This is a minor rant in response to the brand-new trailer for the upcoming sequel to Wreck-It Ralph.
And it really frustrates me that they consider Elsa a princess (it also frustrates me that Mulan is considered a princess, but that's another story). She may have started out as a princess, but now she is a queen. I have no qualms about Anna being in this crowd, because she is a princess, but Elsa is a queen. As such, I like it when I read information on merchandise about Elsa that describes her as "Queen Elsa", because they're absolutely right and know what they're talking about:
Most of the time, given how obscenely popular the movie became, Anna and Elsa are treated as their own separate franchise, which is all to the good. However, from time to time, they have been seen, however briefly, with the other Disney princesses.
Things came to a head for me when I went to the movies a few weeks ago. One of the trailers was for the upcoming Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2. I had heard that one of the things that so many people went nuts over was this one scene where Vanellope Von Schweetz has an encounter with the Disney princesses:
As if that wasn't enough,Vanellope tells them she is a princess, too, and they ask what kind of princess she is, with Elsa in particular asking if Vanellope has "magic hands":
And to all of that, I say once more, "What part of 'Elsa is a queen, not a princess' do these people not understand?" Again, I have no objections with Anna hanging out with them, but Elsa is no longer a princess. It just really rubs me the wrong way.
(And by the way, maybe it's just because I'm a big fan of Pee-wee's Playhouse, which I have seen constantly throughout my life, but Elsa looks like kind of like one of the Del Rubio Triplets. I don't know why, though.)
Anyway, maybe it is that "princess" is Disney talk for "heroine". After all, Disney loves to use words to mean anything they want (i.e., "cast member" means "employee"), and in this case, "princess" means "heroine". Of course, by that logic, that means Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Tinker Bell, Alice, Maid Marian (from Robin Hood) and others too many to mention are all princesses, too.
Maybe the notion of "princess vs. queen" can be summed up in this video from Doug Walker, the Nostalgia Critic, who, many years ago, posted an editorial about "princess hate". I won't post the video here (click here if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xv-DoKUgL0), but basically, he too has objections over "princess" vs. "queen", and speculates that Disney, indeed the entertainment industry as a whole, is practically anti-queen, as queens are usually cast as villains, not heroines, whereas princesses represent innocence, youth and beauty.
In any case, I'm just glad I'm not that sucked in by the Frozen, or even princess, hype. But then again, I'm a guy, and way out of the age range of the princess franchise anyway (little girls).
