Honestly I hate the whole "women have to be 100% independent, mentally stable, brave, and physically strong" to be a good role model.

No one seems to criticize Quasimodo for staying with

say it louder for the people in the back... femininity doesn’t equal weakness and falling in love does not instantly make a character weak either 👏 female characters can be strong in many different ways

It’s ~okay~ to need help sometimes. Not everything is a solo mission. Needing help from others isn’t a sign of weakness. Kindness and humility aren’t signs of weakness.

Mulan is so much more traditionally feminine than people who want to hold her up as some kind of super-tomboyish ra-ra you go girl teenage rebel icon seem to realize or want to admit. I'm not just referring to the fact that she only cross dresses out of dire necessity and immediately switches back to wearing a dress as soon as the charade is over either; she's deeply compassionate (that shot with the doll wasn't just thrown in for kicks), is motivated largely by love for her family and a desire for unity with them, is grossed out by body odor and bad hygiene, dislikes fighting (again, learns to fight anyway out of dire necessity, and is absolutely terrible until she learns to rely on quick wit and good technique instead of physical strength), and turns down a position of great power so that she can return to her home and family. The most tomboyish things about her are that she likes to ride horses and is uncomfortable wearing heavy makeup (but wears it anyway out of a desire to please her family and fit in with the other girls) - neither of which would qualify as out of the norm for a low-key girlie girl in the modern day.

I've seen a few remarks from people who grew up in abusive households who are more hurt by the "Cinderella is weak for staying and should just rescue herself" crowd than from Cinderella itself, one of them straight up said that Disney's Cinderella gave her hope as a child because it gave her hope that her personal hell will end some day and she would finally be free and happy.

I hate the Disney princess bashing that has been going on, and people telling me I should relate more to characters like Moana instead of Snow White. There's nothing wrong with preferring the modern princesses, but don't go and tell me that I am wrong because I see more to Snow White and Cinderella than just people who wait around to be saved. There is a lot of compassion to these characters: kindness that bequeaths kindness in return. I thought those were virtues we want to teach people?

It takes a LOT of strength not to poison your abusive step family.

So does Kiera Knightly not let her children watch Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean because her own character was by her definition a “damsel in distress”?🤔

My biggest problem is when people are like, "Snow White and Cinderella are such superficial characters and their whole stories are written just so men can feel good about themselves! They're just plot devices in a movie about how awesome men are!" The Princes in those movies don't even have a name- and you're going on about how the main characters with hopes, dreams, and goals are superficial? The MEN. DON'T. EVEN. HAVE. A. NAME.

Modern audiences forget that Cinderella is a 19th century (according to the Disney movie styling) orphan girl with no legal rights, in an era with no Child Services or Social Services.

I hate the victim blaming about Cinderella. And nobody seems to remember that "Part of that world" happened before Ariel saw Eric ?

Feminism:

let me also point out that Cinderella was never saved by a man at all. When stepmother locked her in the attic and the DUKE came with the slipper, Cinderella was yelling and screaming for her stepmother to let her out, trying to pull open the door, gather her animal friends to get the key for the door, and told them to get Bruno the dog to get rid of Lucifer when he became an obstruction to her freedom. when she got out, she called to the duke, politely asked to try on the slipper, and when the original shattered, pulled out her own slipper. she held the key to her freedom in that slipper that ensured her a ticket out of her personal hell.

People should remember Nala was out hunting and happened upon Simba by coincidenxe. Once she discovered he was alive she tried to convince him of his responsibility.

I think its ridiculous that these people are bringing modern sensibilities to older films and making unfair criticisms. This mentality is why we have so few interesting female leads in Disney anymore.

I can't stand when a male character does something good or honorable, the act is always brushed off and their flaws are what "the real problem is" while when a female character does something even slightly rebellious, it's seen as better than sliced bread.

The biggest issue for me is when people give Snow White crap for cleaning and cooking for the dwarfs. She OFFERED to clean and cook for them instead of being a free loader. The dwarfs would have probably let her stay without having to do all that but she was go grateful for them for giving up THEIR BEDS, SHARING THEIR FOOD, RISKING THEIR OWN LIVES that she offered to do domestic chores for them, which is something Snow White knew how to do because she was forced to. Like damn, Snow White is probably one of, if not, the kindest Disney Princess who is ONLY 14. Also, her being saved by her Prince in the end? I know common criticism is that the early Disney Princesses and their Princes didn't get much interaction but I'd like think that perhaps Snow and her Prince would meet several more times before the Queen took out her vengeance on her. It's like Aurora and Philip. The dance scene I interpret as them getting to know each other. Like sure Beauty and the Beast did it better because they showed clips of them during "Something More" of doing different activities and getting closer.

When Cinderella runs off, she excuses it by saying "I haven't met the prince". And the narration at the beginning of Cinderella literally says abuse. It's not implied, it's outright stated by the narrator.

Seriously, every single person that has said Cinderella is a push-over or doesn't have a backbone or never did anything can't have possibly have watched this same movie. Yes, she's been in an abusive situation ever since she was a child, but she also stands up for herself several times throughout the movie and puts her foot down (like, in the scene in bedroom of her stepmother or when receiving the invitations for the ball). And the idea that her being stuck in an abusive situation since childhood and having managed to find some happiness in her every day life makes her weak is kinda shitty. And she literally tries to get away at THE FIRST CHANCE she gets. Yes, it was after the prince came along, but it was literally the only way for her to get out. She had nowhere else to go. And even when she was locked in the room, she still did everything in her power to get out. It was her idea to get the dog when Lucifer had one of the mice. She did all she could while being literally trapped. Anyways, hating on Cinderella isn't progressive and everyone that does can fight me.