SO
You probably heard about this. You probably saw this pissed off some Disney fans. You were probably pissed off that Kristen Bell, herself the voice of a Disney princess, had a lot of hypocritical nerve shitting on Snow White when her own princess is far from reproach.
But let’s look a bit closer.
This article from Parents magazine is just shy of 500 words. It’s the original interview with Kristen Bell that started this whole thing. Of that, the part that directly relates to the headline (Kristen Bell Worries Disney Princesses…) and subtitle (When it comes to stranger danger…) is 174 words.
The rest of the article is about Bell’s love of reading, the children’s book she’s currently writing, and how her kids donate books they’ve finished reading to the nonprofit, Baby2Baby.
So what??? The headline is direct. Kristen Bell thinks Disney Princesses teach her girls bad lessons! The subtitle is also direct. Kristen Bell has lots of aggressive, attacking questions for Snow White! It all seems pretty straightforward. There’s not much room for interpretation left in the headline and subtitle.
You wanna know what the article/Bell actually said?
But the ladies don’t just read, they discuss—especially classic Disney storylines.
“Every time we close Snow White I look at my girls and ask, ‘Don’t you think it’s weird that Snow White didn’t ask the old witch why she needed to eat the apple? Or where she got that apple?’ I say, ‘I would never take food from a stranger, would you?’ And my kids are like, ‘No!’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m doing something right.’”
Huh.
That’s not princess bashing. All she says is that she’s encouraging her daughters to think critically about the stories they consume. Isn’t that exactly what we here at DFP advocate? Critical thinking? Talking to people and (if you’re a parent or educator) kids alike about the harmful messages of these old stories so that they aren’t passed on and repeated? Rather than just branding them as trash and ignoring their cultural power as well as their positive attributes???
Bell isn’t even talking about Disney movies! The whole article is about children’s books! The closest she gets to talking about Disney is when she talks about fairytales that Disney has just so happened to adapt into movies.
So it turns out the headline and the subtitle–as straightforward as they appeared–were reaaaaally misleading, if not just straight up lies.
I know these are all things we know in theory. We know about clickbait, we know about misleading titles, we might even understand why websites do this and not fault them for it. You’re busy. You’ve got stuff to do. You don’t have to read every article you see in your feed, but just know that this Tumblr post was MORE than 500 words and you still read it.
If you’re going to be upset about something and encourage others to do the same, reading the original story/interview/article etc. is the VERY LEAST you can do.
But didn’t she also say stuff about banning Disney movies in her house? Didn’t she also talk about Cinderella?
Nah, that was Keira Knightley on Ellen. Just so happens that these two interviews entered the news cycle together. It also just so happens that both actresses have young daughters and are affiliated with Disney so…yeah.
And this is why we read articles, people.
-Mod S
Kristen Bell Worries the Disney Princesses Are Teaching Her Daughters Bad Lessons
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