Which Disney princess had it toughest?
May 8th, 2008, 10:02 am · Post a Comment · posted by kylew
I’ve had to break out all of the Disney movie songs I used to know to help sing my 30-day-old son to sleep.
That, plus Brian Hughes’ preview of the upcoming performance of Sleeping Beauty in DeFuniak Springs, got me thinking — which of the Disney princesses had it the roughest?
Here’s my ranking, from easiest to toughest.
EASIEST
Cinderella: The villains are an ill-tempered stepmother and two annoying stepsisters. Hardly pleasant, but not life-threatening. Plus, Cindy had a fairy godmother on her side, and the Handsome Prince only had eyes for her. She overcame the “hardship” of doing daily chores. This road to princesshood was relatively smooth.
SECOND-EASISEST
Jasmine: The heroine of Aladdin had direct help from a sultan (her father), a tiger (her pet), plus indirect help from a good genie. Her foe, the evil sorcerer Jafar, is a scary dude, but never gave indication he would do Jazzy harm. In fact, he offered to marry her. Of course, that could be interpreted as a fate worse than death.
AVERAGE
Snow White: I see her road to a happy ending as almost equal to Jasmine’s. The key differences: Snow White had help from seven dwarfs; not a sultan, a tiger and a genie. Also, Snowy wasn’t exactly the apple of her wicked stepmother’s eye, so to speak. Wicked stepmother seemed to want her to take an awfully long nap.
SECOND HARDEST
Sleeping Beauty: Anyone who has the evil sorceress Malificent as a foe is in for a tough time in my book. I always considered Malificent the most scary of the Disney villains. I wouldn’t want to mess with anyone with full magical powers who can transform herself into a dragon on a whim. Not to mention, Sleepy couldn’t do much to help her own cause since she was asleep for a good chunk of the movie’s time span.
HARDEST
Ariel: Let’s rattle off everything The Little Mermaid overcame: She was a mermaid on land, she couldn’t talk, she had three days to make Prince Eric fall for her, and her opponent, Ursula the Sea Witch, was providing active competition for Prince Eric’s affections. When the Disney princesses get together, Airy definitely can say she overcame the most.
