Teen girls start petition for plus-size Disney princess

[Locke]

At my school they only offered so many portions, and even if a kid got more from another kid, it was never anything like McDonalds. Kids young enough to be impressionable via Disney cartoons are 100% dependent on their parents for meals and not the school. Health conscious parents pack their child's lunch often, as well.

I'm just saying, I don't think a 4 year old kid can see a fat princess and go "I WANNA BE FAT" successfully without a parent intervening. Don't let your kid eat a box of twinkies everyday, America, 'nuff said.

[Kein]

I see your point of view, but it's obviously not that these people expect the world to revolve around them - they just don't want the world to revolve around everyone else exclusively.

This is a good point, I actually hadn't thought about that in this sense.

But how much does it suck, both from an offensive standpoint and a creative standpoint, that there aren't more plus sized characters on television or in movies that get to be anything other than "the fat character". It becomes their only defining character trait most of them time. And this goes not just for characters that are particularly fat, but anyone whose weight is a little over the average.

I kind of disagree with this statement, in my opinion there are plenty of fat characters cast all over that aren't just "the fat guy" that have very distinguished roles among films.
Hercules trainer (although not human) wasn't particularly fit but a major part of the movie giving lots of support and lesson to the protagonist.
Jasmines father from Aladdin was a very worried and caring man, even had quite a bit of energy and spunk for someone his size.
Pacha from The Emperors New Groove is arguably a better man than the emperor himeself, I can't recall his weight ever getting in the way of any action in the flim.
Ursula is the main villain from The Little Mermaid, and while she is portrayed as bad, it's easy for people to say fat ugly woman. However she is one of if not the only real fat antagonists of any film I can think of. Most villains are actually thin or old, think of Cinderellas mother, Jaffar from Aladdin, Cruella Deville, Captain Hook, Claude Frollo (old man from huntchback).

If you click on the link above and look at the picture of the girl, she's not really overweight. She's a larger girl, but she doesn't look fat. It would definitely be possible to draw a girl of that size and just not bring up the weight issue at all. The audience's minds wouldn't necessarily jump to it right away because it's not an extreme example by any means. I think the real point of this petition is to see a Disney princess who ISN'T ridiculously thin.

I will admit I actually didn't click the link before replying to this This is definitely a point I can stand by.

Characters don't need to be ridiculously thin, but honestly it also has to do with art style. Animations (even 3d such as pixar or whatever) have people animated in completely disproportional ways, giant heads, big eyes, thin arms, twig legs, straight bodies, triangle bodies, etc. This applies to all animations and cartoons from all age audiences and regions around the world.

At my school they only offered so many portions, and even if a kid got more from another kid, it was never anything like McDonalds. Kids young enough to be impressionable via Disney cartoons are 100% dependent on their parents for meals and not the school. Health conscious parents pack their child's lunch often, as well.

I'm just saying, I don't think a 4 year old kid can see a fat princess and go "I WANNA BE FAT" successfully without a parent intervening. Don't let your kid eat a box of twinkies everyday, America, 'nuff said.

I agree with you in the sense that parents make a big factor in childrens weight and health, I've heard stories of kids getting soda pop in their sippy cup and having rotten baby teeth. A parent deals with kids meals and interacts with children a lot but there is also a big societal factor that parents have no control over. I am sure many people here know their parents love them, but in societal pressures that may not be enough. "But my mom thinks I'm cool" is a common joke for losers and nerds. People step away from under a parents wing and if they don't "fit in" with societal norms or standards that's when they are going to get singled out, made fun of, and have broken self-esteem. (although I suppose at that point they should be past disney idealism...)

[Locke]

^Well there's no such thing as peer pressure or societal pressure to "get fat" so I don't know what you're on about there. Everybody hates fat people these days, I'm sure it's "uncool" to eat 9 cupcakes at school so it should be a big issue, at least peer pressure and societal pressure wise..

[Buck]

^Well that's the point of the petition, have the fat character be the heroine instead of the villain or goofy failure of a friend.

I agree. I want to see heroin portrayed in a Disney movie.

Imagine a segment of a Disney movie set to this song:

^Well there's no such thing as peer pressure or societal pressure to "get fat" so I don't know what you're on about there.

I disagree. Want proof? Here it is.

[Chewy]

While were at it let's get a chain smoking princess, one that is addicted to crack and one that sniffs paint.

Disney needs to sort their shit out.

[Locke]

Yeah, because having a slower metabolism than others is totally like chain-smoking and smoking/sniffing crack/paint. Not everyone digests food the same. I know skinny people that move less than a slug that can eat entire pizzas and they're just skinny, no weight gain. Where as I run on a treadmill every day for 3 miles, have to monitor every single thing I put into my mouth to make sure I intake less than 1500 calories a day, and I still gain weight.

Fuck, I don't even know why I'm trying to stand up for this, I don't fuckin' care what Disney does. I hate that being overweight gets compared to being a failure, being a drug addict, or worse.

For the record, I'm the teenage girl in the article.

[Kein]

I don't think being fat equates to being a failure/drug addict/worse in any way. There are a ton of successful people who are overweight (in fact some of them are successful because they prioritize work over health). I think that overweight has a big stigma these days because of the giant health craze that has swept over within the recent years. Most people are ignorant and don't realize skinny people can be extremely unhealthy too. Most people can just see, a fat person probably has bad blood work and probably could use more exercise and sure enough, when they do and they get healthy, they get fit, good blood work and loss of weight. i.e. look like a skinnier person.

This is getting a bit off topic, can we swing it this way? I mean... It seems like were done with Disney here hahaha.

[Twister]

In my view, there's a difference between "plus-size" and "obese". Plus-size can still be healthy, and this girl doesn't look like she's struggling to be alive. Yeah, she's overweight, but she still looks happy and relatively healthy. As for a plus-size Princess, why the Hell not? Disney can handle any controversy with it, the only problem I can see is that they'd have to be careful about how they write it. I mean, if they have a fat princess who's at least active and making an effort to not go off the deep end into morbid obesity, that could work.

In terms of a movie, you can do this. I see no reason not to try it out, just as long you remember to walk that line of "Naturally fat with a healthy lifestyle" vs. "I have my cake and TV, I don't need to move". And yes, the former does exist. I've seen it first-hand.

I agree with this.

To add, for me it's not so much wanting Disney to create a 'plus-size' princess, but more about wanting them to create princesses that come in different shapes and sizes. You look at the Disney Princess line-up and they all have similar, slim builds.



I mean apart from their clothes and skin/hair colour they are pretty much identical in terms of shape. People come in different shapes and sizes, not just thin and fat. It doesn't have to be one or the other you can have: tall people, short people, stocky people, curvy, etc. All body types which you don't often see as much in the media and advertising, it's generally either slim or fat with the odd exception and there doesn't seem to be much middle ground. I think it's important that different body shapes are represented, not just in Disney films but in the media in general, we are all different and one specific body shape shouldn't be portrayed as the 'perfect' one. The perfect body shape is the one that suits the individual's build and genetic structure, as long as you exercise and eat right there's no reason why people should feel pressured to try to be anything else.

[Kein]

I mean apart from their clothes and skin/hair colour they are pretty much identical in terms of shape. People come in different shapes and sizes, not just thin and fat.

THE ASIAN ONE HAS NO BEWBS!!! RACISM! PITCH FORKS! GOOO!

I said it earlier in the thread but there are plenty of tall short fat thin and plus size characters. Disney actually does a really good job of making all the different sizes not impede on their ability to perform in any way either. I have seen some fat Disney characters run as fast as the thin ones, and jump, and swim.

But I can see what people are saying about the MAIN CHARACTER never being one of these different types of body styles.

[AMTrotta]

Hi there,its a fact that most of the plus size girls are always under confident due to there plus size figure. And if creating a plus size princess character can build up the confidence, then it will be really nice. Watching plus size princess in gorgeous and beautiful plus size dresses will be really fun .

[Chewy]

Hi there,its a fact that most of the plus size girls are always under confident due to there plus size figure. And if creating a plus size princess character can build up the confidence, then it will be really nice. Watching plus size princess in gorgeous and beautiful plus size dresses will be really fun .

That is a fairly spectacular segue.

[ShaneOfan]

Hi there,its a fact that most of the plus size girls are always under confident due to there plus size figure. And if creating a plus size princess character can build up the confidence, then it will be really nice. Watching plus size princess in gorgeous and beautiful plus size dresses will be really fun .

That is a fairly spectacular segue.

Yeah of all the shitty add transitions we have had over the years this has to be one of the best. 8.5/10