Why I no longer believe in the love Disney taught us to believe.

Sometimes I sit and wonder if I believe in love anymore… well, that sounds harsh. I do believe in love, I just no longer believe in the love Disney taught us to believe. Aside from the age old debate that Walter Elias “Walt” Disney was racist, as an organisation, Disney’s overall portrayal of love for impressionable boys and girls was somewhat problematic.

I have learnt that there is no such thing as ‘The one’. Perusing countless Medium articles has helped to dispel that myth. I have also learnt that it’s highly unlikely that you are going to meet the love of your life at the age of 16 whilst simultaneously seeking independence (kudos to those who found the love of their life at 16, but that is a ship that has long since sailed for me).

Let’s take a look at Disney’s Princesses. Belle is a good place to start. Clearly she suffered from Stockholm syndrome. Belle, despite all her intellect let us think it was OK to fall in love with a literal beast of a man because he presented her with a library. Right after he enslaved her of course, but hey, after all, a girl loves to read! From my personal experiences I have in the past justified bad behaviours because “He brought me a pair of trainers that one time.” At the end of the day bad behaviours are just not acceptable and Belle needed a stint with a therapist… As did I, but that’s a story for another time.

How about Ariel? Her mission in life was to make a man fall in love with her in three days. Three days? That does not sound like love to me and sounds more like infatuation. Plus, she was not able to use her voice meaning she could not ‘win’ him with her intellect, personality and life experiences, but with her body and face alone. As Ursula said “You’ll have your looks, your pretty face! And don’t underestimate the importance of body language”. However, as we know, Eric also fell for Ursula because she had her looks, her pretty face, did not underestimate the importance of body language and of course, was actually able to speak using Ariel’s stolen voice. Yes, we could argue that Eric was under a spell and Ursula did not really look that way, but the moral of the story is- Eric was shallow and Ariel sacrificed her freedom for a man that she barely knew enough to genuinely love.