Feminist Princess Merida

By: Shayna o’donnell

Princess Merida is from the 2012 Disney Pixar movie "Brave," created by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews. She is portrayed as a strong, independent, and confident warrior who is constantly forging her path in life and choosing her fate. Being the princess of a Scottish kingdom, she is forced to do different duties in her role, but goes against the traditional norms and follows her way (Andrews, Chapman, Purcell, 2012). Merida challenges traditional gender roles and stereotypes rooted in the Disney princess narrative and, by effect, allows girls to see a significant change in how females are not confined to act in their roles. By doing so, Merida can obtain both feminist and masculine elements throughout the movie.

The movie "Brave" was directed at a wide variety of audiences, but it had a big impact on young girls. Merida can be seen as a role model, changing the way young girls view themselves and how they would like to be seen. She believes you can create your own story and not have to follow the one that's been written for you. Also, you do not have to be confined to the role that you are supposed to be. Even though you may be a female and embody those feminist qualities, many masculine qualities and abilities can be embodied as well.

Merida can escape the structure of femininity and take on more of a masculine side of herself. Merida can embody "masculine traits like being physically strong, assertive, unemotional, independent, athletic, inspiring fear, giving advice, and taking on the role of leader" (Dundes, 2020). Many feel as if you're a female, you can only have female qualities and not embrace any masculine abilities. Merida breaks that stereotype and proves that just because you're a female, there is nothing that can be held back. She proves her independence, physical strength, and all these characteristics that most females would be too afraid to show.

When thinking of any Disney princess, we always assume that there is going to be a magical prince who shows up and sweeps that princess off their feet. For Princess Merida, there is no prince, and there is no special someone who comes and saves her. Merida is one of the first characters to break that mold of needing that prince to rescue her or do everything for her. By Merida breaking that mold, it is allowing Disney to change how they want to create certain storylines. "Patterns suggest Disney is becoming less rigid in their presentation of romantic storylines, occasionally even foregoing this plot line completely" (Hine, 2018). This is proving how much of a change there is in defining females, and how females have a right to go on things themselves, not needing a man to do it for them.

In girlhood studies, Merida breaking this stereotype connects her to the third-wave feminist movement. "Third-wave feminism embraces difference in a way… incorporating a do-it-yourself, individualistic attitude" (Pomerantz, 2020)." Merida knows she does not need a man to be happy; she can find her happily ever after all on her own. She takes control of her own life and continuously insists on only thinking for herself. She is only focused on making her own decisions and refuses to be defined by any marriage that is proposed to her.

Princess Merida is challenging the different gender roles and stereotypes that are considered the social norm. She does not let what her gender is known as, or her sexuality, define who she is. "Merida refuses to be categorized…she sheds the socially constructed identity she was forced to embrace and forms one that is untouched by convention, stereotypical beliefs, and social restrictions" (Hewa, 2022). She is proving that you do not always have to follow the specific rules and obligations for oneself. By going against the traditional norms, she is demonstrating how any young female can represent themselves and embody qualities and traits anyway they would like.

A girl's behavior and how a girl should be viewed an ongoing issue throughout girlhood studies. By Merida challenging this aspect and changing the narrative on how a girl is seen, this changes our view on gender completely. "A post-structuralist, performative approach to gender recognizes that gender is both an individual, embodied identity as well as at the same time transcending those individual bodies and continuously reproduced within discourse and structures" (Kustatscher, 2020). Regaining the importance of gender is essential to understanding what our identity is, and Merida is doing that through her lens and her own ways.

Merida changes the trajectory of being different from the other Disney princesses. She is different in "The extent to which Merida instead embraced masculinity is more prominent than in other Disney princesses" (Dundes, 2020). When watching other princesses, we can see how they are confined to their roles of being feminine and acting as proper and petite as any female princess would. This princess acts out in a more male aspect, proving she likes playing archery and she likes riding horses, which was considered a more masculine thing.

Choosing her desires and her wishes proves how strong and independent Merida is. In girlhood studies, she falls under the perspective of a can-do girl. "Can-do girls are notable for their high ambitions about their employment and their commitment to elaborate planning for success" (Duvall). She proves how powerful she is by taking responsibility for her actions and portraying female empowerment for young girls all over.

Merida is also making an impact on other Disney princesses in the future. Being seen as an independent and determined character, she is shifting the way different stories can be told. Princesses that were created after Merida were Moana, Anna, and Elsa, who were all shown as creating their destinies. They also showed that they did not need a love interest and can do things on their own. Merida was able to create the trend for more Disney princesses to come, proving that females can create their futures and not be told what they can and cannot do. Also proving that they do not need a man and can show what powerful females they are.

The appearance of a Disney Princess is always the fancy ball gown, hair up, and being put together. When looking at Merida's appearance, you can see she has her wild, curly red hair, and wears a medieval rugged dress, which is drastically different from what is normally looked upon. Merida is refusing to be confined to the traditional expectations of beauty. She is embracing the type of person that she wants to be known as and is challenging the image of what a princess is supposed to be.

By challenging beauty norms, it allows young girls to realize they do not have to look a certain way just because everyone else does. We should choose for our own selves what we want are appearance to be seen as and not be compared to others. Merida is proving herself as a role model for young girls to feel free to be themselves and embrace that wild side of who they are. This will challenge how everyone is unique in their way, and their image will be seen the way that they want it to be seen.

Women being able to lift each other and understand each other is very important for girlhood. We need to be able to come together as a unit and understand how we are feeling to be there for one another. Merida and her mother have a very dynamic relationship throughout the movie, and it allows girls to understand the importance of a powerful female relationship (Andrews, Chapman, Purcell, 2012). Merida's mother, by the end of the film, was able to accept Merida's choices on how she wants to forge her path in life, and that allows women’s choices to be respected, rather than what society thinks.

As we can see, Princess Merida is important to young girls and girlhood culture, which proves her to be a feminist icon and role model. She does this by challenging the role of a Disney princess and how they are portrayed. Proving that just because you're a female, it does not mean you are confined to act the way society tells you to. Also showing how girls can create their futures and are not to be given them. Finally, Princess Merida is valuable to girlhood as a whole, which proves just how much ofstrongl a feminist she is. She is allowing young girls to explore their true identities, letting them know that everyone is unique in their way, and to always push on something that they believe in because in the end it will be achieved!

Bibliography:

Andrews, M., Chapman, B., & Purcell, S. (2012). Brave. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Dundes, L. (2020). The Upshot on Princess Merida in Disney/Pixar's Brave: Why the Tomboy Trajectory Is Off Target. Journal of Humanities, 9(3), 1-13

Duvall, S. Celebrity Girls Studies: Interdisciplinary scholarship on fame, girlhoods, and identity. In Routledge Companion on Girls' Studies (pp. 319-332), New York: Routledge, 2024

Hewa, S. G. (2022). 'Monsters' vs. 'Angels': A Feminist Approach to the Film Brave Through the Character of Merida. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Hine, B., England, D., Lopreore, K., Horgan, E., Hartwell, L. (2018). The Rise of the Androgynous Princess: Examining Representations of Gender in Prince and Princess Characters of Disney Movies Released 2009–2016.

Kustatscher, M. (2020a). Gender. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (pp. 813–816). SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved 2024 from http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n294

Pomerantz, S. (2020). Girlhood studies. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (pp. 846–850). SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved 2024 from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rutgers-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6161445.