define "princess story" - www.ezboard.com

Author	Comment
SarahNMIR Registered User (4/3/06 2:53 am)	define "princess story" I'm revising my dissertation prospectus, and it seems that I've been taking for granted that "everyone knows" what a "princess story" is. Turns out I was wrong -- and that I'm having trouble defining it. I am looking at 20th-century America, starting with A Little Princess and working through to around the Princess Diaries, and including both Disney versions and other new versions of the folktales (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.). What, would you say, are the defining characteristics of a "princess story?" Many thanks! Sarah
midori snyder Registered User (4/3/06 7:01 am) ezSupporter	Re: define "princess story" Think rites of passage for young women. This is about the transition from adolesence to adulthood...where the social expectation is marriage at the end. For commoners who wind up married to royalty becoming a princess occurs simultaneously with their marriage to the Prince. (the title itself becomes a sign of transition into adulthood.)To those who are already "princessess" I suspect they become "Queens" suggestive also of not only a change in status, but maturity as well.