Virginia Postrel notes that we’re still gripped by the ideal of the princess:
The United States has been a republic for more than two centuries. We aren’t supposed to have princesses. Yet the archetype remains both persistent and profitable.
Princesses are everywhere: under the tree at Christmas and on the sidewalks at Halloween, atop birthday cakes and in videogames, on bedspreads and in perfume ads. They provide themes for baby showers, quinceañeras, even weddings. The phrase “every little girl dreams of being a princess” generates more than 300,000 Google matches, only a few of which concern Kate Middleton’s impending marriage to Britain’s Prince William.
“Princess” is not just a royal title. It’s a powerful, and popular, ideal.
When the Los Angeles Times recently reported that Disney was swearing off new animated princess films, the fan outcry was so great that Pixar Animation chief Ed Catmull quickly issued a retraction on Facebook, vaguely promising great stuff to come. Whether it turns out to be the last or merely the latest Disney princess movie, “Tangled,” which opened Nov. 24, is an indisputable hit. Going into this weekend, the retelling of “Rapunzel” had rung up nearly $194 million in world-wide ticket sales.
Why, in a society without princesses, does this archetype remain so strong?
A princess is pretty, rich, beautifully dressed, loved, happy and, above all, special. She represents escape from the constraints of even the most bountiful childhood. Erstwhile princess Sarah Constantin, now working toward her Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale University (a classic girly pursuit), recalls the joys of imagining a “‘dream dress’ that was every color of the rainbow and had opals in the shape of morning glories” and reigning over Sarahland. There, she says, “I was a benevolent ruler, but here on earth I had to do what I was told, and (worse?) wear overalls.” The princess archetype embodies a feminine version of the appeal Michael Chabon in his novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” ascribes to superheroes. They express the “lust for power and the gaudy sartorial taste of a race of powerless people with no leave to dress themselves.” (Wonder Woman is both superhero and princess.)