Why Are Anna and Elsa Not Disney Princesses
Disney Princesses are one of the biggest brands for the Mouse House, and most children could probably name all 12 of the characters designated "Official Princesses"— Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida and Moana.
Though some of those princesses have existed in the world of Disney since the 1930s, the list of "Official Disney Princesses" has actually had some major changes over the decades, with new princesses getting added and others taken away.
Here are some of the Disney princesses who have been taken off the official list, or who never appeared on it in the first place.
Tinker Bell
Despite not actually being a princess per se, like Mulan she was given an honorary Princess title. Per Disney lore, this was because she committed an act of bravery worthy of a princess, but in reality, it was so the Mouse House could add a popular character to its lucrative line of toys.
Commercial reasons were also behind Tinker Bell's removal as a princess. As she is at the center of her own merchandising line of toys and games called Disney Fairies, she was taken off the list of Disney princess and replaced with Tiana, around the time of Princess and the Frog.
Speaking to the New York Times, Disney Princess brand creator Andy Mooney said, "We'd always debate over whether she was really a part of the Princess mythology...She really wasn't."
Jane Porter
Technically a queen through being married to "king of the jungle" Tarzan, Jane was considered for the list, and even announced in the official Disney Princess magazine—before Disney realized her yellow dress made her too similar to franchise stalwart Belle.
Vanellope von Schweetz
The Wreck It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, had great fun with the history of the Disney princesses. But the first film had its own royal in the form of Vanellope von Schweetz, the glitching princess at the heart of the racing game-within-a-film Sugar Rush.
Despite having more of a royal background than say Mulan, what likely kept her off the list was that she spends much of the movie not wanting to be a princess. That and the fact that her hoodie and tutu look does not quite fit in with the elaborate ball gowns of many an official princess.
Anna and Elsa
Many Frozen fans around the world may be surprised to here that despite being Disney's most bankable princess (or in Elsa's case, queen), the pair have not made the cut be be official princesses.
Fan theories abound as to why this might be. Some say that Elsa's queen status stops her from being a princess (though that did not stop the chef of Motunui), while others speculate that she did not make the cut due to an obscure rule that stops characters becoming official princesses unless they had an animal companion.
However, the most-contended theory is simply that Anna and Elsa are currently too profitable on their own, as part of the Frozen line of merchandise, to dilute that with 12 other characters.
Kida
The recent 20th anniversary of Atlantis: The Lost Empire has led to many re-evaluating the title, with some calling it the most underrated of Disney's movies.
It also has one of Disney's most forgotten actual princesses, Kida. At the start of the film, she is the princess of Atlantis, performs many brave deeds, and becomes queen at the end of the film. However, the fact that Atlantis was considered a box office disappointment by the company brought Kida's chances of an official position within the princess franchise to an end.
Nala
Not every princess gets to be voiced by Queen Bey herself, and yet this was not enough to give the Lion King character a spot.
Unfortunately for Nala, one of the rules Disney uses to determine who gets to be an official Princess is that they have to be human.
Atta and Dot
The human-only rule also ruined the chances of the two ant princesses from A Bug's Life, Atta and Dot. Plus, as Peggy Ornstein pointed out in her 2006 piece about the rise of the brand, an ant is hardly the thing that children around the world aspire to be.
Anastasia
The Disney acquisition of Fox made may fans wonder about the mash-up of intellectual property they would soon be getting. Would Mickey Mouse be making his way to Springfield? Would the X-Men finally be joining the MCU?
Amidst all these fan speculations, one bit of merger news flew under the radar—that Disney had acquired another princess in Anastasia, the character played by Meg Ryan in the eponymous 1997 animation. She even fits some of the criteria, like having an animal sidekick and plenty of brave acts.
However, none of these acquired princesses (which also include Ferngully's Crysta, Avatar's Neytiri and The Princess Bride's Princess Buttercup) have yet been given the official Disneyland coronation that a princess needs to be official.
Giselle
Another character who was set to be part of the official line-up was Giselle, the princess brought to the real world played by Amy Adams in Enchanted. However, per the Wall Street Journal, Disney abandoned this plan due to the complications of having to secure life-long rights to Amy Adams' face.
Raya
Though listed on the Disney Princess wiki as an official princess, Disney's most recent royal has not had her coronation yet. However, with the Mouse House having plans to expand the Princess merchandise range into South East Asia since at least 2007 (per the WSJ), it could be a matter of time before she joins Mulan and Jasmine in the canon of Asian princesses.
Esmerelda
Another former official princess, The Hunchback of Notre Dame character was removed in 2005. No official reason has been given, but Polygon theorized that the darkness of her movie (and the fact that in the Victor Hugo book she is the daughter of a sex worker) meant she did not quite fit among the rest of the canon.
Elena of Avalor / Sofia the First
Disney Junior princesses Elena and Sofia are very much the bridesmaids but never the brides of the Disney universe. Always bumping into official princesses, but never reaching that top pinnacle themselves due to being on TV rather than in films. This, despite Elena being the company's first Hispanic princess.
Why Are Anna and Elsa Not Disney Princesses
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/disney-characters-unofficial-princesses-anna-elsa-raya-1601617
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