One Hundred Fantasy Clichés That Really Need To Rest In Peace

#63: The Always Pure Princess

  The princess character primarily thanks to Disney has become a figure connected with only utmost innocence.  Whatever they do is always in the right, no matter what.  They could help pass a law that bans cats in the kingdom for the stupid reason of believing the creatures are flea-ridden dirtbags and yet everyone would still support them.  Princesses must always find a prince, whom they are to marry for the sole reason of either being hot or saving their tails from the cliché dragon.  Most importantly, they are to be the damsel in distress, never lifting a single finger in self defense.  It is a character formula that for centuries has been the popular choice, especially before the later 2000's.  It is a character trope that I and many others are not alone in calling an overused, dry cliché.

  Like any other character in fiction, the princess should be treated the same.  All princesses are not the same personality wise.  While one might be overly grateful towards others, another could be the definition of vanity.  Separating each princess character through original complex characterization is key to creating stronger story lines.  If every story had the same exact princess character, after a while, would you not at least get a little bit bored?

  Also there is the lack of realism in always making the princess a figure of purity.  As history has taught us, no one is a perfect human being.  The Virgin Queen Elizabeth lied and manipulated many potential male suitors in order to win important military milestones for Great Britain.  Alexander Hamilton, the founder of the current United States economy, cheated on his wife and had paid the husband of the girl he was cheating with off so he would not say anything.  Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of the most iconic Presidents of the United States, accidentally created added racism to Japanese-Americans during the Second World War by forcing them into containment camps.  Even the nicest people once or twice do bad things, whether they would like to admit it or not.  Therefore, having a princess character that could do no wrong hurts any realism they could have in the otherwise fantasy fueled storyline.

  Even Disney, the main source of this cliché in the first place, have in recent years made their princess characters much more flawed.  Rapunzel from Tangled is quirky and has inexperience with the outside world, a resulted side-effect from her isolation for eighteen years.  Anya from Frozen jumps into situations much too quickly now and then, which was the primary reason Queen Elsa freaked out and froze the entire area after being accused of being a bad sister.  Older princesses such as Cinderella can be given character flaws in the DVD sequels, despite how bad those movies can be.  If the source of a cliché is changing things up, it is proof how much this trope needs to be changed.

  As for the damsel in distress issue, without repeating myself from a previous part, basically I find the whole conflict overdone.  The focus is not primarily that the trope is sexist or almost always applies to some type of female in royalty.  The true issue is that by now the whole thing feels uninspiring.

  Society evolves over time.  With these evolutions come changes in human ideals and what we might see as right or wrong.  The pure princess trope is an example of a trend that as of now needs to fade in order to allow the creation of better stories and complex characters.  Without change, how can we evolve ourselves as people.