From older Disney Princess movies like “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Mulan,” to the 2000s “Princess and the Frog” and “Tangled,” Disney has culminated a collection of classic princess stories that many know and love. More recently, however, Disney has strayed from their classics to account for its acquisition of Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012 (The Disney Classics). In a decisive switch, Disney and Bath & Body Works are collaborating to bring six of Disney’s Princesses to the public. The promotion attempts to infuse Disney’s commonplace magic in soaps and lotions, but does it do so effectively? Is it enough to revive the film industry’s nostalgic roots?
As a child, I had a thorough indoctrination of Disney Princesses. The first movie I saw in the theaters was “Tangled.” I don’t remember the experience, as I had been three at the time. My aunt, however, often recounts the story of little Hannah on the edge of her seat, enthralled by the scenes and songs and properly scared out of her wits by anything that moved. Flashforward a few years later, and I’m hiding under a blanket as Ursula transforms the mermaid king into a shriveled up sea urchin. Or maybe I’m seven, watching the 2015 “Cinderella” at my grandparent’s house and picking my jaw off the floor after Cinderella’s rags magically turned into the ballgown of every girl’s dreams.
Disney has been a part of nearly everyone’s childhood, and some of the most memorable moments have to do with Disney classics. Maggie Hyam, a Tuscarora High School alum and faithful reader of “The Pack,” recounts, “The first ever Disney princess movie I watched was Cinderella. What I remember most about it wasn’t the movie itself, but that my sister had an imaginary mouse friend for years after.”
Disney classics have a way of implementing themselves into lives, and some people especially like analyzing the message behind the character. “My favorite Disney princess has to be Mulan,” Hyam states. “I love her because she chose to protect her family knowing that in the end it could get her hurt. Even when everything was against her she never gave up.”
Hyam eagerly visited Bath & Body Works after she heard about the Disney debut through Instagram. The collaboration features Jasmine, Tiana, Belle, Cinderella, Moana, and Ariel. “My first thought … was what each princess smelled like,” Hyam says. “I thought Belle would smell like books or roses and Ariel would smell like the salty air at the beach.”
In reality, the products evasively state their fragrance online. For example, the Belle smells like “being exactly who you are no matter what” while the Ariel smells like “exploring unchartered waters and embracing the unknown” (Bath & Body Works). While the Bath & Body Works website lists the “fragrance notes” after, and the shop is more of an in-person experience, Hyam’s reaction after her trip attests that the collaboration “wasn’t really worth it.” Hyam adds, “I had these ideas in my head of what the smells would be and when getting there I was a little disappointed that they all smelled relatively similar. So there wasn’t much nostalgia there. I was just disappointed, for a lack of a better word.”
Hyam believes that the collaboration didn’t produce the nostalgia like she hoped it would. “I think they picked the princesses they did out of popularity and what would get them the most income… I think it would have been better to include more of the original princesses and less of the newer ones.” This being said, Hyam makes it known that out of the princesses in the collaboration, “Belle would definitely be my favorite. I loved how close she was to her family and her love of literature.”
Hyam says that if she had run the Disney Princess collaboration, “I definitely would have added Mulan and Snow White into the princesses and taken out Moana. It’s not that ‘Moana’ was a bad movie, but seeing all the original princesses from my childhood would have been more impactful to me. I also would have redone all the scents, they deserved to have more thought put into them than I believe they got.”
If you’re looking for a new theme in Bath & Body Works or want to see for yourself how the princesses are represented, then a visit is most likely in order. Bath & Body Works has always been an in-person experience. However, the new collection has not been a portal to the past that enthusiasts like Hyam hoped it would be. If you simply want to sink into the nostalgia of Disney Princess classics, grab some popcorn, turn on the TV, and let the magic begin.
