"Princess Diaries"

This representation of women does not just apply to animated fairy tales. In Disney's "Princess Diaries" (2001) we see a story of an ugly duckling who must turn into a swan when she learns that she is a Princess.

Mia Thermopolis before and after.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/movie/princess_diaries/17.jpg - 20/10/13

This image shows the lead character, Mia Thermopolis' before and after. The pictures either side of her was her appearance before she underwent her makeover, and the girl in the center is Mia after. As we can see, they straightened out her curls, got rid of her glasses and plucked her eyebrows. 

This video shows Mia's makeover process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUjlBP5gUrQ&safe=active - 20/10/2013

The representation presented by the image and the video (taken from the same scene in the film) is that women must look and act a certain way in order to be accepted by society. Once Mia finds out that she is a princess, her grandmother (the Queen of Genovia) constantly tries to change her in order for Mia to be up to 'Princess standards'. This includes a makeover and etiquette lessons so that Mia will not only look like a Princess, but she will also act like one. Not only does this benefit Mia's journey to becoming a Princess, but she also becomes instantly popular when the school finds out she's a princess and she arrives to school looking different. This shows women that in order to be liked by others, you must conform to society's standards of 'pretty'. You must have straight, neat hair; you must have straight teeth; you can't wear glasses and you must carry yourself with grace and class...like a Princess. If you don't possess these qualities, nobody will like you and you will be like Mia before her makeover; a loser.

Prior to Mia's makeover, she was established as a social outcast who only had a handful of friends. Mia was considered unpopular because she was not stereotypically pretty, unlike the popular girl at school, Lana.

Lana from 'Princess Diaries'

http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2013/08/03/lets-review-why-the-princess-diaries-was-the-best/

20/10/13

This image of Lana represents society's idea of 'beautiful'. She has straight blonde hair, clear skin, nice teeth and she is a cheerleader. Before Mia had her makeover and was still considered a loser and unpopular, she was the complete opposite to Lana. But once Mia looked more like Lana (with her straight hair, new clothes, new bag, etc.) everyone paid more attention to her, even Lana's boyfriend. This shows that if you change your appearance in order to conform to society's ideals of beauty, then you will gain heaps of friends and the boy you like will notice you and automatically like you back. This sends the wrong message to its viewers, especially the young girls who watch this film. Once they have see this film, they too will want to get a makeover in order to look more like Lana or Mia (post-makeover). This promotes the idea that being yourself isn't good enough and that you have to change how you look and act in order to be liked by others.