Within the past few years, we’ve seen films like “Brave,” “Tangled” and “Cinderella” featuring strong princess leads, but is nobody concerned about the lack of male-led roles in these films regarding castles, romance and magic?
Perhaps we’ve been silent for too long now that men have lost a voice in the magical Disney genre. Displaying Prince Hans as the bad guy in “Frozen” is very worrying given that Danish princes of the era were known to have very courtly manners and were raised to be upright and honest. “Brave” has three princes, yet shamefully derides them as incompetent for Merida’s hand in marriage. “Tangled” came close to giving us a flawed and interesting prince in Flynn, except he was characterized as a rogue and does not count as a prince.
It is sad to think that we are living in the year 2015 and raising our children to believe that Prince Charming serves as nothing more than a one-dimensional romantic interest, or in the case of “Frozen,” a one-dimensional romantic villain. There is so much more to the character of the Prince Charming type that is yet to be explored. Just once it would be nice to have a male role in a princess film that wasn’t so underwritten. There is more to Prince Charming than riding noble steeds, killing dragons and being a good kisser. Surely a character such as himself would have his down time playing Halo Live and going out on the village with his wingman to meet fair maidens. And what happens to Prince Charming after the “happily ever after”? I’m willing to bet his natural charm might get in the way of his marriage as he keeps eyeing the lady who comes to clean the castle every week.
We can all agree that we’re not seeing enough films with male leads these days. Sure, every couple months we’re getting the next Liam Neeson action flick and the next testosterone-fueled superhero film, but when was the last time we saw a film featuring a dashing yet flawed young man who overcomes a challenge and gets the girl at the end of the day? Perhaps such an idea is a little too forward thinking, but with time, there could one day be a film portraying Prince Charming as a lead character and not just as some pinup voiceless eye candy.
