Disney and Pixar have recently announced their future line up of family-friendly films, but some viewers aren’t particularly thrilled by the types of characters- or more specifically, a lack of types- portrayed in their films.
There is no doubt that in recent years, Disney has taken strides to diversify its bank of princesses. Rapunzel recently became the first short-haired princess since Mulan, who spends most of her movie disguised as a man and isn’t even technically a princess. Tiana is the first African American princess, and even Anna from Frozen breaks a mold by being the first princess to not look flawless first thing in the morning.
However, there is now another group demanding equal representation in these family films- zombies. The movement for a zombie princess is being led by perhaps the most terrifying demographic of the zombie community- no, not the crawlers, not the razor-toothed brain suckers, not even the ones with blood pouring from their empty eye sockets… but TEENAGERS.
Teen zombies have taken to social media, calling attention to the lack of a zombie princess in Disney’s repertoire. In a day and age where feminism constantly combats unrealistic expectations for women, teen zombies, especially girls, decree the need for inclusion.
“We don’t want little zombie girls growing up, like we did, thinking that they can’t be beautiful just because not a single princess has rotting flesh like them. They need someone to identify with,” says seventeen-year-old social justice blogger, and zombie, Arabella.
“We need to be taken seriously by conglomerates like Disney if we’re ever going to overcome our marginalization,” Arabella said. Both her impressive vocabulary and her ability to pronounce such words without a bottom jaw exceeded expectations for her state of decay.
The movement is gaining the most speed on blogging platform Tumblr. Some of the most popular posts on the subject include artist renderings of popular Disney princesses, like Jasmine, Belle, and Elsa, re-imagined as zombies. Their usual lively complexions are painted a faded, sickly green, and most are missing at least one limb or facial feature.
Another post, written by Arabella herself, has over 2,000 notes (or shares, in Tumblr terms). It reads:
When asked for a comment, Cecelia Masters, president of the Undead Americans Association, said she supports the efforts. “It makes me proud to see young people campaigning for something they’d like to see in society, and I give them my full endorsement. My preteen daughter, Jessica, loves Disney too, and I know how much it’d mean to her to have a zombie princess.”
Of course, not all supporters of the cause are quite as eloquent as Masters and Arabella. In a phone interview, one of Arabella’s contemporaries, sixteen-year-old Deepti, responded only with “URRRRRGHHHHHH”, which could have been either the groan of a wretched creature desperate for the peaceful sleep of death or blatant teenage angst. These things are very similar.
Disney’s comment on the movement was that there is nothing they can do at the present time, for they have already set their production schedule until 2018. If dedicated people like Arabella are able to keep the momentum going for a few more years, maybe we’ll see a princess with rotting flesh by 2019. Disney was, however, quick to divert attention to another media powerhouse. “Look,” the spokesperson said, “Marvel announced that they’ll be making nine new films by the end of the decade, and they’re still not giving Black Widow her own movie.”
-Ivy Decker, Staff-Writer