Ranking of Disney Princesses
Hello there, in this analysis I’m gonna be talking about Disney Princesses that are part of the classic hand-drawn animation era of Disney so that only includes from the inception of full-length feature animated Disney films with Snow White from 1937 to Mulan from 1998, one year before the end of the Disney Renaissance and the end of the classic era.
Now, the Disney Princesses that appeared in order beginning with Snow White are: Cinderella (1950), Princess Aurora (1959), Ariel (1989), Belle (1991), Jasmine (1992), Pocahontas (1995), and Mulan (1998). 8 original Disney princesses from the classic era and as you might’ve noticed, more than half are from the Disney Renaissance which is considered from the years 1989-1999. What I will be discussing in this video is a rank list from best to worst Disney princesses, who I think is the best and who I think is the worst, so just remember this is an opinion video, so don’t get your owls in a hoot. I will be counting down from best to worst so here we go.
8. Belle: Belle is a small town girl who wants to get away from the provincial life. She wants more than the basic eating, sleeping, and the rote day-to-day routine. She’s down-to-earth, book smart, beautiful, and caring. She knows which men she should avoid like narcissistic Gaston who really just cares about himself and shows compassion to all (she’s not cruel to Gaston, just being self-sensible) including her father and the caretakers of Beast’s castle (Lumiere, Mrs Potts, Cogsworth, and Chip). Belle doesn't have one mean streak about her and when she rejects Gaston (who turns her off) she does it as politely as possible. She even switches places with her father as a prisoner for the Beast! If that’s not having a heart I don’t know what is. Despite the Beast having been rude to her before, she cares for him and tends to his wound. Over time they develop a friendship and eventually of course, it evolves into love for one another. Call it Stockholm Syndrome if you want but I believe Belle had changed Beast’s nature and he began to no longer see her as a prisoner. Belle saw the kind-hearted side of Beast and decided to give that a chance. Beast was surprised that anyone treated him the way she did since he never had a true friend before. After the ballroom dance, Beast lets Belle go because he loves her and before that Belle even admitted she was happy (she could have easily been lying but let’s assume it was genuine and honest which I believe it was). Belle was free as a bird and could have spoke ill of him once she reached her village but she defended him when Gaston gathered a mob to go and kill him and returned to him when was worried about him. If that ain’t true love, I don’t know what is. Beast and Belle gradually changed from a dynamic of slave and master to friendship to lovers. It might be Stockholm Syndrome but it happened naturally and Belle became a princess by marrying Beast (Prince Adam).
7. Jasmine: Jasmine is already born into royalty and daughter of the Sultan of Agrabah. It is never specified which country Aladdin takes place in but I am pretty confident it takes place in the Arabic world. Cooped up inside the palace all her life and not approving of the law of marrying a prince that she doesn’t know, Jasmine sets out to the common world to experience what it’s like. I wouldn’t define Jasmine as a rebel, she just needed to get away from the pressure that was expected from her as a princess and enjoy freedom for a change. She’s got an attitude and fiery personality and is no easy game, not even for Prince Ali. She only agrees to go with him on a magic carpet ride after she realizes it’s Aladdin who she met on the streets. There and then on that ride does she fall in love with him, after already taking a liking to him in Agrabah. At the end of Aladdin, even after Jafar had exposed Aladdin as a fraud and had lied to Jasmine about being royalty, she still accepted him and forgave him when she could have easily turned him away but it goes to show that Jasmine never cared about materialistic princes, it was all about the heart for her, but hey doesn’t hurt to see Aladdin in that stud Prince outfit right Jasmine?
6. Mulan: Now, Mulan is not a princess. Not in any sense. She’s not even wed to a prince. But she is considered one of the 8 by Disney so here we are. In all truth, Mulan doesn't need no man. What makes her so awesome is that she basically takes all of Shan Yu’s army down herself. She took down more than 95% of them in the mountains with her dangerous, reckless, but quick thinking and had a one-on-one fight with Shan Yu in the Imperial City. Had it just been fisticuffs, she would’ve been mince meat but she used cunning and wits and her tools to beat him with a grand finale of death by firework. Mulan is brave. Brave for taking her father’s place in the Imperial Army since any woman who impersonated a soldier meant death. The only time she must’ve had fear was fear of being exposed which she was and would’ve been executed were it not for Captain Li Shang showing mercy after Mulan saved his life. Mulan showed courage, bravery, and loyalty to her country and her family. She surely did bring honour to her family. The only reason why she’s not at number 8 or 7 is because she’s technically not a princess. But who cares when the freakin Emperor of China bows down to you.
5. Pocahontas: Both Mulan and Pocahontas had their stories significantly tweaked in their Disney versions. Mulan is based on a legend but Pocahontas was a real existing daughter of a chief. Now, there is a misconception that Pocahontas was a princess. No. English settlers equated the children of chiefs to royalty akin to Europe such as kings and queens and princesses. Daughters had no significant authority- they were simply that-daughters of the chief save most likely more privileges and luxuries. Pocahontas doesn’t do anything heroic to the level of Mulan but her defining feat is saving John Smith’s life. We assume through the song ‘Colours of the Wind’ that she and John come to know each other and obviously develop feelings for each other. She has a streak of free-spiritedness and curiosity about her and she manages to humble John Smith and help him understand and have more of an appreciation of the natural world. The 1995 movie is basically a Romeo and Juliet story with John Smith having to leave because of taking a bullet meant for Chief Powhatan from Ratcliffe and needing to go back to England for recuperation. What puts Pocahontas at this spot is that love can make people irrational and that’s just what happened when the two were meeting in secret which unfortunately led to the death of Kocoum and the bondage of John Smith. I feel like it kind of is their fault and at the same time not. They were trying to be careful and Pocahontas was cautious but one thing led to another and both parties (Indigenous and English) resorted to all out war and calling each other savages…...barely even human and as history and Pocahontas 2 tells us, Pocahontas married John Rolfe…..who was not a prince.
4. Aurora: Now we are in the bottom half of the list and these are the Princesses which I don’t favour so much. At Number 4 we have Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. A typical damsel in distress who’s basically a copy of Cinderella except her story isn’t as cliche. Let’s see, we got the opening princess song fantasizing about a better life (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes vs Once Upon a Dream), the blondeness of both princesses, a dreamy prince (Prince Charming vs Prince Philip) although Philip has way more personality, and an evil female out to get them (Evil Stepmother vs Maleficent). Only difference is how Aurora and Cinderella got to become princesses. Were it not for Maleficent, Aurora’s story might be just as bland as Cinderella’s and despite that both met their princes on only one occasion before getting married to them, Aurora had more conversation with Philip than Cinderella did with Charming (at least on-screen) which makes it more believable. Plus Aurora just seems more mature than Cinderella as well which gives her an edge on this list.
3. Cinderella: Next on the list is Cinderella, arguably the most well-known princess of all time. Her story is well-known universally but her as a Disney princess...well let’s continue shall we. No Disney princess here is bad (as in sucks) with the exception of the first and you’ll see why when we get there. Why Cinderella is so low is because there’s no depth to her. I can understand when she was first developed (the Charles Perrault version since this is what it’s based off), all forthcoming ideas needed a source base and she was it. The princess trope. The happily ever after ending. Not saying she was the first but she might’ve been the one to cement alot of tropes and cliches found in princess stories. She popularized it. That being said, Cinderella’s story is basic- turned into a house maid by her stepfamily, she dreams of having a life in the castle and getting away from her life of servitude and when she almost gets that wish by being invited to the castle ball, her family tears it away from her. Until a magic fairy appears and grants her wish to go the ball, gives her a beautiful blue dress, and meets and falls in love (in the span of a few hours) with the prince and marries him the next day after placing the glass slipper she lost on her feet and deducing she’s the maiden he danced with. Not saying it’s not possible and uninspiring, just highly unrealistic.
2. Snow White: Now this is an interesting one to try and place. There’s nothing wrong with her as a Disney princess but her story is over as soon as it began. Her character development is as good as Aurora’s or Cinderella’s. She’s another basic princess who becomes a damsel in distress after she bites the poison apple. I get that Cinderella and Snow White are iconic. Their stories are iconic but when it comes to being Disney princesses they are outshone by princesses like Jasmine and Belle who have more rounded personalities. These princesses never did anything interesting or had any adventures like the ones in the top half of this list. Aurora is the only one in the latter half who would come closest by pricking her finger on a spindle. Sure they had experiences, like Snow White meeting the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella dancing with Prince Charming, but they’re not long-term arcs, simply moments. They didn’t get in on any action. They were the subjects of the action, with the Evil Queen poisoning Snow White and then being woken with a simple kiss much akin to Prince Phillip kissing Aurora but that made sense because Maleficent placed a spell which could only be broken by true love’s kiss. In Snow White that is never specified plus Phillip fighting Maleficent to save Aurora made for a much better climax than the Dwarves fighting the Witch Queen on a mountain or Cinderella in which a climax was non-existent. Phillip kissing Aurora had a better pay off after slaying a dragon than The Prince of Snow White simply finding a coma-induced girl in the forest placed in a glass coffin after a bite from an apple. It’s romantic sure but it is slow. On the positive side of things, Snow White was motherly to the Dwarves and filled the role of housekeeper. The voice was just a tad too high-pitched for my liking and she looked like a doll but what do I know right?
1. Ariel: Ah, so we’ve reached the number 1 spot eh. I’m guessing ya’ll already know who it is. I’ll give you a hint. She’s got red hair, has fins, and lives under the sea. She also likes collecting thingamabobs. If you guessed Ariel, you are correct! Ariel, Ariel, Ariel. Where to start with Ariel. Ariel irks me. In a lot of ways. Let me tell you why. Another one on this list who was born into royalty, Ariel is easily the most immature of them all. Sure you can say she’s a teenager but so is Jasmine. Age can’t be used as an excuse. The thing with Ariel is she’s curious- maybe a bit too curious. So curious it makes her desperate even. Desperate for what? The world above the sea- land. Where feet-possessing humans dwell. How desperate is she? Enough to literally sell her soul to the devil (though in this case it’s trading her melodic voice to Ursula for feet ) and for what? A man she sees on a ship named Eric. It’s okay to feel infatuated with a very handsome or beautiful person and it’s natural to want to get to know that person better. What’s dodgy is wanting to give up and sacrifice your world, heritage, and way of life for a stranger. If there was less at stake, then sure go for it, but Ariel knows close to nothing about the surface world. A real mermaid/merman would feel incredibly culture shocked and despite Ariel collecting all those human trinkets in that secret cave of hers, she still doesn't know what they do. For all she knows she could have a gun in that collection and thinks it shoots bubbles and then next minute up on the surface, tries pressing the trigger and blows her head off. She gives up too much too fast and is incredibly naive. And here’s the worst part. She says she LOVES ERIC. LOVES HIM, after worshipping his statue and seeing him once on a ship. Talk about stalker or unhealthily obsessed. Cinderella had more time with Charming actually interacting with him to at least decide if she wanted to see him again let alone falling in love with him right then and there but this is a whole other level. Since consequences are not a concept to young Ariel, she all willy-nilly-like feels victimized by her father King Triton and makes the deal with Ursula to spend 3 days as a human to try and get Prince Eric to fall in love with her. Luckily for her, Eric feels the woman who saved him is the woman of his dreams who happens to be Ariel so if he had not cared about who saved him, things would have become very awkward for Ariel. It was a giant gamble on Ariel’s part which she almost lost due to Ursula’s interference. And because it’s a Disney movie, Triton does a 180 and is all accepting of Ariel’s marriage to Eric. Ariel doesn’t learn a single lesson at all except maybe not to trust witch-octopi who will mess with your chance at true love. You got lucky Ariel. You really did.
And that’s my list guys, if anybody disagrees feel free to comment on my link on Facebook and I’d be happy to debate.