Flower Girls

Tiana's finally being featured on Disney Princess group merchandise! She's thrilled...kinda.

I've seen these dresses in two sets---with the Standard Six in one and the Full Seven in the other. The only differences in the sets are the inclusion of Tiana in the Full Seven and the length of Ariel's dress; in the Standard Six set, she's wearing a full-length skirt, while in the Full Seven set she's wearing a knee-length skirt that shows off her legs. Obviously, I went with the Full Seven set for this bit.

Overall, the girls are decidedly mellower in this. There's a very simple reason for this---they get to wear different dresses! True, the flower-inspired dresses are patterned after their normal dresses, but all of them (even Snow White's, which is the least changed) are different enough that marketing had no real difficulty getting the princesses to wear them. Tiana doesn't get a different dress---after all, hers is already flower-inspired. Of course, she's not yet sick of it.

Ariel's gone manic for the moment---since she's usually trapped in her tail for group shots, any opportunity to show off her hard-won legs tends to send her into a delight-induced high that the others have learned not to talk her down from. However, if Ariel crosses the line between manic and hysterical, the others (particularly Belle) are not above slipping her a sedative to tone her down. Better than giving in to the impulse to smack her upside her head, which could make the shoot very unpleasant very quickly.

My understanding of 'which ear does the flower go behind' is the Hawaiian one, which is basically behind your right ear if you're single and behind your left ear if you're attatched. Kinda like a wedding ring, now that I think about it. However, I do not know if it's a universal rule---I just went with the fact that they all wear their flowers over the same ear.

Cinderella's and Aurora's conversation in the background comes from actual 'marketing justification' sheets (not what they're really called, but it's essentially what they are). According to these sheets, one of the big reasons Aurora is in usually in pink is because they 'worry' she'll be confused with Cinderella (never mind the fact that if they would put Cinderella in her movie-correct silver/very pale grey instead of bright blue they wouldn't have this problem, but whatever). "Two characters in the same color outfits suggests a familial connection, and as such a connection is incorrect we do not need to perpetuate it."

Um, excuse me? I've been a Disney fan pretty much from the time I was concieved, and I've worked off and on in retail for the better part of my working life. I personally have never come across a little girl beneath the age of fourteen (the supposed target base of this marketing scheme) who has confused Aurora for Cinderella or vice versa. In fact, what I HAVE witnessed, on multiple occasions, are these little girls curtly correcting adults when they mistake Aurora or Cinderella for anyone other than who they are.

Real-life example---
Igmo Adult: "Oh, what a pretty Cinderella doll you have! "
Little Girl: (crossly) "She's Princess AURORA." (slight pause, considering her audience) "SLEEPING BEAUTY." (enunciated slowly, so the adult is sure to understand.)

Seems to me, the little girls aren't confused about who's who. It's the adults (not coincidentally the ones who typically PAY for said merchandise) who need the visual cues.

Don't mind my ranting---just enjoy!