The Swan Princess came out in 1994 so if you haven't seen it yet, get your butt over to Netflix and watch it. Being 20 years old, the film does have it's share of corny lines [although is also has some amazing ones] and cliche moments but it also has one of the freakiest villains I ever saw before Dr. Facilier came along and most importantly, for the sake of this post, it still has one of the most progressive princesses in animated film.
Odette's not a warrior by any means. In fact, she comes off as fairly delicate and beauty-pageant-esque. You see that she was a tom-boy when she was little but it's apparent that as she's grown up she's focused more on developing what we might term "womanly wiles." This doesn't mean she turned into a brainless barbie, though. After getting swept up in the initial love-at-first-sight-let's-get-married-today montage, Odette pulls the brakes and asks Derek why he wants to marry her:
Derek: You're all I ever wanted. You're beautiful!
Odette: Thank you. But what else?
Derek: What else?
Odette: Is beauty all that matters to you?
Queen Uberta: Derek, what else?
Derek: What else is there?
And Derek's eloquent question effectively cancels any wedding plans. Odette later explains that "I need to know that he loves me...for just being me!" This girl is demanding more than immediate physical attraction from her potential partner and refuses to compromise despite knowing that their union had been orchestrated by their parents since they were children. We know from the opening song that she's never been weak-minded and this is the big point where she proves that she still has will of her own.
Now, that's all and well for a beginning, but it's still early. Almost immediately after this scene Odette is kidnapped, her father killed, and she is put under a spell that keeps her in the form of a swan unless she's on a lake when the moon rises - a pretty victim-y situation if there ever was one. This is a familiar set-up - the famous damsel in distress situation and Derek, the repentant prince, is more than ready to fill the shoes [boots?] of the knight in shining armor role. The twist, of course, is that Derek doesn't recognize Odette, as she's a swan, and gets the misguided impression that this swan is actually the beast he must defeat in order to find and free her. [you know, that idea actually has potential for a modern metaphorical-spin-off reinterpretation, if anyone is interested] This puts Odette in the awkward situation of not getting killed by the man she is trying to communicate with.
For me, this situation is pivotal in providing Odette with the opportunity to become something other than the helpless victim and she quickly seizes the chance. From here on out, Odette basically does all the [successful] work of setting things right. Not only does she repeatedly reject Lord Rothbart's overtures [that man seriously makes me want to take a shower] but she is active in finding a way back to Derek, braving his repeated attempts on her life to show him that she is the swan and then escaping Rothbart's clutches to be present at a critical step in the spell breaking process - which of course goes wrong [thanks Derek]. In the end, Derek is the one who slays the Great Animal and saves her life, but if Odette had just paddled around her little pond, sighing and pining away for a prince that needed some serious direction, he never would have been there to do so.
There's a balance to this dynamic that I really enjoy and wish was found more in princess-type films today. Odette doesn't have to be transformed into some masculine character that bludgeons people in order to take control of her own situation and salvation and there is still room for a love interest that literally has to work for the woman he loves, in more than just killing a monster.
Odette: the princess that demanded more than "what else is there" from her prince and worked to free herself. Such sass.
No comments:
Post a Comment