Brave’s Merida Gets A Princess Makeover, But Fans Are Unimpressed

Merida, the Scottish archeress from Disney’s 2012 feature film Brave, is not much like her princess predecessors.

She’s strong, self-sufficient, unphased by societal norms or royal decrees. She breaks a witch’s spell and saves her mother without the help of a prince. Frankly, she’s the kind of princess and role model we’ve been waiting for Disney to show our daughters.

But it seems that Disney wasn’t as ready for her as the rest of us. Merida was crowned a Disney princess over the weekend – a prestigious honor that means being featured on Disney Princess merchandise – joining the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, Tiana, and Mulan.

Merida’s new look

In preparation for her induction ceremony, Disney gave Merida a “makeover,” giving her a more shapely, hourglass figure, replacing her bow and arrow with glitter galore, taming her frizzy red hair, and even changing the shape of her eyes to better fit the “princess look.”

Fans of Brave were outraged and quickly cried foul over the princess’s new look, including the film’s creator, Brenda Chapman: “Merida was created … to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.”

Disney has since removed the “made over” image from the Disney princess website and publicly stated that the original, 3-D image of Merida will be used for some merchandise. And, makeover or not, Merida will always be the bold, brave princess we know and love.

Source: Huffington Post