Disney princess movies remain as popular in the present as in the past. However, it is interesting to note that there have been a lot of complications related to the making of those movies, including some that makes for rather fascinating stories.
Here are five examples of secrets that you may or may not have known about the Disney princess movies:
Belle’s Love of Reading Is the Result of Cuts
Belle is interesting in that she is the first Disney princess to have her intelligence be an important part of her character. However, this would not have been the case without the screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who had to put up a serious fight for that much. For proof, look no further than a fact that a scene in which Belle pointed out the places that she wanted to visit was changed to a scene in which she made a cake, which was changed to showing her love of reading when Woolverton managed to make a compromise with other members of the creative team.
Mulan Started Out As China Doll
Mulan started out as China Doll, which was supposed to have been a movie about a Chinese woman living in oppressive circumstances who couldn’t be happy until she was rescued by a British love interest who brings her over to the West. Thankfully, this particular idea was squashed in development to be replaced by something inspired by the Song of Fa Mulan, though Disney being Disney, there are some significant differences between the movie and its source of inspiration.
Jasmine Is a Composite Character
Jasmine can seem rather odd because she is someone who wants to rebel against the circumstances that constrain her but never manages to do so. This is because she is the result of two characters being combined together, with one being a spoiled brat who would learn humility as part of her character development and the other being a heroic figure who would have been much more willing to stand up for herself. In the end, Disney combined the two, resulting in the Jasmine that we have now.
Snow White Cost the Actress Her Career
Walt Disney wanted to keep Snow White’s voice unique. As a result, the contract with Snow White’s voice actress meant that she could never appear in another movie, TV show, or even radio snow. In fact, she couldn’t even do an interview, with the result that her one professional role after Snow White was a single-line role in Wizard of Oz. Something that didn’t even get her a mention in the credits.
Tiana Used to Be a Chambermaid
Princess and the Frog started out as The Frog Princess. Furthermore, Tiana started out as a chambermaid named Maddy. Unsurprisingly, these choices resulted in a fair amount of criticism, with examples ranging from “frog” being perceived as a potential insult against French people to the choice of chambermaid raising concerns about racial stereotypes. As a result, Disney listened the complaints before making wide-sweeping changes, thus saving the movie from what could well have turned out to be a disaster.
Follow Us
