Disney Storytelling Timeline

This is going to be an ongoing and frequently updated post intended as a timeline to document the various changes in Disney storytelling. If you have additions, comments, concerns, or disagreements, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Beauty and the Beast - 1991

  • Heroine reads, love books, and rescues the prince

Aladdin - 1992

  • Heroine fights against arranged marriage; seeks marriage based on love

  • Reverses overcoming class obstacles a la Cinderella by making the female royalty and the male underclass

Pocahontas - 1995

  • Non-white heroine

Mulan - 1998

  • Non-white, non-US-centric heroine

  • Dip of the toe into gender issues re dress & military abilities & expectations

Lilo & Stitch - 2002

  • Feature Pacific Islanders

  • Siblings parenting siblings/absent parents

  • Features songs in native non-English language written/performed by a member of the represented group

The Princess and the Frog - 2009

  • Black heroine

  • Black love interest

  • Tiny recognition of whites intentionally trying to prevent blacks from moving up through the bankers’ actions

Brave - 2012

  • Heroine has no interest in romantic love

Frozen - 2013

  • Challenges the idea of marrying someone you just met

  • Villain isn’t obvious at the beginning

Big Hero 6 - 2014

  • First to deal with the various expressions and responses to grief/death/loss

  • Sibling loss

Inside Out - 2015

  • Trauma of moving

  • Utility of emotions—they are neutral; neither bad nor good

  • No villain

Zootopia - 2016

  • Directly addresses racism & bigotry, through allegory

Moana - 2016

  • No love interest/plotline for the heroine

Frozen 2 - 2019

  • Acknowledgment of family’s past bigoted/hurtful actions and being proactive to fix the harm, with knowledge and acceptance of personal sacrifice that will occur

Raya and the Last Dragon - 2021

  • Heroine and antagonist are both female, smart, and capable

  • Examines the competitiveness, fakeness, and backstabbing sometimes inherent in female friendships

  • Voice-casting was more representative (East Asian—but see concerns that not Southeast Asian)

Encanto - 2021

  • Set in Columbia

  • Female leader without royalty/governance lineage

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Encanto