Disney Princesses and Romantic Love : a Narrative That Perpetuates Patriarchal Domination

This article aims to visiblize how the global entertainment narrative of romantic love, generated by the Disney corporation, is impeding media culture from moving towards gender equality. The chosen methodology is interpretive analysis. A specially designed matrix links the myths of romantic love with the identified constants of the patriarchal narrative. The chosen case study is the remake of the film The Little Mermaid (2023), after a critical revision of previous Disney princesses' films. This article argues that, despite the advances in the representation of female characters in this film genre, the representation of sexual relationships justifies a system of domination. This translates into dispositions and schemes of subordination, possession and dependence. With regards to the representation of female characters, the perceived advances in equality are a facade. The perpetuation of the myths of romantic love chains the characters to a system of patriarchal domination.