And ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ As Mirror Images Of Each Other →

Welcome to Disney Debate! Over the next 11 weeks, we'll discuss each of the "official" Disney princesses. Read the information and question below and then use the comments section to join the debate. Engage with people's comments by replying to them, and add your own points by creating a new comment. Comments must be civil … Continue reading Disney Debate: Snow White →

A few months ago I went to a The Little Mermaid sing along for grown-ups. Don’t laugh. Well, okay, you can laugh. But I won’t care. I went, and I had a great time, and I’m not embarrassed in the slightest. In fact, I think that events like this say something really important about feminism. … Continue reading “Part of That World” What A Disney Princess Sing-Along (For Grown Ups) Says About Feminism →

Princesses in fairy tales get a bad rap. Alyssa Rosenberg, of Slate, says the story of Cinderella has an “overemphasis on attractiveness.” Mary Grace Garis, of Bustle, says the only reason Prince Charming is drawn to Cinderella at all is because “she's hot enough to marry.” And the staff of Flickering Myth write that the … Continue reading Why Can’t The Princess Be Ugly? Fairy Tale Symbolism and Why It Matters →

“The half-buried truth about Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, writes Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker, “is that, in the end, the prince is a letdown.” Nine-year-old me certainly thought so. When Belle’s whispered “I love you” finally turned the Beast back into a man I was, initially, repulsed. (“His nostrils are too big!” was, … Continue reading “The Prince Is A Letdown”: Why Women Love Monsters (And What That Says About Masculinity) →

The internet is filled with “feminist rankings” of Disney princesses. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click here, or here, or here.) The idea generally is that the original Disney princesses were so desperately anti-feminist that — even though we love them and everything — we need to understand how terrible they really … Continue reading Disney Princesses Ranked From Least To Most Feminist (Faith Moore Style) →