(CNN Spanish) -
The concept of the princess waiting for a prince charming has changed in the entertainment world, along with times and societies.
And now brave women, like María Carolina Rodríguez, Aranza Méndez and Kesia Souza have taken the place of the classic princesses in the stories that inspire girls and boys around the world.
That is the intention of the Disney Princess "Time to celebrate" campaign, which aims to motivate thousands of young people in Latin America to fight and pursue their dreams, setting as an example these real-life heroines who found inspiration in Disney princesses like Bella, Mulan and Moana.
"They're kind of blurring the lines between what a princess is and all the other different qualities," said Dr. Sarah M. Coyne, professor of child development at the Brigham Young University (BYU) School of Family Life, in an interview. with CNN.
"What I believe is that they are sending messages of what you can be as a woman, princess, warrior, fighter, scholar, you know, all kinds of different things," she added.
While Disney princess culture has been widely criticized for allegedly reinforcing gender stereotypes, one study shows a different story.
"Surprisingly, and contrary to hypothesis, early participation in princess culture was not associated with later adherence to female gender stereotypes regarding characteristics and behaviors," reads the research led by Dr. Coyne , who has studied the impact of princess culture on children in the short and long term.
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The study also suggests that early interaction with princess culture tends to be positive for children in the long run.
For example, children who participated in princess culture tend to be more receptive to feeling and expressing their emotions within their interpersonal relationships.
The study published in July involving 307 children who completed a series of questionnaires twice 5 years apart also showed that princess culture tended to be related to the development of positive body esteem. long-term for those of low socioeconomic status.
"Some of the shows have positive messages about inner beauty. 'Beauty and the Beast' is a very good example of that, like looking at the heart and not the appearance of the person," said Dr. Coyne.
Everyone can be princes and princesses
Aranza Méndez is a champion and leader in robotics, and this year she will participate in the International Astronautical Congress in Dubai.
"The truth is that all by pursuing our dreams and having certain goals and that desire to want to achieve our dream makes us all be princes or princesses," said 18-year-old Aranza, who fell in love with robotics at an early age " because it was like giving life to the things that I imagined ".
The young Mexican said that she identified with Bella, a character from the 1991 film 'Beauty and the Beast', because "they think I am in another world, because it is the world of men or robotics, where they are not used to see girls and then I identify with her because what we both do is: we are in our world and we do not look at what others think, but at our passions and we continue with it ".
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Since she was 7 years old, Aranza has been a student of RobotiX, an organization that promotes and encourages technological education.
"I realized that robotics could actually be used for a good that would help the world create solutions that would help in natural disasters or people with disabilities. And that's when I said 'I think I'm helping the world with a talent that I have acquired 'and well I like that ".
Aranza has been part of the representative high performance teams in different national and international robotics competitions and this year he will participate in the International Astronautical Congress, an aerospace industry event to be held in Dubai.
The resilience of an athlete
María Carolina Rodríguez has won 25 national medals and hopes to one day represent Colombia in the Paralympic Games.
"Resilience is the desire to get ahead as a result of something bad that happened or something that you have gone through, not exactly bad. For example, in my case it was cancer. That did not stop me from continuing to fight for my dreams, to continue giving joy to my family, ”María Carolina Rodríguez, a Paralympic swimmer for the Bogotá team, told CNN, who at 18 years old has won more than 25 medals at the national level.
In 2016, María Carolina was diagnosed with cancer in her left leg "to be exact, an osteosarcoma of the tibia and fibula that led to the whole issue of chemotherapies, but unfortunately they were not enough and they had to amputate my leg," says María Carolina, who at first thought that he would not be able to return to his training sessions, but that with the support of his family and friends he was able to resume his great passion: swimming.
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Like many young women her age, María Carolina grew up watching Disney movies and found Mulan a source of inspiration.
"[Mulan] was stronger, she thought more about her family, more than her," says María Carolina, who said that, like Mulan, everything she does is focused on her family, on "making them feel proud."
The Paralympic athlete, who in the future hopes to represent Colombia at the Paralympic Games, said she would like to see a Paralympic character among the protagonists of a Disney movie.
"I feel that the characters, both Paralympic boys and girls, with some type of disability do not have the recognition they deserve," said María Carolina, not without first expressing her dislike of the word "disability."
"I feel that the 'dis' should be a little smaller and the 'capacity' in capital letters, [in] large because the capacity we have is very large and people tend to limit us to their own eyes," he said.
A more diverse future
Julian Kesia Souza dreams of being a professional footballer and making women's soccer history.
"I would like to see real life princesses disappearing from the fairy tale without losing the essence of princess, woman and warrior. Well that's incredible," 18-year-old Brazilian soccer player Kesia told CNN, who would like to see more stories with characters who face real circumstances, psychological challenges and who face prejudices from society "because women and princesses in real life are not as fragile as some people say".
It is true that some of the Disney princess movies, mainly of the first generation, show women as helpless and submissive, while men are portrayed as brave and strong people.
However, in more recent films such as "Frozen" and "Moana", Disney has moved away from such representations.
"For example, fathers are portrayed as more feminine — more forgiving, loving, and self-sacrificing — as time goes on. Male protagonists are also changing, as men come from lower-income classes, work alongside women, and they show a more moderate physique (rather than very muscular), "highlights the study by Dr. Coyne.
The research concludes that the culture of princesses may have a positive effect in reducing adherence to the norms of hegemonic masculinity "particularly in boys."
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"Children who liked Disney princesses at four years tended to have more progressive attitudes about gender. Specifically, they were more likely to believe in equality, to have egalitarian attitudes towards men and women," explained the Dr. Coyne.
And while Disney has been criticized for its "
queerbating
" practices and for falling short when it comes to representing the LGBTQ community, Dr. Coyne sees the potential to diversify her characters.
"We have so many LGBTQ youth who don't see themselves in children's programming, so I think it's a positive move and I wouldn't be surprised if Disney was more explicit," said Dr. Coyne.
This year, Disney released the short film "El Princesito" a story that addresses gender identity and questions hegemonic masculinity.
The short film is part of a collection that, according to Disney, has the objective of telling stories that represent the real diversity that exists in society, as well as giving a place to voices that have historically been ignored.
Disney princesses