Tangled is a new spin on Rapunzel. A beautiful, long haired princess is trapped in her tower with her supposed mom, locked away forever. Rapunzel dreams of seeing the lanterns that light the sky on her birthday and she strives to get away from her mother and live her own life. Tangled is a story about a young girl finally breaking away from her restricting mother, and finding her own life. She is extremely independent throughout the whole journey, although she does have her partner Flynn Ryder who she subsequently was constantly saving. Tangled is one of the newer Disney movies that instills independence throughout the viewing audience, proving that you don’t need a man to make you happy (because she married Flynn at the end after she had figured out her life).

Brave: Brave is a movie about Merida a young princess who is arranged to marry a man by her family. Merida is not interested in being betrothed to the son of her father’s ally, which paved the way to her act of slight rebellion. The Highland Games were held so that the brothers were able to fight for Merida’s hand in marriage, but she switched up the rules and made it so she too would be allowed to fight for her own hand – meaning she could win and not have to marry any of the men.

Frozen: Elsa and Anna are two heirs to royalty who live in a castle that they used to share with their parents, who tragically died in a boating accident. Their story mainly follow Anna, the younger sister, who is trying to get her older sister Elsa to speak to her and to come back to the town they live in that desperately needs her help. Although Anna does make a stereotypical mistake – falling for a man and marrying him within only hours of meeting him – she comes to her senses over time. This movie isn’t about how falling in love with a prince solves everything, but instead it’s about how sisterly love is more powerful than any spell.

Wreck-It-Ralph: This movie, although not about a guy denying the love of a woman – it’s about finding yourself. Ralph was created as the villain for the video game Fix-It-Felix Jr. and he becomes tired of being the ‘bad guy’ so he sets out on a quest to find a game he can be the good guy in. Ralph jumps from game to game in the arcade that he lives in, trying to find where he is happy and then he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, and adorableness ensues.  This movie is filled with video game references, subtle humor, and charming characters, so it’s easy to see why many people love it so much. 

Disney has taken a turn for the best, their films are more independent and empowering than they’ve been in past years. Sure, majority of the parents are still killed off in the stories, but at least better points are being crossed. The movies are no longer about needing a relationship to carry on, or leaving your friends and family for love, instead it’s about finding yourself and loving yourself and your family before a third party comes in. Disney has really upped their game, definitely paving the road for smarter and more independent viewers.