Disney Women Do Sorta All Look the Same, But So Do the Men

I don't usually write article-esque posts, but there is a lot of content out there complaining about Disney.  Now, I'm going to tell it straight.  I'm a Disney fan.  Do I think all Disney movies are perfect? No.  I do I like all Disney movies? The animated ones, especially classic Disney, yes.  But I also critic them, think about weak spots in the plot, and wonder was it really the best story solution, or just the best they could do with the schedule and budget.  I also think Disney needs to work representing more races and genders.  Now that that's out of the way, I (and my sister Crystal) am going to break down why popular arguments against Disney's representation of women are wrong.

The Women aren't so Similar
As an animator, the similarities in female characters u see is because they are all princesses and/or pretty. Most of the articles I've read  ( Here are two)compare the princesses to random male protagonists who aren't associated with good looks.  If you look at Disney females who aren't supposed to fit mass consumer beauty ideals they look different, like the 3 fairies in sleeping beauty. They don't include the highly stylized movies (Hercules) because Megura, Athena, and any of the Muses. They don't include villains because characters like Cruella de Vil (crazy rich lady), Yzma (power hungry royal adviser) Ursula(sea Witch), Mad Madam Mim(witch), Medusa (crazy wannabe rich lady) all look different because they aren't the same type of character.

the Villains yo

 This is the problem, they aren’t showing the whole story.   
Also, don't know why people use Anna and Elsa as an example.  People compare them to each other and are upset they look the same.  They are SISTERS.  It is really hard to draw family members that look related without giving them similar facial features. It's either a copy paste face, or the same color hair. They chose the same face. Having said that The two are suspiciously similar to Rapunzel, but hey, they are young, pretty princesses. They will look the same.

Now a lot of the "sameness" people are responding to has nothing to do with the characters and their actual designs, but with the merchandise branding. The original characters in their own movies each are very different.  Most of that is due to the style of the movie, and the designers careful planning to match the personality of the characters. The redesigned princesses we see on bags, shirts, dolls, cups, etc were redesigned to look nice together and promote pretty glittery things to little girls. The princesses have to look like they are from the same world otherwise they look weird next to each other.

Can you imagine this on a bag? 

Or this? Their styles are not cohesive 

I don't know who y'all lookin' at, but they all look different to me.

Having said that, I do think it's problematic that the merchandise branding is all glam without holding on to any of the character original character.
Lottie is blonde and doe eyed, but she doesn't look like Cinderella. The generic idea of Cinderella, sure. Disney's Cinderella, no.

The Men aren't so Different

First of all, people rant on how the men have so much more diversity. But it is an illusion built on diverse roles. Let's look at the men who are intended to be attractive. Prince Eric, Prince Naveen, John Smith, Prince Philip, Flynn Rider, and Aladdin. 

Can you spot the difference?

I'm seeing a set of twins and their brother

He has the smile and charm of them all

All of those men have the same facial structure, same body type, John Smith, Aladdin and Flynn Rider practically have the same hair. Flynn and Aladdin literally have the same body type and similar facial expressions. 

Both thieves, both very similar to each other

Why? They are both thieves. But no body cares about that! The human form of the Beast (Beauty and the Beast) look like Hercules and Tarzan combined. 

People praised Kristoff for being so different and unconditionally attractive, but honestly he doesn't look very different from Phoebus Hunchback of Notre Dame). Shave his beard and make him a little younger and they're the same. 

Why do those men look the same? Why are all of the princesses so pretty? Because they were aimed at little girls. When designing Flynn Rider, the design team asked a bunch of women what guys they find most attractive so they could reference them to make a hot guy. There are certain characteristics that are found attractive. Large eyes are engraved in our minds to appear pretty for all kinds of scientific reasons, but that's why all of the girls have large eyes. A small nose will always be cute. If you want to draw a cute girl she's gonna have a small nose, and big eyes that is just engraved in us. For little girls they make it look pretty. 

Why? Because parents aren't going to take their little girls to see a movie that isn't pretty!

When Brave came out 2 friends of mine, both women, both in their 20s, both animation majors, complained that Merida wasn't cute enough. They didn't like looking at the huge theater screen with her huge non-cute face.

Now let's have a look at all of those diverse male characters that aren't aimed at girls. Wreck it Ralph, a video game character that breaks stuff. Linguini (protagonist in Ratatouille) a skinny little dork pretty much. Mr. Incredible a retired super hero. Fred (Big Hero 6) a comic geek. You see those differences there? You see why they can't look the same? It just wouldn't make any sense... But the princesses are all princesses whom are beautiful inside and out. They all came from fairy tales that highlight beauty, so yes, they will all be beautiful and doe eyed.

 If you will really watch movies with unattractive leads then put your money where your mouth is. But if you aren't, then you are a part of the problem.