Throughout history, the princess archetype has been a prominent feature amongst literature, movies and the media. There hasn’t really been a time when a princess hasn’t featured in a Disney movie or fairy tale, even in real life when you think of the great role models of Princess Diana and Princess Mary.

Some of these characters and individuals may be more of a positive role model for people of today, especially children. However, others tend to fill young minds with nonsense and drivel that can end up leading to lack of ambition, low self esteem and more importantly they can start to completely disregard great forms of literature and instead choose to only read unrealistic fairy tales and fantasies.

Yes, these books are great for appealing to children so that they actually read and use their imagination, and some of them are my own favourites, but when does the time come for children to create more depth and meaning with their reading? And do literature-based materials related to “princesses” help with a child’s development in reading and appreciation? Do they have a positive or negative impact on children?

Many questions could be raised and far more opinions could be made on the issue so I have chosen to go over a few sides to the “princess” character within books, movies and of course the media to point out the good, the bad, and at times the downright ugly sides and consequences of this prevalent female character.