Too many Takes on this site are about the election, racism, BLM, relationships, or some form of body acceptance or shaming. So I want to switch it up a bit and talk Disney.
Honestly, I’m not a Disney person myself, not since “The Princess and The Frog”, but I do like looking up interesting facts about nearly anything I can think of. So I decided to share some interesting Disney Princess facts that I learned over the years with you guys. Let me know what you think.
Also, keep in mind, this lit only includes the official princesses inducted by Disney themselves, which means Anna and Elsa are not taken into consideration. If they were inducted, I couldn't find any information on it.
1. Beyonce Didn’t Audition For Tiana, But Expected The Part Anyway
This is NOT a joke. The Disney film “The Princess and The Frog” may not have gained a lot of traction in general, but it did in the black communities, and that includes black celebrities. Terrance Howard, Jenifer Lewis, and even Oprah Winfrey are some of the big names behind the film.
But did you know that Beyonce “Queen Bey” Knowles REFUSED to audition for the lead part, Tiana, but still expected them to just offer it to her? Seriously. Meanwhile, Alicia Keys auditioned 3 times, Tyra Banks auditioned to a CD, and Jennifer Hudson even gave it a shot. None got it. And Beyonce was NOT happy that it was not offered to her.
To add salt to the wound of Beyonce, the part was given to Anika Noni Rose, the back-up co-star in the 2006 film “Dreamgirls” behind Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson, both whom wanted the role of Tiana. You can hear Rose's voice during Tiana's iconic number, "Almost There."
Tiana is also the only Disney princess to be voiced by an African American woman.
2. Ariel Should Technically Die At The End Of The Film
“The Little Mermaid” is absolutely nothing like the Hans Christian Anderson version of which it is based. First of all, Ariel isn’t 16 at the start, she’s 10, and has 5 elder sisters. In the story, it’s explained that each mermaid is a year apart and on their 15th birthday, they are allowed to go to the surface and view the human world. However, her sisters grew bored of it easily. In the movie, going to the surface is forbidden.
On her 15th birthday, she goes to the surface, hears songs from a nearby ship, and sees the Prince. Just like in the movie, she does have to rescue the prince from an accident at sea. Ariel (who in the story actually doesn’t have a name) learns from her grandmother that mermaids can live up to 300 years and then turn to seafoam while humans live shorter but their souls ascend to heaven.
The mermaid asks the sea witch for a human soul, not a human form. The sea witch cuts out her tongue, gives her legs (by the way, walking feels like stepping on knives) and she has to marry the Prince.
The story ends two different ways. The sea witch casts a love spell on the prince and marries him herself, resulting in the mermaid turning into seafoam on the third day. The other is the prince marries a real princess and the only way for her to save her soul is to kill the prince. She ends up killing herself instead by throwing herself into the sea and becoming an ethereal being.
3. Mulan And Pocahontas Are The Only Disney Princesses That Aren’t Really Princesses
While Pocahontas is the daughter of an Indian chief, she’s not -really- a princess. Native American tribes didn’t have them and that includes the Powhatan Tribe of Pocahontas is from. The idea of an Indian Princess is actually racist as the term was developed in order to modernize the Indian culture and implement European traditions into it, so the idea of Pocahontas being a Disney Princess is technically racist and culturally insensitive, although no one really cares.
Mulan was never any type of royalty and didn’t marry a prince, yet the two of them are officially inducted into the Disney Princess lineup.
4. Jasmine Is The First Princess To Have A Less Significant Role Than Her Male Counterpart
The film “Aladdin” really had nothing to do with Jasmine and everything to do with the pauper himself, making Jasmine a deuteragonist. It was, instead, focused on a street rat trying to impress a girl, make a better life for himself, and free his new found Genie friend of his literal and figurative shackles.
The only Disney Princess that comes close to Jasmine would be Princess Aurora as she was asleep throughout her entire movie. However, the overall plot was focused on her plight and thus, Jasmine is deemed the first.
5. Rapunzel Was The First Computer Animated Disney Princess Because She Had Too Much Hair
Seriously. The team had to use specific computer software to animated Rapunzel because no one had ever animated that much hair before.
There you go. Just some fun facts I felt like laying out. This Take was actually kind of fun…I might do another Disney one again.
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