Princess Power: Uncovering the Relationship Between Disney’s Protagonists, their Mothers, and their Fictive Kin
Date
2018-04
Author
Advisors
Andrews, Edna
Baker, Lee
Settle, Heather
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Abstract
This paper analyzes the kinship relationships displayed in Disney princess films produced
between 1937-2010. By exploring the various parental figures in the films, or the
fictive kin who supplement their absence, the paper highlights the ways in which anachronistic
thematic plots continue to affect modern children. The paper is divided into four
chapters: I) Just Around the Riverbend, which discusses the familial sacrifices made
in Pocahontas and Mulan; II) Motherless, which examines the consistent lack of biological
maternal figures in the majority of the films, along with the witches who supplant
them; III) Fairies, Forest Creatures, Father Figures, and Fictive Kin, which explores
the single-fathers in the films and the anthropomorphic fictive kin that guide the
protagonists in Cinderella and The Little Mermaid; and IV) Married Ever After, a chapter
detailing Disney’s marketing tactics, consumerism, and the evolution of a woman’s
relationship with the Walt Disney Company.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Cultural AnthropologyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16601Citation
Hurley, Cameron (2018). Princess Power: Uncovering the Relationship Between Disney’s Protagonists, their Mothers,
and their Fictive Kin. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16601.Collections
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