My thing with the "The Disney Princesses never chased after a man" and "All the classics ever did was chase after a man" arguments is just the mere double standard of it all because we have seen countless male characters in Disney movies chase after a woman and be either willing to do something insanely stupid or risky just for the sake of impressing that woman or just want to leave their previous lives behind for them, like Aladdin lying about his whole identity just to impress Jasmin, or Hercules giving up his powers for Megara and abandoning his godhood to live a life with her, or how John Smith made up his mind about staying permanently in America and essentially abandoning his culture for Pocahontas (and she was the one who told him to not stay because she knew it would be selfish of her to make him stay), or how the Beast put the lives of his own servants in danger because he was too depressed about Belle leaving, implying that she became his life and it wasn't worth it now that she was gone. So many of these heroes go above and beyond to give up their own agency and lives for them, but the moment the princesses show any interest in them back, that turns them into stupid whores or they are too "smart" to ever chase a man because Men Are Stupid, Gross And Not Worth Doing Anything For™, which is the underlying message of these arguments.
Why are we shaming female characters for having romantic agency? Why is it wrong for a woman to actually reciprocate any interest in the man who showed her any interest? Is the only valid form of love the one where the man is willing to cut himself in half in hopes that the woman either loves him or because he loves her too much and the women just Sits Here, Appreciating The Sacrifice At The Altar™? That sounds to me like that's the only valid way fangirls perceive relationships in fandom.
Of course, the princesses aren't just "man-chasers", but there is lingering sexism in the fact that they get shamed for ever showing any sign of interest in the guy. How dare she like a man? How dare she wanna be in a relationship with him? How dare she be active in her own romantic/sexual choices? I thought feminism was about women chosing who to be with, that it was often a sign of agency because she was the one who made that choice and not her parents, which has been the case for most of human history? The eras these movies are set are representative of the "Marriage is benefitting the family and not about connection nor attraction." principle, so them CHOSING to be with the guy was pretty goddamn revolutionary. In the case of Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel, it was their liberation from abuse and oppression at the hands of their mothers (it's key that the main antagonistic figure here is the maternal one because that delves into the damage a lot of mothers can do to their daughters).
People talk about how "stupid" Ariel was for leaving her whole life behind for a man, but won't say anything about Hercules doing the same thing for a woman who previously HURT and USED him, albeit not entirely her fault as she was in a very tight spot with Hades but she knew what she did was wrong and refused to continue to play along anymore, which lets you know that she indeed initially did not care about him but began to care when she saw that he was actually a decent guy, yet Ariel is the idiot for making the deliberate choice to stay in a world that she already longed for and with a man who's on the Top 3 of most decent, selfless and caring male love interests in the Disney Canon? FOH!
The hypocrisy is what throws me off. I hate how Disney Princesses are shamed for showing any single sign of interest.
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