Entertainment
10 Secrets About Disney Princesses You Didn’t Know
Years have passed since Disney truly enraptured the attention, not only for the young generation but also adults because of their breathtaking movies being released each year. The characters from these movies made such an impact that viewers love them so much and they are sometimes considered very significant and influential factors of each movie. Disney princesses are women who portray stereotyped characters. Some movie fanatics may favor more realistic genre types of flicks, but to loyal fans of Disney movies, they know that one of the most successful franchises of movies is the Disney Princess franchise. To become a Disney princess is any young girl’s dream nowadays, but there are some things hidden behind an image of a Disney princess. Here are 10 secrets about Disney princesses a lot of people really don’t know.
10. Highest Kill Count by a Disney Character
“Sugar, spice and everything nice.” This cliché best describes any Disney character. Surprisingly, not all Disney princesses devoted their time singing songs and wearing pretty clothes, but some of them are true rebels at heart. One of them was known to have the highest number of kills done in a movie. Do you have an idea who is this Disney Princess?
It is none other than Mulan, who shockingly killed more than 1,995 individuals in the Disney movie with her name, where she is the protagonist along with Li Shang as her love interest. She is not just an ordinary princess like the others because she doesn’t have to look perfect like the other Disney princesses and she maintained trying to find her real place. It is also the movie where it truly shows that not only men can be the heroes in a movie. So it challenges the very conventional idea of it. To be more exact in numbers, she killed groups of Huns with the use of an avalanche through a rocket for about 2,000 of them. Nobody should really mess with the known highest kill count by a Disney princess, Mulan.
9. The Unique Features of Pocahontas
There are many unique things about Pocahontas and also the movie itself. Pocahontas is not just a fictional Disney character and princess. She is a real person from which the movie was derived from. Pocahontas was a Native American Indian and was a daughter of a well-known and respected Chief Powhatan in their native land.
The movie was released in the year of the real Pocahontas’ 400th birthday. The film was released in the year 1995, so it means that Pocahontas was born in 1595. It should be known by a lot of people that the movie took almost 5 years to finish. It was a great effort done by all the people behind this movie.
As others might be confused with the two love interests in Pocahontas’ life, be it in real life and in the movie, she was married to John Rolfe, whom Pocahontas fell in love with following her time of captivity. But in the movie, she had a strong liking for John Smith whose life she saved when he was in danger. She was known to be the only Disney Princess to have more than one love interest in the same movie. Her character was the first ever to portray interracial love in a Disney flick.
8. Having a Duet with a Villain
In the movie, “Frozen,” there are several soundtracks from the film that really captured the hearts of many. If the movie was all so good, the soundtrack was way even better. The songs from the movie were so fresh and so uplifting that they showed the celebration of love, peace, and harmony in the world. Young generations, as well as adults alike definitely, loved the soundtrack of the film. All of the songs in the movie must sure be in the song list of everyone. But to some extent in the film, there is one song being sung by both characters, Anna and Hans. Hans happens to be a protagonist and an antagonist in the plot of the movie.
Anna and Hans’ romantic duet showed the reality of two people in the early stage of being in love with each other. In the end, it was depressing on the part of Anna when she later found out that Hans turned out to be a villain who has an evil plan of pursuing the throne of Arendelle, the kingdom where the family of Anna and Elsa lives. As some might describe him, he is like the animal chameleon where he adapts to any kind of nature and environment so that others will be comfortable with him.
7. Youngest and Eldest Disney Princesses
Do you have a guess as to who are the eldest and youngest Disney princesses among the others? It will definitely be a shocking surprise for all that the youngest princess among the others is none other than the first Disney princess, Snow White. Well, it really does make sense since Snow White was as young as 14-years old and she was the first one ever to be created by the animators of Walt Disney Pictures. If Snow White is the youngest princess, the oldest Disney Princess is none other than Elsa, who is by that time in the movie is already 21-years old.
If Snow White is the youngest princess, then automatically it means that she is the youngest princess to get married in Disney movies. Though in reality, Pocahontas was just 12-years when she first met John Smith. Obviously, with her being so young, the team changed her age to 16 and that leaves Snow White as still the youngest of them all. On the other hand, it is still questioned by some if Elsa is really considered a Disney princess. Because it is known that the big success of the movie Frozen, they already have their own Disney franchise. Way to go for these two sisters.
6. The Reason Behind Princess Ariel’s Red Hair
Princess Ariel’s very unique characteristic is her very bright red hair. During the years of still making the movie, The Little Mermaid, there was a debate as to whether the color of the hair of Ariel should be red locks or bold blonde.
The staff behind the studio wanted her hair to be the typical blonde, but the animators behind the image of Ariel seemed to be vigilant of having their star’s hair be red as what was based in the original plan of their team. Gladly, the animators won the feud during that time because they really thought that the red color hair matched with Ariel’s blue and green tail of a mermaid. Also for them, it may sound odd, but they say that their task would be easier because of the adaptability of the color itself during the animation.
Young actress Chloe Moretz had been confirmed to be playing the role of Ariel, the young princess mermaid of the Disney movie. However, before the movie was released, there were a lot of rumours that the studio staff eventually won out and Ariel’s red hair would be blonde, since the young actress’ hair was blonde. Disney is known for drawing their characters with some of the characteristics of the actor portraying the animated character.
5. Popular Celebrities Tried to Get the Role of Tiana
The Princess and the Frog is a story everyone can truly enjoy and where there exists a modern twist in a very uncluttered manner. This Disney movie is all about a beautiful girl named Tiana and a prince who was under a spell making him a frog and desperately wanting to be a human again. There are critics who told that the story may be uneven but the movie has a great sense of humor and the old-school animation effects wins them all. Aside from the cinematography of the film, it was the songs that really captured the viewers. So who was behind the voice of the beautiful female lead, Tiana?
There are a lot of high profile female celebrities who wanted to get the role of Tiana, the Disney princess in the movie. Lucky Broadway star Anika Noni Rose was the lucky one behind the beautiful voice of Princess Tiana. She won the role over some well-known singers and actresses such as Tyra Banks, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson. Even the popular and successful Beyonce desired the role of Princess Tiana. The directors of the movie told her to audition for the role but she declined because she didn’t want to audition.
4. Reusing Animation from Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty
For some, it may still be a secret, but for those devoted fans of Disney movies, they are already aware that Disney recycles animated scenes in some popular Disney movies. A couple of these are the reused animation sequences in the Disney movies, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty. If one watched these two movies, take a closer look at their final dance scenes. Both animations are almost the same for the dance scene of Beast and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, as well as the dance scene for Princess Aurora and Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty.
This kind of thing happens because of the fact that live-action scenes, especially for the animations in Disney movies, can take up to years. The animators will instead to decide to reuse some scenes from past movies with the same scenario because they need to be up to date with the ongoing project. There is a process that they call “rotoscoping.” This technique is used in order to make things work easier for the animators. So this is a very helpful thing for the movie where there is a need to be concerned about budgetary constraints and of course the time being consumed for a specific scene to be done by the animators.
3. Recreation of Princess Merida
Princess Merida is an icon for a young generation for showing her strong personality and very confident side. She was a very young princess who has the looks of a typical growing, dignified girl who has the normal imperfections that all people possess.
Disney loves to redesign and recreate some of Disney princesses. From the movie Brave, Princess Merida turned into a more glamorous princess when the animators decided to recreate her before she joined the line of other princesses in the Disney line up. The viewers noticed the big change when she was being developed into a thinner, bolder, older and more sexualized female fighter.
But after the proclamation of the redesigned Merida, many of the people reacted in different ways. Others accepted the fact of change but others didn’t. Those who reacted negatively said that the makeover is not a good move since it can relate to other things that are not on the good side. They say that Princess Merida looked inferior with her new look and that she does not look fierce or with a strong personality like her old look. So this kind of change turned into a very controversial one because not all were on good terms with the changes that were implemented to the new character and image of Princess Merida.
2. The Voice Behind Snow White was prevented to do other singing jobs
Voice actress Adriana Caselotti felt relieved after being chosen to be the voice behind the fictional first ever Disney princess, Snow White. She was the same age that time as Snow White and was also 18-years old in the first princess of Walt Disney Pictures. She was born with a very talented voice where the whole production team described her with a fresh and very natural voice.
For sure, Walt Disney poured all their efforts for this first ever Disney movie production and that is why they kept the voice of Adriana Caselotti after she was in the production of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs movie. There were supposed to be interviews on the radio soon after she finished recording the whole audio sequences, but Disney prevented her from attending some interviews, whether they were live or just recorded. Their reason was that they did not want to destroy or least spoil the image of their very first Disney princess. With this situation, Adriana Caselotti wanted to sue the Walt Disney Company for being so tight with her personal issues with regards to privacy and terms. Also, there is a larger profit for Disney compared to her own earnings where she was the one who exerted her all efforts.
1. Princess Jasmine’s Name
Who would not love the movie Aladdin? Everything about this Disney movie is totally awesome. In the early 1990s, this is where the Disney Renaissance took place and at its peak. Princess Jasmine is also the very first princess of Arab ethnicity in the Disney world. But here is the biggest trivia about the movie: Princess Jasmine was originally to be named, “Badroulbadour,” from a specific book of the Arabian Nights where the story revolves also with a princess that will be marrying a prince named Aladdin in that book. This name means “full moons of full moons.”
During this time, the Disney version really went through many unlikely changes, also having the predicament of looking for the perfect match for this princess was a very challenging thing to think of. With the final look of Princess Jasmine, another challenge was when they sketched the version of Aladdin wherein he was being shown as a young man and looking like an underdog for his character. In other words, it is impossible for someone like Princess Jasmine to find Aladdin an attractive guy. So the story went on to change some original ideas and one of those things is the real name of Princess Jasmine. We are glad they changed the real name of Princess Jasmine as it would have been very difficult for children to pronounce.