"Frozen Perfectly Flipped The Oldest Disney Princess Fairytale Trope"
https://screenrant.com/frozen-movie-elsa-anna-sacrifice-love-disney-princesses/
You have to wonder if the author of this article watched any Disney Princess movie from the Renaissance era.
Because if she had done that, she would have known that none of them uses "the kiss of true love".
Really, that trope was only ever played straight in two Disney movies: "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty".
And as you may notice, they were both made a considerably long time ago: in 1937 and 1959 respectively.
Now, there's a reference to the trope in Ursula's deal with Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" from 1989.
However, Ariel and Eric have to do more than share a kiss to get a happy ending already back then.
And it was the last time, that this trope was even mentioned in a Disney movie before "Enchanted" came along.
But it was made by people, who believed that mocking "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" was relevant in 2007.
So I would say that the trope is not only old, but it hasn't been used seriously by Disney since Walt still was alive.
But for I don't know what reason, writers in the '00s and '10s started to think that mocking it was so clever.
Fortunately, "Frozen" could at least make it believable that sisterly love was the solution in that story.
But I can't buy how "Enchanted" and "Malificent" tried to subvert a dead trope and be revolutionary for doing so...
And I don't agree with this either:
After all, Disney Princesses’ stories traditionally relied on a prince – or a love interest in general – saving the princess.
Again, it is like the author of the article hasn't seen any Disney Princess movie from after 1959.
Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas and Rapunzel all save their love interests as often as their love interests save them.
Jasmine was initially going to save herself, but it was eventually decided that Aladdin had to save her.
But we must remember that he saved the whole city, including plenty of male characters and even a genie.
Thus, you can't possibly say that Jasmine was more helpless than anybody else just because she was a girl.
And as for Mulan, she managed to save all of China!
And as for this:
Anna’s sacrifice not only highlighted a kind of love differentiated from romance, but it also let Frozen continue with the modern Disney princess trend of imbuing its female protagonists with agency rather than waiting for a prince to save them.
Excuse me?
I don't believe that even Snow White waited for a prince to save her even if she dreamed of a prince's love.
And as for the rest of the Disney princesses, most of them did have an agency.
And it was almost never just about experiencing romance, even if most of them had a love interest in the end.
Why do these people think that all the Disney princesses are like Snow White or Aurora?
Cinderella actually had a spirited personality despite being abused and demanded her right to attend the ball.
Ariel and Belle and Jasmine and Pocahontas and Rapunzel all wanted to explore the world or have an adventure.
Mulan wanted to protect her father from dying in the war, Tiana wanted to start her own restaurant.
I don't remember that any of them waited for a guy to save them or that they had romance as their only priority.
Really, Anna is arguably a big step backwards with her dream of finding "the one" and her quick engagement.
However, this part of her character development seems to be a parody of the "stereotypical" Disney Princess.
Still, Anna is actually given a reason for being naive by that she's been isolated in the palace since she was a kid.
And later on, she decides to find Elsa and proves that she can be proactive and not just think about romance.
But I don't like that they wanted to portray her as a shallow parody of an outdated character type before that.
Honestly, I don't see how any writer can even find it necessary or relevant to mock dead tropes... share