Chances are, you grew up with Disney when you were little, gliding through fairytale after fairytale, grooving out to the soundtrack and discovering your favorite characters. Recently, the classic Disney princesses, Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora have come under fire for being too submissive and giving the wrong message to kids. 

Disney is starting to bring variety when it comes to their princesses, taking back the old tropes like falling in love with a prince. While many of the themes of their movies include being kind, their stories are much more than falling in love. This requires a deeper look to actually learn what the stories are trying to teach.  

On the surface of their stories, it’s very clear that these characters were made in a time where a woman’s only duty was to their home. But through their kindness and compassion, they are a lot stronger than we think of them. 

If we look at Snow White, we can see traits such as charitability, responsibility and trust. It may be hard to see it since everything is covered up by the stereotypes of women at the time, but Snow Whites’ struggle is with her stepmother. Snow White is a good example of community service. While she does clean the cottage, she doesn’t know people live there, and even when the dwarves do meet her she teaches them how to take care of themselves. And another trait that Snow White carries is that she doesn’t let her status of being a princess stop her from treating others as equals. 

Taking a look at Cinderella—she’s come under lots of fire taking in her situation of becoming submissive to her stepmother. Her movie has been criticized for teaching young girls to accept abuse, but this isn’t true. We see throughout the movie Cinderella remains kind to her stepsisters and stepmother. She doesn’t engage in fighting (whether that be physically or verbally) or try to escape. Her kindness is what saves her throughout the whole story and helps her survive.