Feminism:
The advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.

First of all none of the princesses are ‘feminist’. But, which fits it the best….One of my other mods and I are discussing this now on skype, and I discussed this with my friend at length a few days ago.

My friend & I think it’s Pocahontas, because her gender is never a point of discussion and her worth as a women is never questioned; she never has to prove herself. Also, she ends up choosing duty & her family over a man.

I hesistate to say Mulan because even during the scenes at the end where she’s coming up with a plan to ‘save china’ they’re playing ‘Be A Man’ in the background implying still that the importance in Mulan’s personal transformation was that she is being (stereotypically) manlier-- and they made fun of women being dainty and girly. Remember, being a feminist does not equate to hating feminine or girly things. It equates to eliminating gender stereotypes.

I think a princess that never has to challenge gender roles and can be seen as a strong person from the start regardless of gender is more ‘feminist’ than the princesses that challenge their gender roles. It's MORE FRIENDLY to gender roles of women AND expectations to treat women's equality as the NORM rather than having to prove it!

After that, I'd say the order would go: Mulan, Tiana, Jasmine, Belle ....Ariel/Rapunzel [haven't picked yet between the two], and Cinderella/Snow White, Aurora.

I would hesistate to say Tiana because in the end Tiana's importance in her dream is lessened because of Naveen; when she permanently becomes a frog she isn't even upset in the least, and in fact seems very happy to spend her life with Naveen. While yes, okay, she found true love, it's a trope seen done OVER and OVER with the princesses and heroines where a man is more important than their career, for their endgame [see: Captain Amelia, Esmeralda, Kida] so I would never put Tiana first.

Tiana I think...

Not because I necessarily find her actions the most feminist or empowering (I don't,) but because I find her reflective of the feminist movement, especially the modern feminist movement. She certainly does do some things to take charge of her life, but at the same time she exhibits many flaws seen in the feminist movement; for example, once she has met Aladdin, she relies on him most of the time. She makes bold claims of how she is "not a prize to be won," but she doesn't particularly do anything to stop them treating her as such, or even really imply that she is anything but (in the view of women at the time.) However, she does lack many of the flaws seen in modern feminism. She, for example, doesn't see men or a relationship as the ultimate evil, she simply is against being forced to be with one as a political pawn. In essence and action I find Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tiana (yes, she gave up the restaurant, but those on their deathbed rarely say they wish they had spent more time working instead of with their families) more feminist than Jasmine. However, I chose her because I find her a prime representative of the modern feminist movement.

^good reasoning! And those flaws of Jasmine are why I love her and relate to her. And Tiana isn't on her deathbed at that moment...

mulan is up there and pocahontas

She is the only one who does everything on her own terms. (Though for the most feminist movie, my vote would go to Sleeping Beauty)

Or Tiana, after all Mulan wasn't against her culture about womens, she just wanted to be herself. She didn't try change things for all the women so they can e.g. go army. And like Mushu said about "girly habits" the movie plays pretty much with genders. :)

Basically all of the non-white Princesses, with Belle following afterwards.

well, my reasons have all been already stated XD
jasmine, mulan and tiana would be my other choices...in no special order..

btw, great pictures! X3

Really? Pocahontas? Everything she does is either motivated by being in love with a man or not wanting to be with a man (never mind her daddy issues). Leaping from a cliff doesn't make her feminist.

@SwanPride-I don't remember Rapunzel cutting her hair on her own terms, or leaving the tower on her own terms, or even on her own. And I'm pretty sure Ariel does everything on her own terms?! And Mulan? No one MADE Mulan join the army. Just because the princesses do it for someone else doesn't make it feminist or un-feminist. That's all irrelevant. I'm just kinda confused by that.
What I /do/ like about Rapunzel is that she's the first princess do blackmail her prince/man and have some sort of power over him, and that her dreams aren't motivated by him, although that doesn't necessarily make her anti-feminist. What I /don't/ like is her reliance on him in both climactic moments of the movie-- leaving the tower, AND getting her hair cut off-- both are her moments of freedom and independence, and they're both moments reliant on a man. I don't want you to think I'm attacking Rapunzel purposely just because she's my least favorite.

I honestly think a lot of the movie/princess being feminist depends on endgame, that's why Captain Amelia is ruined for me as a feminist figure- WOW, she's so strong, and in a position of power, and people respect her...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand her end goal is being with a man. -_-

@Thanks, Safira-09

She leaves the tower on her own terms...she is the one who blackmails Flynn, after all. Plus, her whole movie is about the right to make her own decisions. And the last time I checked, Flynn would have been death at the climax of the movie, if not for Rapunzel rescuing his life.

I didn't mention anyhting about Ariel...at least she does something and makes her own decisions, while Pocahontas always waits for someone (or something...like a compass) making the decisions for her.

and Tiana. But specially Mulan because her movie doesn't center in her relationship with a man. It shows that a woman can take the place traditionally occupied by a man. It has a love interest too, but also friendship and family values, that is, a plurality of human relationships that have the same importance.

But my problem with that is that Rapunzel relied on a man to leave the tower, instead of leaving on her own. Her two biggest bridges to cross, she relied on Flynn. And it's only because Flynn convienently ended up in her tower. I guess I would have liked it better if she left on her own, realizes that she's sort of fucked outside, and THEN found flynn and blackmailed him.
I'm not sure Pocahontas relying on compass or the spirits really has anything to do with feminism.

Because like Pocahontas, her worth is never questioned because she's a woman. Her problems are because of her race. And she is valued for her culinary skill, and people respect her. And Pocahontas and Mulan... But I've heard many feminists stress against Mulan because of all the pressure to be a man. So not really Mulan. Jasmine's a bit too. Belle is feminist, she's one of the few princess who actually has a feminist attitude. The rest of them really adhere to classic values, especially Rapunzel. (One of the reasons why I'm starting to not like her)

princesslullaby: Yeah, I know she isn't, but I was putting my point in parentheses so I wanted it to be at least relatively concise. I was simply using it as an illustration that, in the end, people will generally find other humans, those they care about especially, more important than material (or whatever the correct category would be) gain. In the end, her giving up the restaurant is a moot point for me because I feel that she should have withheld the talisman for anybody, whether it be a friend or a stranger, and for me that is an absolute.

I was talking about the scene where Charlotte kisses Naveen too late, there is when I get disappointed in Tiana.

or Tiana

Jasmine is the one who most rebels most against something chauvinistic, I think. Not having an arranged marriage and choosing the man you want to be with is a pretty important feminist point.

Pocahontas was more fighting against the racism between the Europeans and the Natives, imo.

Tiana was more about the clash between rich and poor, lazy and hardworking. I didn't get any masculine vs. feminine vibes.

hey good question - except for the implication that the people who usually pick mulan do it blindly. :/

at one point i might have gone with tiana or merida but now i feel they're all the most feminist - feminism isn't just about not needing/waiting for a man, or proving yourself to men, or overturning systems that are unfair to women. it's about freedom and agency. In different ways they all have agency, even cinderella, and collectively they show all the different roads we can take.

*copy-pasting comment I posted to a poll from a year ago*

Social equality of the sexes - Rapunzel and Eugene get pretty much equal screen time, Rapunzel is willing to sacrifice her freedom for Eugene's life, Eugene sacrifices his life for Rapunzel's freedom, they help each other throughout the course of the movie.

I think most of the later ones fit the bill tbh, or at least they have elements that are feminist-friendly- Belle loves to read, Jasmine is against a patriarchal structure which dictaminates her life, Mulan subverts gender roles and finds her inner strength where she least expected it, Tiana achieved a restaurant in a time of harsh prejudice, Merida got to learn and grow and develop and understand the consequences of her actions, and understand how that will affect things once she's a queen, and Moana leaves her hobbies and fantasies behind to be a leader.

Jasmine is the one that seems care with woman's roles in society. She seems to hate the society's conservative perspective with woman, that they have less roles and considered to be lower than man. So, she's the one who was feminist-friendly in my view.

I don't see Mulan and Pocahontas are being feminist-friendly at all. Mulan doing things that boys are usually do, but it doesn't mean she's a feminist. She's more like a typical of tomboyish girl imo. And Pocahontas is more likely to be an activist rather than a feminist. As well as the other princesses.

What UN said. All the girls have moments of ""needing a man's help"" which apparently is not what Real Feminists do. Except even Mulan does, and heck, her entire motivation like Tiana's revolves around a man. Not sure why familial motivations are better than romantic ones when in the end, it's still about a guy. (No, yes I do. It's more acceptable to be a daddy's girl than crush on a guy.)

But for fun I'll say Tiana because not only was that their obvious intention, she is allowed to be a number of things- feminine but not a female stereotype, loved and able to love in return, flawed, admirable, make mistakes and have a number of characters criticize those mistakes but still is presented as a respectable heroine (contrast this to Frozen's pseudo feminist moral that Anna needs punished for falling in love quickly with a guy because True Love Is Stupid, despite her mistake being no worse than what Elsa or a lot of heroines did). She's also never pitted against other women as superior- in fact, she has wonderful, strong relationships with her (living!!) mom and Lottie, who is also given a lot more depth than characters like her almost never are.