“Someday my prince will come,” is a phrase regarded as the trademark for old time Disney princesses. These were the days where a princess would magically slip into a comatose state and the only possible solution to bring her back to life was a kiss from her handsome prince. The days where the young girls were either peasants condemned to cleaning or became princesses thanks to the bloodline of said handsome prince. The classic princesses seemed like perfect role models in theory, but several of them have skewed views when compared to how parents want their children to act now.

Cinderella was forced to be nothing but a maid to her horrid step-family and the only thing that could save her from that situation was marrying a prince. Ariel loved singing more than most other things and she gave it up all while betraying her family just for a chance to meet the prince she had seen along the shore. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were both faced with the fate of being in a deep sleep for the rest of their lives with nothing but true loves kiss holding the power to awaken them.

Disney’s business philosophy reflects what was happening in society when their movies came out. You can tell what the perceptions of society were at a certain time by watching a Disney movie released at that time; their movies have evolved based on the values of people during that time. If a classic movie like Snow White were to come out today, people would be offended by the sexist elements it has regarding the perception of women. The same is true about recent movies if they had come out 60 years ago because they were released in a time where women were seen as more fragile and sensitive than they are today. The ultimate goal for Disney is obviously to make money so sticking with the flow of what’s going on in society allows them to rake in as much as possible.

“I think there are attributes from all of these movies that are influential to children. Even though I think the whole thought process of women being independent and not needing a man is great, we all need to be more concerned with what we’re learning from mom and dad than what we’re learning from the TV,” Highland coach Brody Benson said.

With young children watching these movies and wishing they could grow up to be just like these princes and princesses, it’s becoming more important for Disney to shape the attitudes and values of the girls in the movies in a way that is more applicable with people today.

More recent movies like Frozen and Brave display the female leading roles as independent and adventurous. Anna and Elsa were faced with big challenges that were solved mainly by the two of them (with a little help from others met along the way) and showed the importance of sisterhood and family bonds.

Something to consider is the fact that some children learn a lot of how they act in public based on television and movies, it’s not necessarily all learned from their parents even if that’s the way it should be. There are various reasons for this but one of the biggest is that a lot of families are in circumstances where the parents have to be at work during the day and can’t come home until the kids have been put to bed by a babysitter or nanny. This means that it’s important for characters in children’s movies to be portrayed positively and have good attitudes.

Some may view the evolution of Disney through the ages as somewhat unnecessary because the lessons that are being taught touch on issues that should be left up to the parents. Every child should be taught the issues of gender roles eventually in their lives but it makes more sense for them to see it visually and in a way that they won’t actually feel like they’re learning.