Disney’s Enchanted: A Contrast Between Real Love and Fairytale Love

Eloisa Hilton

Eloisa Hilton is an erotica writer from Huntsville, Alabama. She is the author of Treasure Lost, available on Amazon. Her short works can be found on her blog.

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11 Responses

  1. I haven’t had a chance to welcome you to OT yet so I’ll take it now! Welcome!

    Thanks for writing!Report

  2. North says:

    This is a fine post and analysis. Also it’s a fine excuse to revisit some of the very amusing and fun scenes from this film. The animals Giselle gets when she sings in New York are, to put it mildly, not quite the same she’d get in a woodland cottage. Also the choreography of “How does she know he loves her” is really top notch.Report

    • Eloisa in reply to North says:

      Thanks! It was a fun piece to write and it’s something that I find fascinating. Also, I love how Disney pokes fun at itself throughout the entire film. Glad you enjoyed it!Report

  3. Chip Daniels says:

    What I’ve always found interesting is the male version of the Princess story.

    The sort of stories found in action movies like 007 or any cowboy yarn or superhero yarn.
    They aren’t a perfect analog to the Princess story but they traffic in the same sort of fantasy whish fulfillment themes where True Love happens after a lot of trials and tribulations, but not much personal development on the part of the protagonist.

    Most notably is that the chase and seduction is the heart of it all, and “happily ever after” is always after the final fade to black because, well, it’s not really the interesting part is it? And then in the next installment of the franchise, the girl is written out, and a newer model brought in.

    Which is why updating the traditional fairy tales to modern sensibilities might be a good thing, but only expose our own desires as being merely modern fairytales, impossible versions of the world we live in.Report

    • LeeEsq in reply to Chip Daniels says:

      I think the true male version of the Princess story isn’t the James Bond, cowboy, or superhero type situation. The real male version of the superhero story is when you have the very obvious not alpha male, he can be a nerd or an everydude but he can’t be the international playboy, football quarterback star, or any other obviously desirable man, get a hot and out of reach babe by dint of sheer decency and going through all sorts of trials and tribulations. Seeing James Bond as the male equivalent of the Princess doesn’t work because James Bond is innately desirable. Every woman already wants to bang him even if they are a lesbian. That’s a heterosexual male fantasy but it isn’t the male equivalent of the Princess story.Report

      • Oscar Gordon in reply to LeeEsq says:

        Agree, the male version is “She’s Outta My League”Report

      • Eloisa Hilton in reply to LeeEsq says:

        These are really interesting to me. I am always fascinated by the male point of view of emotions and how emotions are shared. As far as the nerd getting the hot girl, think of the 80’s film “Can’t Buy Me Love.”Report

        • LeeEsq in reply to Eloisa Hilton says:

          I think there are now basically two versions of the Princess story:

          1. One is the “She’s Outta My League” but you get her by sheer dint of your decency. The emotional satisfaction from this comes partially from getting a really desirable partner and partly from beating the competition. This is competition that has every advantage over you but you won by being yourself rather than becoming more like this. There is a lot of nerd getting the hot girl. Anime and manga have a lot of them, more so compared to Western media because a lot more Western nerds seem to desire to be really kick ass.

          2. The other variant of the Princess story for men is the one where you have a hot woman or a bunch of them inexplicably pursue a nerd or every dude. Beyond the appeal of the above, this has the attraction of knowing what it is like to be courted and pursued rather than having to do all the leg work, which is more common in most romantic fiction.Report

    • Pinky in reply to Chip Daniels says:

      If the classic princess story is “poor girl becomes a princess though marriage”, the classic prince story is “poor orphan boy is really the prince”. It’s everywhere from King Arthur to Harry Potter. There can be a lot of overlap between the stories, too, like in the case of the princess and the frog (concealed prince, poor girl becomes princess) or Snow White (concealed princess). Both the sudden prince and sudden princess stories can have the character earn their advancement, but it’s not necessary.Report

      • Mike Schilling in reply to Pinky says:

        This is why Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain stories are so good. “Orphan boy learns over many years not to obsess over his possible ancestry, and in fact never does learn who his parens were, but becomes the king because he’s earned it.” And of course Carrot is obviously the rightful king, but instead chooses to be a good cop.Report