In an era where empowered princesses have become the new normal in animated films, the recently released fairy tale adventure Rebellious aims to deliver a fresh take on an age-old archetype. With its promise of a fierce heroine who defies convention, this kids’ movie seems poised to offer inspiration to young viewers – especially girls. But does Rebellious truly break the mold, or does it fall back on the same tired damsel-in-distress cliches it claims to reject? A closer look reveals this rebel princess may not be as revolutionary as she first appears.
A Familiar Tale of Princesses, Witches, and Rescuers
On the surface, Princess Mina seems to be cut from a different cloth than your traditional fairy tale royal. Defying her father the king’s attempts to marry her off to a burly nobleman for the protection of the kingdom, Mina insists on her right to rule solo. She even sets her sights on romance with sensitive architect Ronan, subverting the usual brawny prince charming expectations.
But despite these promising tweaks to convention, Rebellious quickly reverts to a well-worn formula. No sooner does Mina assert her independence than she’s abducted by a bitter old witch on her wedding day – because what’s a fairy tale without an evil hag bent on destroying a young beauty’s happiness?
The kidnapped princess trope is so ubiquitous, it’s practically a fairy tale law: every defiant maiden must be taught a lesson via capture and captivity.
Marina Rancher, Feminist Media Critic
From here, the plot unspools in disappointingly predictable fashion. The distraught king promises his daughter’s hand to whichever man can rescue her, sending Ronan and a posse of brawnier rivals on a quest to save the princess – and win her as a prize. While Mina gets some spirited scenes fending off her captors, she ultimately falls under an evil spell, winding up a comatose trophy in a sorcerer’s princess garden. Though she rallied against the idea of being a damsel in need of rescuing, that’s exactly the fate Mina is reduced to.
Damsels & Distress, Packaged for a New Era
Indeed, for all its posturing about empowerment, Rebellious mostly pays lip service to female agency without meaningfully challenging the “damsels require saving” presumption at the core of so many classic fairy tales. While Princess Mina’s initial rejection of gender expectations generates some girl power moments, the story doesn’t follow through on truly upending the disempowering “princess in peril” formula.
In fact, the film leans into some pretty retrograde stereotypes in its portrayal of other female characters. The conniving witch who steals Mina is an all-too-familiar “bitter older woman” type, whose only motivation seems to be petty resentment of the young princess’ privilege and beauty. The other stone-spelled princesses Mina encounters are a uniform bunch of simpering damsels, reinforcing the idea of femininity as ornamental, passive, and in need of rescue.
It feels like one step forward, two steps back. We get a nominally rebellious princess, but she’s still sidelined as a prize to be won by men. And the film’s other women are straight out of the misogynist cliche handbook – crones, beauties, and not much in between.
Dana Marten, Children’s Media Watchdog
Conclusion: A Rebel Without a Real Cause?
Ultimately, while Rebellious gestures at updating fairy tale gender politics for an empowerment-minded era, its “feminist” message feels more like window dressing than any true reimagining of the princess myth. Mina’s insistence on her independence is eventually revealed as futile, just another hurdle for a male hero to overcome. The film does the bare minimum to earn its girl power stripes, while leaving the prince-rescues-helpless-maiden paradigm fundamentally unchallenged.
In trying to have its progressive cake and eat its regressive conventions too, Rebellious winds up sending mixed messages about what female heroism and empowerment can look like in a fairy tale world. One wishes the filmmakers had committed to a more thorough interrogation and dismantling of the disempowering princess tropes they flirt with subverting. As is, this film’s rebel heart can’t quite overpower the conformist skeleton it’s built on.
