The Princess Protection Program: Disney’s Pseudo-Political Fairytale

img by mrkathika via flickr

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Costa Luna, the beautiful Princess Rosalinda played by Demi Lovato has to leave her kingdom shortly before becoming a queen because it is in danger of being taken over by an evil dictator. Disney’s new movie tells the story of her being taken under the wing of the “Princess Protection Program” an agency which shields innocent princesses from the tyrannies of megalomaniac rulers.

Special agent Mason and his daughter Carter (Selena Gomez) hide Rosalinda in their home, and construct a cover-identity for her which comes with the new name Rosie and the whole new life of “a normal teen.” Carter basically is an average girl who works in a local bait-shop and dreams of going out with Donny Adamson, the immensely popular school hunk, with whom she doesn’t see any chances – of course – because of her average “social standing”.

Rosalinda, the undercover princess, on the other hand, quickly rises to the highest popularity ranks in Carter’s school and although this leads to a tension between the two girls, they form a friendship in which Carter teaches “Rosie” how to become a perfectly normal, socially adjusted American teen girl and Rosalinda reveals to Carter the princess within her.

Finally, Carter has an eye-opening experience and has to admit that her dream love Donny is not worth it, so she  goes to the dance with Ed Braun instead, her best friend who has been in love with her for a long time. And at the end, of course, Rosie finally becomes Queen of Costa Luna with everybody cheering and being happy.

Whether one might like the movie or not, one has to admit that only Disney has the audicity to take political ideas of tyranny and monarchy, substract all the complexity, violence and confusion and simply flatten it out into an all American teenager’s drama of being “socially accepted” at the school dance. Well…