[]-Dancing Bears|Painted Wings-[] (original) (raw)

[	mood	|	cheerful	]

My favorite Disney heroines (as I am not a major fan of Female Disney Characters) are Nala, Sarabi and Esmerelda, because they deject and defy the stereotypical gender roles required of women in classics.

Nala, Sarabi and Esmerelda are all very strong female characters that assume their own initiative spheres of power within a world that mistreats and corrupts women- especially Esmerelda- who lives in a time where the system of France was corrupt.

Considering Esmerelda was an orphan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame gives us a clue about the historical context on the legal system in the Middle Ages. Victor Hugo suggests that there is hope for orphaned children in French society and that the bond of love and family is stronger than hate. Even though there is much violence and suffering in the novel, Hugo uses this scene to evoke a message of family unity. Even though every character in the novel is an orphan, Hugo suggests that they are all related through their shared humanity. For example, Jehan and Quasimodo are step-brothers and La Esmerelda was replaced by Quasimodo when she was kidnapped fifteen years earlier. No matter how different they look or how much they hate each other, the main characters in the novel are all related in some form or another. The tragedy of the novel is thus the destruction of a family, representing the breakdown of the feudal system and ultimately, the monarchy.

La Esmerelda is an orphan. Despite rumors about her "loose" ways, she is in fact chaste, and hopes to find her long lost parents. She carries a magic trinket around her neck, a fake emerald, which she hopes will help her search for her parents but so far has only resulted in her nickname. She has a very romantic view of love, instantly falling in love with Phoebus when he saves her and later declaring that love is "a man and a woman blending into an angel."

(Here I go ranting again.)

This is all actually from the book and not the Disney movie, but I love Esmerelda in both versions. Especially in the Disney movie, she's a leader for her people and protects those who are different like herslef. She's all about the ''Justice''!

Nala and Sarabi are just very defiant queens and strong female militaristic leaders and that is why I have come to love them. (I want to talk about them later, though.)

Other disney female characters that I can possibly relate to are Zira (because she is an anti-herione), Vitani, Rafiki (female in TLK musical), Anastasia, Mrs. Frisby (from _The Rats of Nimh_- although it is not really a Disney movie), Shenzi (de facto leader and/or matriarch), Kiara, Mulan (as she has to live up to her family's expectations and I also want to discuss Chinese women later), and Pocahontas (because she is a child of nature). Yeah, so...