I love Disney.  It may not exactly be cool to admit that, but then I’m not particularly cool, so who cares?  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been entranced with the colourful pictures and good-vs-evil stories that the House of Mouse put out.  First the classics like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and then through their renaissance in the early nineties, and finally even following them into their post-renaissance early 2000s slump. (Though I maintain they still made some awesome movies during this period.  Treasure Planet, anyone?)

So it wasn’t a surprise that, when I was feeling sick on the weekend, I grabbed a Disney movie to cheer myself up.  The Little Mermaid, namely: the 1989 movie that is widely considered to have revitalised Disney, started its renaissance, and kicked off the official Disney Princess line up to boot.  And it’s still an amazing movie.  Glen Keane’s character designs for Ariel are stunning; the music is inspired; the story is surprisingly emotional for following around someone who can’t speak for the vast majority of the time.

But the ending niggled away at me long after the closing credits played… because the heroine of the movie, Ariel, really had remarkably little to do with vanquishing Ursula.

“Don’t mind me – I’ll just cower here for a while.”

Instead, she has to be rescued by Eric, who comes in to save the day with a well-placed bowsprit right in the calamari.  Now I’m not meaning to discount Ariel – her curiosity, stubbornness, courage, and mischievousness all place her as a great character – but coming at it from a writing aspect, it still annoys me.

The basic conceit of a narrative is generally: there is a protagonist.  Protagonist wants something.  Protagonist is blocked from getting something by an antagonist (sometimes themselves or nature, but most often another person/organisation).  Protagonist overcomes the odds to defeat the antagonist and gain their heart’s desire.

Granted, this is highly simplified, but hopefully it demonstrates my point.  Ariel is undoubtedly the protagonist of The Little Mermaid.  It is her actions (dreaming of the world above and striking a deal with Ursula) that start the plot.  So surely she should be the one to defeat the antagonist, right?

Apparently not.

This revelation led me to revisit all my old favourite Disney movies to see just how many of their protagonists – specifically the heroines – actually defeat their antagonists.

Disney’s official line-up of princesses is: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida.  I’m only going to look at movies where these princesses could be considered the protagonists (sorry, Jasmine!):

Snow White – Not in the slightest.  Snow White’s still snoozing while the dwarfs chase after the Evil Queen, causing her to fall off a cliff in the first instance of Disney’s famous ol’ falling death.

Cinderella – This is trickier as Tremaine is the antagonist and Cinderella technically doesn’t do anything to defeat her.  She does, however, request to try on the class slipper and produce a second shoe when her stepmother causes the first to be broken, so I guess she gets points for that.

Sleeping Beauty – Okay, this one’s a bit iffy.  Though we follow Aurora throughout the story, I’d argue that the protagonists are actually the fairies, and if this is the case, then they do help defeat the antagonist in the form of enchanting Phillip’s sword.

The Little Mermaid – Nope. Trying not to be fried by the trident while Eric spears Ursula in the stomach.

Beauty and the Beast – Not particularly, as Gaston is hoisted by his own petard.

Pocahontas – It’s John Smith’s actions being wounded saving Pocahontas’s father that lead to the sailors realising how despicable Ratcliffe is.

Mulan – Arguably the first (and the biggest) step in creating heroines who are actively involved in defeating their antagonists.  Not only fights against Shan Yu (twice!), but comes up with the plan that ultimately defeats him.  Interestingly, though, it’s Mushu who technically kills him with the fireworks.

The Princess and the Frog – The first Disney princess to definitively kill their protagonist via the rather Anastasia-like ending of destroying the bad guy’s reliquary/source of power.

Tangled – Along with the subtler villain, this movie also has a subtler climax.  Don’t get me wrong, we still get the trademarked Disney Villain Falling From Tall Things…

“I’m a villain in a Disney movie.  I should have bought a condoooo…”

 

… but the true defeat of the antagonist comes in Rapunzel recognising Gothel’s love as possessive and destructive and rejecting it.  (Though again we have the wacky sidekick doing the actual killing.)

Brave – Merida figures out how to break the curse, but leaves the actual defeat of Mordu to her mum.  Which gets points from me because you don’t often see badass (or alive!) mums in Disney.

As of this writing, the sisters from Frozen haven’t been officially added into the Disney princess lineup, though I’m sure it’s coming.  Which is great because Anna and Elsa are fantastic representations of active protagonists who have their own agencies and influence their own fates.

So from this list it’s kind of sad the lack of heroines who play an active role in defeating their villains.  I’d expect passive heroines from the early movies, but it surprised me that so many from the Disney renaissance were still not involved in their final battles.

Now the problem I have with this isn’t necessarily because it’s sexist, but rather because it’s narratively unsatisfying.  For most of these movies, we’ve identified with Ariel or Belle or Aurora.  We’ve watched them go through dangers and trials and we’ve hated the villains for hurting them.  We root to see the villains finally receive their comeuppance at the hands of our noble heroes… and then to not get that moment of catharsis feels rather like a let-down.

Thankfully this trend seems to be ending, if the last couple of Disney Princess movies are any indication.  Just don’t get me started on Disney’s reluctance to show their protagonists killing the villain…

Seriously, even in The Lion King, we don’t get Simba delivering a smackdown on Scar.  Name me one protagonist who kills their villain.  I can only think of Jim with Scroop in Treasure Planet.