So I’ve started noticing, as I scroll through barbie tags, that for some reason a lot of people invalidate Anneliese and her struggles, while instead focusing all of their pity on Erika, who was stuck as an endentured servant in poverty. This is something that bothers me greatly, and it is pretty much the opposite of what the movie was trying to portray.
I love The Princess and the Pauper for a lot of reasons, one of which is the fact that, opposed to most other children’s movies (as well as quite a few barbie movies), it has a solid plot that is well thought out, and can be enjoyed even from an adult’s POV. As someone who loves to write, and would love to someday publish books or even write for television and cartoons in the future, this was always something important to me.
The Princess and the Pauper was meant to show that, even though these two girls were from vastly different worlds, they were the same. Erika was working to pay off crippling debts (which is honestly a mood), and Anneliese was being forced into an arranged marriage due to her kingdom going bankrupt. Their situations mirror each other’s, the only obvious difference being that Anneliese lives a “flawless” life in a palace, while Erika is stuck working in poverty. Anneliese, however, has no escape. Even in the very first song, there’s a very distinct difference in the two girls’ verses near the end. Anneliese sings “now I fear I’ll never be free” while Erika sings “soon I will forever be free”.
Erika, even before meeting Anneliese and being brought to the palace, is left with the confident hope of one day escaping, living life how she wants, and traveling around the world as a singer. Anneliese’s situation is the exact opposite. She lives in a world of royalty, but at the same time she can never have a chance at a normal life.
Heck, Erika is the one who originally compaired their lives, starting off the main chorus of “i am a girl like you”. I’ve seen so many people be like “‘I’m just like you’ bish no you aren’t” in regards to Annelise singing this song, when she wasn’t even the first one to mention the similarities. Anneliese knows how hard Erika’s life is, and when the brunette starts singing about how they’re similar Anneliese is genuinely shocked, and it takes several verses for Anneliese to go from agreeing with Erika’s explanation to singing alongside her with the same lyrics, slowly growing comfortable with the fact that, yeah, their situations are different, but are also quite similar and in a way mirror each other’s.
One of the songs, To Be a Princess, literally goes and highlights several reasons why it’s so difficult to be a princess. This is one of the reasons I have a large distaste for the remake “the princess and the popstar”,,,,, they just,, take all of the hardship and throw it out the window,,,,,,
Anyway, I am by no means trying to downgrade the suffering that Erika went through in the movie, cuz I can go into a whole other rant about how Erika is epic and amazing and beautiful and slays, but this is a post about Anneliese.
Please, stop invalidating her struggles simply because she’s a princess. The plot of the movie literally revolves around how both girls struggle, how both girls grow to be stronger and face their own turmoils, but people tend to forget Anneliese’s problems since the movie centered around Erika a bit more than the princess.
One person’s suffering does not invalidate someone else’s.
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