The Original Eight Princesses
Looking back at the song and its lyrics, I'm actually kind of surprised that the "Disney Princess stereotype" does exist in the song, to some extent; it refers a lot to finding true love, but of course there's more than that. And I'm sure there are a lot of you who haven't heard this song in such a long time, or even some who have never heard of it, so I thought to analyze the song, lyric by lyric, just for fun. So let's go! :D
There is a world where hope
and dreams can last for all time
A wondrous place to go
You'll know it when your heart finds
The first four lines are sung by Ariel, and Jodi Benson actually returned to play her role in this song. How cool is that? :D
Anyway, these first few words are pretty harmless; the main message thus far is that if you follow your heart and dreams, you'll discover how "wondrous" life can be.
That's going to change in these next lyrics.
Hearing our song as old as rhyme
Hold my hand, we're gonna fly
What a magic ride
And just a kiss away
Lea Salonga returns to voice Jasmine, who sings about a mixture of things; she explains that a carpet ride, which could symbolize adventure, is "magic[al]", but then she claims that it's "just a kiss away". So, what is she trying to say? You won't have adventure in your life if you don't find true love? Probably not; maybe what she's trying to say is how love can be an adventure in and of itself. This can definitely apply to the film Aladdin, so these lyrics do in fact make sense; Jasmine escapes the palace she's lived at all her life in an attempt to escape forced marriage and to find an adventure of her own, resulting in meeting Aladdin.
I'm just confused as to what "our song as old as rhyme" is. What song is that? Is it even a song, or is it just something that symbolizes harmony? Maybe the answer is right in front of me and I just can't see it. Oh well. Moving on.
If you can dream the wish we're making
On a star is coming true
Pocahontas:
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you
Those first two lines are obviously referencing "When You Wish Upon a Star," and the last two to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas. (By the way, Judy Kuhn returns to voice Pocahontas in this song, too.) As most of us know, Pocahontas didn't get her happy ending at the end of the film. After John Smith was shot, he had to return to England, but even though Pocahontas stayed behind with her people, she knew that they would still feel each other's spirit or whatever. (Sorry, I can't remember what exactly she said, hehe.)
The point is, even though the two would be far away, they would always remember each other. These four lines are saying that if you believe your dreams will come true (a.k.a. "Have faith in your dreams and someday"), you'll get what you desire. Pocahontas desired to see John Smith again, I'm sure (ignore the sequel for now), and vise versa. So there you have it. Let's keep going with the song.
'Cause if you can dream reflections in a
Diamond sky come shining all through
Aurora:
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day if you can dream
In this chunk of the song, scenes with Mulan (mainly during "Reflection") are shown, and...I guess that's because "reflection" is mentioned in these lyrics. But what in the world do those lyrics mean - "'Cause if you can dream reflections in a diamond sky come shining all through"? Perhaps it's trying to say that "If you believe your dreams will come true" - which again is similar to Cinderella saying "Have faith in your dreams and someday" - then the stuff said in the next two lyrics will happen.
Now, this is where the song fits that DP stereotype I mentioned earlier. The princesses are commonly seen as weak, passive, and insistent on finding true love. Well, no one fits that bill better than Aurora. It's not really fair that she isn't given a lot of screen time, therefore not giving her much to work with in breaking the stereotype, but from what we see, she's very daydreamy (if that's a real word) and longs for her true love to "bring back a love song to [her]" (from "I Wonder"). So, basically, she wants to find true love. And in those last two lines:
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day if you can dream
Aurora says (or sings) that "love will save the day".
Sorry, princesses, but if you're trying to break your stereotype, you've just lost any credibility you have with this song. Although, to Aurora's credit, this lyric is very literal in her case; had it not been for Phillip's kiss, she'd be in a deep sleep forever.
Anyway, how does this relate back to reflections in diamond skies? Well, the chorus for this song fits one basic formula. The first two lines basically say If you believe in your dreams/follow your heart's desires, and the next two say <Insert what princess wants here>. I think it's an odd choice to pair up Mulan's lines, where she desires bringing honor to her family and not a man (at first), with Aurora's, who's all about true love. Mulan's lines were that "If you believe in your dreams" thing, and Aurora's is the "what the princess wants", which is love.
Wow, I've spent a lot of time on those four lines. I seriously need to move on!
Someday my prince will come
It's certain as the sunrise
One day the slipper fits
Then you see the love in his eyes
Is it odd that Cinderella borrowed a line from Snow White's song? Hm, was that what Cinderella even wanted in the first place - a prince? It could have been; she never did say what her dream was. It may have been a life away from an abusive household, a prince, feet - I guess we'll never know.
Anyway, back to the lyrics; it's pretty obvious that this part is sung by Cinderella. If I hadn't written "Cinderella:" and put a picture next to the lyrics, you could probably tell who was singing it just by reading. There's not a whole lot to these lyrics; it's summing up what Cinderella wants, and the mention of the glass slipper fitting is both literal and symbolic.
I'm being really critical here, but here's my question: if the slipper already fit, and you've met this prince guy before, how are you just now seeing "the love in his eyes"? Didn't you see that while you were dancing? If you hadn't been in love, why'd you cry when your stepmother locked you in? That's right - you were in love. So you should've "[seen] the love in his eyes" before the slipper fit and you got hitched.
Wow, I'm harsh. Let's hope these next lyrics don't bring out the mean in me. D:
It's the tale as old as time
There's no mountain we can't climb
When you're finally mine
And just a kiss away
Paige O'Hara returns, but...her voice has aged, and it shows.
The first line refers to the title song of the film, commonly referring to the classic story as the "tale as old as time". The second line is pretty hopeful; it's basically saying that nothing can stop them, or in Anna's words, "Nothing's in my way".
The next two kind of refer back to the stereotype. Belle repeats Jasmine's use of "And just a kiss away," even though neither of their films relied on a kiss to enhance the story, like Snow White and Aurora. If anything, that lyric should have been saved for those two in this song!
Back to what I was saying - Belle's talking about finding love. Now, whenever I watch Beauty and the Beast, it seems like Beast/the prince likes Belle A LOT more than she likes him. I mean, she leaves this guy for her father while he lets her go for her own happiness, and last I checked, HE was the one with the spell put on him. I've never believed Belle loved him - sure, maybe she liked him, but I don't know about love. So when she says "When you're finally mine," that makes it seem as though she's been waiting a long time for them to become a couple. And I'm sorry, but that's not what I get when I watch the film.
And looking back, why did she say "There's no mountain we can't climb"? It's obvious she's referring to Beast/the prince again, but what is it that they do that needs such hope and motivation?
I think I need a Popsicle to calm me down - I keep tearing this song to shreds! And here's the bad news - I'm only halfway done. D: Dear readers who have made it this far, I thank you and wish you luck in reading the rest.
If you can dream the wish we're making
On a star is coming true
Pocahontas:
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you
'Cause if you can dream reflections in a
Diamond sky come shining all through
Ariel & Aurora:
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day if you can dream
The chorus repeats, so I won't repeat myself. Let's just continue.
So the story goes
Never die the rose
Jasmine and other princesses:
There's a whole new world waiting there for us
Waiting just for us
The first two lines are sung by Belle, and she's saying that in Beauty and the Beast, the rose never died. Perhaps this is symbolizing that hope is never lost. Always remain faithful. :)
The second part is sung by Jasmine, in case you couldn't tell by the clear reference of "a whole new world". Question: Where is "there"? Where is this world waiting at? I'm guessing it's some imaginary place. Somewhere in their imagination, they picture a world where their dreams have come true, and in reality, this dream-come-true place is "waiting" for them. In other words, they need to fulfill their dreams. However, this could be taken a different way; it could be perceived that these princesses are just waiting around for some prince to rescue them and for their dreams to come true and all that.
I personally like the former idea, but anywho, let's continue. Good news: the chorus repeats again!
If you can dream the wish we're making
On a star is coming true
Pocahontas:
The colors of the wind will lead
My heart right back to you
'Cause if you can dream reflections in a
Diamond sky come shining all through
Ariel and Jasmine:
Romance will always be so new
And love will save the day, oh
Everything's repeated, but that "oh" separates "And love will save the day" from its full repetition.
Love will save the day
If you can dream
You can dream
Once again, the stereotype is not helped with the repetition of this line. Saying love will fix all problems - yeah, that's a bit problematic. And by showing the princesses being kissed by their love interests, princes nonetheless, eliminates the possibility that they meant love for your family and friends.
Now, at the very beginning of the article, I said that I used to consider "If You Can Dream" to be the DP theme song, and...yeah, I did. However, it just doesn't work for some of the newer princesses. It does for some, or most, actually, though - Tiana, Rapunzel, and Anna all have hopes and love interests. However, Merida and Elsa are completely boy-free. Merida is very against the idea of marriage in the beginning of the film, and Elsa just doesn't get a guy by the end of Frozen. That's one of the big reasons why this song just doesn't work now.
Not only that, but if you've seen the video, you'll notice that it's got a pretty poor visual quality compared to today's standards of HD. It really needs to be updated to include a) HD clips, b) all 13 princesses, and c) less lyrics about finding true love (since that doesn't work from Merida's or Elsa's perspective).
Well, I think I'm done tearing this song to pieces now. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed my bickering, since I surprisingly had a great time writing this. Perhaps I'll analyze more songs in the future - who knows? We'll see. ;D See you guys later!
