Belle, Jasmine, & Cinderella: A Review of the Modern Disney Princesses

As a child, my very first best friends were the Disney Princesses. Until now, I still enjoy watching the animated films, sing along in their songs, and even in my 20s I still wish to be a princess.

Lately, Disney has been known for doing live action remakes of its classic films. So far, they have already brought us a live-action of Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty (through the POV of Maleficent), and very recently, Aladdin. Being a real Disney Princess nerd, I made a mental comparison between the princesses’ remake and animated versions. I realized the difference between the two and saw how the princesses have evolved from a damsel-in-distress to the modern woman. I penned those thoughts down and here what I’ve come up with, let’s start with:

JASMINE

Although they are both defiant against the restrictions placed on their heads, Naomi Scott’s Jasmine from the live-action of Aladdin is very different from its animated counterpart. In the classic Aladdin, Princess Jasmine claimed that she doesn’t “want to be a princess anymore” because of a law that she is ‘obligated’ to abide by, wherein she must marry a prince. The princess rebels against this, saying that if she ever marries, she wants to do so with someone she loves.

Live-action Jasmine also faces the same dilemma; however, she has a different objective in mind. In the film, love was never on top of the princess’ head, it only became her concern after she met Aladdin, but even so she stood by with what she really wanted: to be the Sultan. Additionally, one of the many reasons why I fell in love with Naomi’s portrayal of Jasmine is how she never huffed and complained about being a princess. Instead, she used her royal privileges (though limiting) to learn and study about Agrabah and the world and the people beyond it, to prove that she is worthy to be their next leader.

One significant comparison I would note between the two movies is when Jasmine escaped the palace to visit the town. In the animation, Jasmine left in disguise of a commoner to escape her princess duties, hoping never to return again (until she met Aladdin who was soon imprisoned under Jafar). On the other hand, Scott’s Jasmine briefly left the palace to explore the town of Agrabah and meet her subjects face-to-face. When a suitor was seen making his entrance to the town, Jasmine hurriedly left to return to the palace to meet the suitor.

More than this, Jasmine had her very own song in the live-action, which her character never had in the classic. The song, ‘Speechless’ spoke about having these strong forces that keep binding the princess down, but she cries she wouldn’t allow these to chain her and keep her quiet, no matter how “they want her to”. It’s a very empowering song that would be such a beautiful anthem for girls of all ages.

In the end, Jasmine was hailed as the new Sultan of Agrabah and married Aladdin. Her claim to the throne became successful after her father saw her stand up against Jafar when he told her to hold her tongue. What made the scene beautiful was how they showed that Jasmine is a pure mind-and-heart girl, in the sense of how she reached out to Jachim, her Father’s most loyal soldier (?), and reminded him that his loyalty shouldn’t depend on who sits on the throne (Jafar) but rather who deserves to (Her Father, the Sultan). It was at that moment when she spoke about her love for Agrabah, where we see her mind and heart working in perfect balance; it was the love that she had for her country that led her to stand up against the cruel villain, while her powerful outspokenness carried her to be heard and obeyed by the guards.

Jasmine wasn’t a brat in this modern version of Aladdin, rather she held her head high and her voice loud and powerful, but all the same she was just as strong and lovable as the classic Jasmine.

BELLE

The live-action Belle wasn’t that far different from its animated equivalent but the few changes Disney made to her character was very much pleasing. There was a mix of magic and reality with the way Emma Watson brought the princess to life. Emma is one of this generation’s feminist icons and her portrayal of Belle really did enhance the character.

In her interview with Buzzfeed, she mentioned that the producers initially planned on scratching out Maurice’s, Belle’s father, identity as an inventor. Upon hearing this, Emma immediately suggested if they could use that detail for Belle instead. This was one of the changes they made to the princess in remake. During the earlier half of the film, Belle was sketching something on a piece of paper and having been satisfied with what she came up with, she went out to do the laundry. On the next scene, we see the first functioning washing machine which was finishing her laundry while she read.

That scene was a real highlight for me. Beauty and the Beast exposed the harsh reality of that era where only boys were allowed to attend school; girls were subjected to household chores, and a woman who is seen reading is rendered “funny”. During that scene, a curious girl approached her and the princess urged her to come closer, a little while later we see Belle teaching the girl how to read. Just like Jasmine, I found Belle to be a real mind-and-heart princess. Obviously, her character really is intelligent but more than this, her eyes were wide open to the discrimination happening around her and with that she hopes to teach at least one child to let her see that there was more to what her town subjects her to. This was a scene that wasn’t portrayed in the classic, which is why I found it powerful because it spoke of a cause in a deeper level and also because Disney made that significant feminist point.

The classic princess was adventurous and is shown to willingly put herself in danger for the sake of her loved one, however Emma’s Belle was a tad different in a way that she was always ready to hit someone with any hardy thing could grab whether it is a branch or a wooden stool, she showed no fear even when she came face-to-face with the Beast himself. Both versions of the princess stood up against the Beast especially when he became too demanding, but also showed compassion at his weakest point.

Some viewers expected the movie to end with Belle saving herself and the beast from Gaston, but Disney stayed with its original ending. While others may have found this disappointing and ‘un-feminist’, I completely disagree. Belle may not have been the one to bring Gaston down, but unlike her animated version where she took her sweet time running up to the highest tower just to call out to Beast, we actually see Belle leaping across breaking bridges to help Beast and even went down to fighting Gaston to take his pistol away from him.

In a nutshell, both versions of Belle were courageous, intelligent, and loving. I’m happy that we got to see more of her point of view in the remake so that we could really see that she was one of the bravest classic Disney Princesses.

CINDERELLA

Unlike the first two princesses, the empowerment of Cinderella’s live-action version was a rather subtle. After Brave, Frozen, and Maleficent officially broke the prince-saves-princess stereotype, Cinderella was expected to have the same ending but like Beauty and the Beast, Disney portrayed the same ending with its animation. Many fans were dismayed with this as they hoped that it would end similar to the three aforementioned movies. For a while, I shared the same sentiment. After watching the film, I found myself wishing they made a different ending for the princess. But after (accidentally) making an in-depth study of her character, I realize that the live-action was perfect as it is.

I spent one day watching the three Cinderella movies: the original, its sequel Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, and finale Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. After re-watching the third movie, my perception of Cinderella completely changed. In that movie, Cinderella was much more persistent and much stronger than she had been in the first movie. She was ready to defy her evil stepmother to fight for the prince and, at the same time, not allow the kingdom the fall into the wrong hands. I fell so hard in love with that princess. One day I decided on re-watching the live-action remake, with that same perception of Cinderella in mind. By the end of the movie, I understood her remade character better.

Here’s the thing, throughout the entire movie we were reminded of two things: to have courage and be kind. It was her dying mother’s wish and Cinderella did just that. Even when she had to endure the most challenging and trying people, no matter how she was abused, humiliated, and undermined by her step-family, she remained patient, understanding, and kind. At this point you might think, she could’ve defied her stepmother along the way had she not held her tongue for so long, but you realize that she had to endure all those struggles to still have a roof above her head, or food to fill her stomach even if they were just leftovers from their meal. She was strong to have been able to get through that entire process without resorting to anger.

More than this, we saw how her kindness was rewarded multiple times in the movie. When a strange beggar asked her for milk and she complied without hesitation, the beggar transformed into her fairy godmother and granted Cinderella her moment of freedom at the ball. When she went out for a horseback ride and met the Prince (unknowing he was his highness), and pleaded him not to kill the majestic stag, the Prince was instantly enchanted by her and so the story goes. When she met face-to-face with the king and briefly told him how much his son loved him, the king allowed the Prince to finally chase after her.

Connecting all these scenes, you’d realize how it was her kindness that saved her from her abusers in the first place, and the prince only came to fetch her from the house. It was because of how kind and courageous she was that good things were drawn to her and took her away from her own personal hell. But here’s the scene that became the highlight of Cinderella’s character.

After the prince finally found Cinderella and came to take her away, on their way out, they both turned around and saw her stepmother on the stairs staring at them with so much anger, sadness, and jealousy in complete defeat. It was in that moment, when Cinderella stared back and with a gentle smile she says, “I forgive you”, that I realized how amazing she is.

Many of us think that she was weak for how kind or soft she was, but here’s an important question: how many of us can look at our enemy’s eyes and tell them we forgive them even if they never made an apology? Kindness is one of the most important and basic qualities of a person and yet it is so rarely seen by anyone anymore. Cinderella displayed the type of woman who was soft and gentle, but just as the earlier princesses---she was strong.

I can’t help but think about how young girls would grow up with these incredible princesses by their sides. May they grow up as strong, as intelligent, and a kind as they are and long may these modern princesses reign!

Which Disney Princess would you want to see in a live-action remake? Comment your princess below!