I was thinking the other day about how much girls love princesses. I, too, fall victim to this common occurrence. But why princesses? Of all the things they could be, why do girls want to be princesses? What is the reason for this infatuation with princesses, and is the reason valid?

To get inside the head of a girl to understand this phenomenon, we must first see what ‘princess’ means to a girl. Since I am a girl, I can tell you where I got my image of a princess: Disney. There is no lack of Disney princesses. They all have different stories, but they all have several things in common. They all have pretty dresses, houses, and even faces and hair, and they always get prince charming in the end, not to mention they can all sing.  I believe these are some reasons for the princess pedestal. The pretty dresses and voices capture little girls’ hearts, and they look up to princesses. Getting the prince is important to little girls and bigger ones, for getting the perfect guy is a dream for all girls.

But is all that really true? Not really. In past history, princesses rarely got a prince charming. Normally, they were forced to marry a complete stranger from another country who may not even speak their language. Before marriage, they were given little freedom and not even given the chance to read or write. Disney did a wonderful job making fairy tales. A fairy tale, according to Dictionary.com, is a “sophisticated narrative containing supernatural or obviously improbable events.” Did you catch the “obviously improbable events”? In stories, princesses might have a dream life or a happily ever after but not in real life. So, if the great life and appearance of princesses are the only things that make girls love them, there’s a problem. Thankfully, there is more to the definition of fairy tale. The second part is this: that fairy tales are known for “often having a whimsical, satirical, or moralistic character.” This means that through the “obviously improbable events” there are some redeeming characters and values we can take home from fairy tales.

Even if girls don’t get the overall message of a fairy tale, the princess in it has mainly good effects on girls. For example, many Disney princesses do creative activities (i.e. Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled paints, Bell from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast reads, Cinderella sews, almost all princesses dance/sing, etc.). If girls are striving to be like these princesses, wouldn’t they try these activities too?

Okay, let’s recap. Girls mainly like princesses because of their pretty appearance and happily ever afters, though in real life princesses don’t always have these two qualities. However, if these qualities, even if they’re false, get girls to watch or read fairy tales which have valuable life lessons and make girls have an interest in creative activities, I think princesses are good role models. Call me a little kid, but I’ll stick with my princesses.