A happy ending for Disney's toughest Princess?

By MAMAMIA TEAM

UPDATE: It looks like Disney have listened to the backlash surrounding their ‘subtle’ makeover of Brave character Merida. The new and ‘improved’ version has quietly been removed from their website.

More than 114, 000 people signed the Change.org petition we linked to in this post below, urging Disney to rethink the GHD-style curls and cinched-in waist that they had given Merida before crowning her an ‘official’ Disney Princess.

It also helped that the Oscar-winning creator of Brave weighed in with these comments:

There is an irresponsibility to this decision that is appalling for women and young girls… I think it’s atrocious what they have done to Merida… Merida was created to break that mold — to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.

Aside from removing the new version from their website, Disney hasn’t commented. But a live-action ‘coronation’ took place on the weekend, and Merida still looked suspiciously like the new version:

Here’s hoping the original Merida wins in the end.

…

Disney has decided to give one of its female heroines a makeover.

And it sucks.

Merida from Brave, the stunning red-head who spends her days galloping around the Scottish highlands on her horse shootin’ bows and arrows has had her waist slimmed and her natural, wild curls tamed into submission, before her official induction to the land of Disney princesses this week.

Original Merida & New Merida are pictured side by side below.

Original Merida looks awesome. She looks fit and healthy and perfectly capable of taking down some cartoon bad guys.

Her hair looks gorgeous and best of all, product free. She has NOT spent her morning having a fight with her GHD and slathering on expensive anti-frizz serum but rather jumped out of bed, flung her artillery on over her comfy, loose dress and cracked on with undoing spells n’ shit.

New Merida on the other hand, has had about $700 worth of painful extensions glued to her scalp, a heavy dose of Keratin treatment and many hours contorting her body into what appears to be an unusually tight corset under her super tight dress.

In addition, she’s swapped her modest, dark tunic for a sparkly, off the shoulder, low-cut number. (Definitely not as practical for shooting arrows.)

Unlike Original fresh-faced Merida, New Merida wears a thick sweep of liquid eyeliner before jumping on her horse and going into battle. This really accentuates her insanely high cheekbones. And of course no Hollywood makeover would be complete without some extreme lipo around the waist, giving New Merida the “pinched” look.

And it seems that we’re not alone in our frustration with the New Merida.

A petition has begun on change.org in protest of New Merida. You can sign it here.

The petition reads: “Merida was the princess that countless girls and their parents were waiting for—a strong, confident, self-rescuing princess ready to set off on her next adventure with her bow at the ready. She was a princess who looked like a real girl, complete with the ‘imperfections’ that all people have.”

Amen.

Will you be signing the petition? What do you think of New Merida vs. Orginal Merida?