Why Is Disney Allergic To Telling Love Stories Now? 

If Star Boy art/animatics are any indication…most ppl want them back.

Of course i love a princess who doesn't need a man, but i think Disney needs to go back to creating characters who don't need a romantic partner, but who have one because they want one, not because they need one, i miss that

Being in love with a man does not mean you are nothing with him. I’m tired of the narrative that you can’t be your own person in a relationship, and that girls don’t want love stories. He’s we do! Everyone wants love sometimes.

I've been asking the question why Wish didn't include a love story. When I looked at the concept art, Asha was plans to have a love plot with Star. However their reasoning as the why they cut it was because they want Asha to come into her own and not having Star doing all the heavy lifting. Which is weird because they could had Asha coming to her own while falling in love with Star. An example of this is Beauty and the Beast. Beast didn't do most of the heavy lifting, Belle did by showing him acceptance and kindness. Which helps the Beast to open himself up to her and learn how to care for others outside of himself. I feel Disney is subscribing into the idea that all romances are bad/one note or that it's outdated. But, falling in love isn't a bad thing. It helps our main characters to grow to become their best selves.

Remember Encanto? Even though really briefly, the small plot between Dolores and Mariano's love was something I found to be interesting.

I think the main issue with Disney nowadays is that they are afraid of showing ANY main characters being in love or loving something. Look, I’m a sucker for romance but I can be a fan of a movie with romance or with no romance at all. But having your main characters being always in the right and 100% independent is just boring to be honest. Like I understand Disney doesn’t want to fall into the “damsel in distress” category but someone loving someone actually makes them a stronger and more likable protagonist.

I’m sorry… but I’m so tired of people calling princesses like Snow White and Aurora “weak damsels” or “harmful stereotypes”. There’s a reason their stories have stood the test of time. Both women and men have loved the idea of true love conquering the harshest of obstacles for centuries. It’s a touching sentiment, and one that resonates with a massive audience, because at the end of the day, we all want to find our true love. Yes both princesses were put under a sleeping curse for the last parts of their films, but that doesn’t automatically make them weak. It was never done with the intention to demean women, it was done to create stakes and dramatic grip for the audience who’ve grown attached to them by the time the curse takes place. So many people make the ridiculous claim that the movies were always male oriented, as it was the men who would save the Princess by the end of the film.. but I want you to ask yourself something… from these movies, who’s the more prominent and remembered character? Who’s the one on the posters? Who are the ones the films are named after?? Not Prince Florian (yes that’s his name, it was never even addressed in Snow White as he was practically a background character), and it’s definitely not Prince Phillip. Looking back, the male characters didn’t exactly do much of the heavy lifting like so many activists claim today. In Snow White, it was the animals who had to retrieve the dwarves, and even then it was the Evil Queen who did herself in by trying to drop a heavy boulder on them while standing on a cliff side during a thunder storm. Even in Sleeping Beauty, it was the three good fairies (who are all women) who saved Phillip (the man) from Maleficent. They gave him his sword and shield, they guided his passage out of her castle, and it was their spell that ultimately killed the dragon. Yes the men served their purpose and kissed the girl, and we got our happy ending, but people are purposefully forgetting everything around that fact, and are using it to bash these movies that don’t deserve it. The classic princesses will forever be timeless, and beloved by the world. Their love stories will always resonate with millions of fans across the world. It’s just how it is. No amount of modern girl-boss films/arguments will ever change that.

I think a problem Disney has when writing their protagonists is that none of them are really flawed, they're always in the right and they're not the ones who go through the character arc of growth and changing as a person. And I think this is a bad moral to put in movies particularly aimed at children because real people have many flaws that they need to grow from, but by preaching everyone is perfect as they are promotes stagnation in the development of people, hense why we see so many adults who have the mentality of children.

The fact that Elemental bounced back and received 484 million in the box office, shows they obviously loved the romance between Ember and Wade. So love stories could make a comeback!

The whole concept that a woman doesn't need a man is ridiculous and insulting in general. Because it presumes that every woman who wants to be with a man has somehow lost a certain amount of autonomy. The truth is that men and women need each other. We have always needed each other, and that's a good thing. It brings us together.

Mulan wasn’t exactly a love story until the last few minutes of the movie which they didn’t exactly “fall in love” rather the male lead was invited to dinner and they’re love story was actually the second movie

Because they got a lot of shit for it. For reasons, people assume that a female character wanting romantic love diminishes her or makes her less independent. SMDH. 🙄🙄

I feel like movies like Moana seemed very natural to be without an RO, not every story needs a love story. That being said, love stories arent a poison. I do miss them, and some stories absolutely need them

3:51 "The easy way out"? More like the coward's way out.

Meanwhile spiderverse Gwen stacy laughs in the face of disney's incompetence in writing a character who so perfectly balances out getting strong development and romance

The thing that really gets me is how they handled Kristoff’s subplot in Frozen II where he tries to propose to Anna but it (“hilariously”) falls flat on his face. He even has a whole freaking song about it. The biggest issue I had is that his attempts to propose show just how immature and ignorant he is. The first three times he tries to propose, Anna is clearly upset/worried about something (usually Elsa). Any sane person would see their loved one struggling and think “Okay, now is not a good time. I’ll get on it later. Right now, I need to help him/her out.” Honestly, they could’ve cut Kristoff’s proposal attempts out entirely and it would’ve had no bearing on the plot. If anything, it would’ve streamlined it further and shown him as a man who puts his girlfriend’s needs before himself.

Nah man, it's good stories they're allergic to tell.

I like a good romance. Don't force it in where it doesn't belong, but also, don't shy away from it if that's the direction the creative team wants to go.

I think one of the biggest issues Disney has right now is this pattern of following social trends rather than try to make something good and original that their audience would love to see.

I don't mind them doing non- romantic stories. Pinocchio, Alice in wonderland, Lilo and stitch, Moana, Wreck it Ralph, and Enchanto show there can be great stories with no romance. What's frustrating about the most recent film, Wish, is that they have one song was CLEARLY a love song. Especially when it's revealed that Star has a human form. So it's pretty bad to make and market a love song. In a film that has NO romance in it.

You're right that protagonists can have their own amazing character arcs, whether they have a love interest or not. But I feel like when it came to "Wish," Disney got lazy. I hear that it was supposed to be in 2D, and we could have gotten our first love story since Anna and Kristoff, and we could have especially seen DISNEY'S FIRST EVER VILLAIN COUPLE. It would have been amazing, but no, Disney took the easy way out because doing those three things for their 100th anniversary film would take a lot of effort, and why put effort into a Disney movie with too many Easter eggs, even though it takes place years before the events of the classic Disney movies? It even makes me sad and pisses me off how this was actually easy to see why because Bob Iger said, "Entertain the kids first, don't put in any morals." I can't stand that because in my opinion, morals are what make a story mean something. Do you really want to see great female protagonists in animated movies? Think about Studio Ghibli. "Princess Mononoke" was mostly about San *(the wolf princess)* hating humans because of the destruction that was done in her forest, but after meeting Ashitaka, she begins to warm up to him *(even though it takes a while for her to do so),* and what makes their love story so impactful is that Ashitaka teaches San how there's no good or bad side in a conflict, but hatred causes a war to happen, and their love story comes second. Plus, the romance doesn't happen immediately. San literally says, "I like you, but I still can't forgive the humans for what they've done." Another thing that I love so much about Studio Ghibli's female protagonists is that their goals and their character arcs come first *(Their character arcs are done so beautifully),* but there are moments where they can feel super vulnerable and emotional, but luckily, they don't have saviors. They only have friends and supporters to help guide them on their journey *(and most of their supporters are Ghibli's male characters),* and it's better to ask for help so you can work harder to accomplish something. The strongest people are the most vulnerable people and I'm so glad that Studio Ghibli understands this. Plus, Modern Disney's laziness somehow makes me root for other studios like Sony Pictures Animation even more. Remember when Sony Animation was a joke of an animation studio that only made childish animated movies just for the sake of making money? Well, I feel like after the flop that was "The Emoji Movie," Sony was like, "Oh no, we hecked up." So they released "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" a year later, and it was so critically acclaimed that it became an animation classic and won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. I feel like Sony Animation realized that they needed to make better animated movies by telling better stories, because after the success of "Into the Spider-Verse," they made so many underrated masterpieces that don't get any love and appreciation whatsoever, even if they deserve it. "The Mitchells VS The Machines" is one of the greatest comedies I've ever watched, "Wish Dragon" was still a good movie, had an intense third act, and had different character arcs, even if the movie itself felt too much like a modern version of "Aladdin," and I think "Vivo" was Sony's first ever animated musical because now that the studio was trying to be better, they wanted to try something new, and they were probably super excited when they found out that Lin-Manuel Miranda was writing the songs, because the studio probably watched his work for "Hamilton" and "Moana." Also, do you think that "Across the Spider-Verse" lived up to the hype of the first Spider-Verse movie? Of course it did, because that takes EFFORT. And Sony Animation went ahead and made their animators and writers put in so much of their effort and hard work to make the second Spider-Verse movie inhumanely spectacular. I'm still pretty mad at them for overworking their animators too much *(and caused more than 100 animators to quit),* but unlike Modern Disney, at least Sony admitted why they overworked their animators, admitted their mistakes, and they thanked their animators for making the sequel super compelling, so I feel more proud than mad, because I believe that anyone can change as long as they're willing to change, and Sony Animation did exactly that. The main reason why I'm rooting for Sony Animation even more is because they learned something after the success of "Into the Spider-Verse." They began to make more masterpieces because they tried to put in so much of their effort to make them amazing, and they let their talented workers go so hard. Heck, THEY LITERALLY HIRED A 14-YEAR-OLD KID TO ANIMATE THE LEGO DIMENSION IN THE SECOND SPIDER-VERSE MOVIE BECAUSE THEY WERE STUNNED BY HIS LEGO RECREATION OF ONE OF THE TRAILERS. That's a huge deal. And now, Sony is delaying "Beyond the Spider-Verse" because I think they said themselves that they're trying to put in so much effort to make the third movie the most compelling finale for Miles Morales' story, but they're trying to let their animators recover first. And now, I'm really optimistic about the third movie because much like the second Spider-Verse movie, the third movie is being delayed because Sony wants to put in more effort in it to make it more compelling, even though Sony said that they're heartbroken for making the fans wait longer, but they also said it was for the best, so even though I feel bummed that I have to wait longer, I feel more optimistic than bummed because now Sony is actually TRYING. So now, I'm thinking, '"Beyond the Spider-Verse" is going to be the greatest movie ever made." Plus, I may not like "The Emoji Movie" at all, but one thing I can respect it for is that it was the movie that made Sony Animation redeem themselves as a studio. Because now, Sony went from a joke of an animation studio to a studio that's about to take Disney's crown for Best Animation Studio (but the crown truly goes to Ghibli). Disney should do what Studio Ghibli and Sony Animation did by making more compelling character arcs *(whether the characters are in love or not),* and learning from their mistakes to make better animated movies.

In my opinion, (whilst I do love a good romance, and am not a fan of the “girl bossing 100% all the time”) I think Disney’s protagonists are missing not a love interest specifically but someone close to share their innermost wants, dreams, desires, emotions, etc, that side of them that they really can’t share with any other character. Wether that be a best friend, sibling, or love interest they need someone they can casually be vulnerable with

I'm someone who isn't super interested in romance in stories, but that doesn't mean I hate it or complain about it. Hpwever there are some romance that aren't done well that makes some people hate it. But if a romance is genuinely well-written, then it can catch the attention of audience and make them love it. I think the problem, for me, with romance nowadays is how unequal the footing is for the characters. Take Anna and Kristoff, in Frozen 2, Kristoff wasn't as involved and had no real rold other than being the love interest who wants to marry Anna. I was sad and disappointed that they put him down like that and wished he had a better role other than being JUST the love interest. Actually, that's another problem. Making one of them just the love ingerest, nothing else. Personally, I hate it when love stories have one of them be ONLY the love interest and no other character trait. I don't know if people feel the same way, but I hate that kind of writing. If there is romance, I want BOTH of them to contribute and have a HEALTHY relationship inside and outside their own.

I wish "Frozen" would´ve a) followed more the original fairytale and b) followed the original ideas the team had. Imagine a villain Elsa, imagine Anna who has to save her brother (like in the orignal fairytale the protagonist Gerda had to save her best friend Kai from the Snow Queen). Imagine Hans not being a villain. Like the movie tried so hard with Hans not being the love interest bc "you can´t just marry a man you just met" but at the same time push the "love at first (or second) sight" with Kristoff. It would´ve been so much better if Hans kissed Anna and didn´t break the curse bc hey just met, but that he still cares for her. It would´ve shown "well you might not immediately be in love since you just met, but after a few months of spending time together it COULD bloom into sth romantic"

Saying this as a hopeless romantic I agree not every story needs romance and sometimes romance is sticked where it doesn’t belong but to say romance in general diminishes a story is just untrue. It can create great characters work and development if done well. Beauty and the Beast and Tangled are examples from Disney where it’s done well. And Wish missed a lot of potential cutting the Starboy love interest.

I honestly hate love songs and love stories, but Disney one’s just hit different because of how adorable they are.

If the folks Disney watched even one movie by Hayao Miyazaki, they would know that writing strong independent women in romantic relationships is possible! (I say this because they literally had the license for most of his movies for several years. Did no one even watch them??)

Great commentary! I think The Princess and the Frog is also a good example of a strong female protagonist with a love story done right. Both Tiana and Naveen have character arcs like Rapunzel and Eugene. The message of that movie, that what you want is not the same as what you need, is something I don't think modern Disney would do.

One of the most memorable and seriously quirky, but adorable Disney couple I remember so well, is Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler from Treasure Planet. It’s such a rare and unique pairing for me to see back in the day. Two aliens of different species. Amelia is obviously intelligent, cunning, effective. But with a strict and good moral compass. While Doppler is also smart and intelligent, but he comes off as a bumbling dork in a good way. And if you watch the movie as it goes on, you can actual see physical evidence of Amelia falling a bit in love every time Doppler does something. It seemed so unlikely that these two would end up together, but they did. And it worked so well! One of the reasons why I also love Milo and Kida. While romance for these couples are of course exaggerated for the sake of fiction. They both feel so mature about it, while balancing out with humour. It didn’t feel like the ‘cutesey dorky comedic’ trope I’ve seen all the time with Disney couples these days. They feel a bit more real and fleshed out.

say what you will about sleeping beauty but depicting Snow White as just a damsel in distress is debatable. Considerings he survives assassination attempts and wonder in the woods on her own. the prince barely had any screen time.

I found it so unfair how people think Love = weakness, EVERYBODY knows that loving the right person makes you the strongest and most independent, I'm sick of the narrative that men and women are an "obstacle" to eachother, even if we were to get queer relationships, love should ALWAYS be glorified and celebrated, love is beautiful ❤

That’s one of the reasons I liked Elemental so much - Disney and other animation studios have shied away from romance so much that Pixar finally said “fine, WE’LL do it”

I'm sure they could get more audiences making a romantic movie. I say this cause the only reason I watched elemental was because of the romance. Seeing not only two characters come together really engaging, but seeing them develop together is so heartwarming. I miss Disney couples.

its simple. Authentic love is a natural part of human existence when its executed right...and when both partners are written equally with a desire to love each other.

I'll never forgive them for taking Starboy from us

Why is Disney force feeding us what they say we "should" want and not what we actually want?? I miss Classic Disney 😥

Meanwhile Pixar made a movie focused on romance - Elemental - for the first time (that is not just a B plot, like in cars, for example) and it was a huge success. It did not make them feel weak and it was important for the plot that they fell in love. It doesn't make sense for Disney to throw those plots in the garbage as if romance was bad. And whilst it would be horrible if Encanto had a romantic plot line for Mirabel (because it doesn't make sense and would add nothing to the story), there are movies like wish that you can clearly see could be so much better and would make sense with a love interest.

Can we stop labeling Snowhite, Cinderella and Aurora as "some helpless damsels" They're between the ages of 14-17, for god sake and all alone in the world and two of their only family are an abusive household WHO WANTS TO KILL THEM!!! Im tired of hearing this about them because not everyone needs to be this badass feminist who "doesn't need a man" and hates anything feminine just to be strong. By saying that it implies that people can only be strong if they're manly or a man and completely contridicts the "I don't need a man to rescue me" line. As a very feminine gay boy I held these three really close to me because they taught me that you need to use both your femininity and masculinity to be strong like Mulan did. So hearing people duking them because their more femme than other princesses makes me dissapointed in society because they didn't even watch these characters right. Instead of just crying and "waiting to be rescued" for the whole movie like alot of people say they gain the trust from animals and people around them with their kindness and work for what they want in life. Cinderella and Aurora even playfully sasses their family, Snowhite jokes with the dwarfs. Even when people say "people just give them everything" thats not true. The dwarves don't just let snowhite live in the cottage with them because "she's pretty". That might be the case but she also earns it by cleaning and helping the dwarves improve themselves. She as well as Cinderella asserts themselves and won't give up helping people around them because they care and are genuinely good people. And most of them never even mention the prince besides two songs, Two Songs and a wish then the rest of the movie it's survival. Snowhite wants to belong somewhere, Cinderella wants a break from work, Sleeping beauty wants a prince but that's okay. It's okay to long for love. Love doesn't make you weak. Not to mention the Princess (the "strong male characters") aren't even really a character besides Phillip. Even then, they more represent the reward and good things you'll get in life if you're not an asshole like the step family or the evil fairy and queen. Even the kiss scene (what most people go to immediately) isn't some allegory that "girls need a man to save them" but sometimes you just can't always do everything yourself, and you need to learn that it's okay to ask for help in life. Especially in the case of Snow and Aurora BECAUSE THEY'RE IN A FLIPPIN COMA!!! If they were written how people say they "needed to be written" Snowhite would've died by the huntsman because she's so bratty, or was kicked out by the dwarfs because she just waltzed in. Cinderella would've been left on the streets because of her attitude and was rightfully punished from the ball. And sleeping beauty and snowhite WOULD HAVE STILL BEEN IN A COMA!! Even if you don't see them the way I do people need to stop being so negative and looking for trouble everywhere. It's victim blaming not pointing out "helpless female characters".

if disney is so afraid of love story because they think people will see it as damsel in distress type then they should take a page out of dreamworks. Their love storie are not center pieces but just add up to relationships and charachters, the protagonist still does their thing but are supported by their love interest. Megamind, shrek, puss in boots, madagascar etc. people still love romance stories if you write them good and wish could have been such a good movie

Snow Withe wasn't that helpless before she was in a magical coma for a hole year

Tiana and Naveen are one of my favorite couples in all of media, it's because they're both flawed characters who teach each other in the process of falling in love, and ultimately become fuller, better people for it. Tiana is a workaholic, has isolated herself from most of her friends, and thinks that it's all meaningless unless she gets the restaurant her father always wanted. Naveen is a spoiled, hedonistic, lazy man who only wants to marry so he can have enough money to maintain his very self centered lifestyle. Tiana teaches Naveen the importance of diligence and self reliance. He learns that all of the frivolity and hedonism is meaningless next to commitment, love, and family. Naveen teaches Tiana to relax and enjoy life, and that your dream doesn't always come true the exact way you expected. She learns what's the most important of all, love. I think we as a society have a slightly warped view of what love IS. It's not just this fluffy feeling in your chest or being physically attracted to someone. Love is a choice you make. Every day you choose to love someone and put their needs above your own. It's compromise. It's caring for the other person as if you are one body. It's self sacrifice. It's commitment. It's humility. It's not always going to come naturally, that's why you CHOOSE it. You choose it because it is right, and it actively makes you a BETTER person by doing the right, yet more difficult thing. But when every character is perfect from the beginning, then there's no room to grow. Moana's biggest character flaw is that she can't be herself because of her responsibilities. Elsa's biggest hurdle is that she's too awesome and the world can't handle it. Asha isn't ever portrayed to be in the wrong in her movie. This doesn't NECESSARILY make a character bad, (I adore Moana, though the other two I find horribly boring) But their character flaws/challenges don't require them to become better people, they rely on changing the world to fit THEM. (This is also a thing in the earliest Disney movies, Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White are very simple characters that don't have flaws, but notice they're actually not really the driving forces of the plot, it's mostly the dwarves, mice, and fairies that make things happen). While older Disney movies do kind of have the trend of perfect female protagonists who don't really have character flaws, they are less Ariel is overly naïve and shortsighted (this character flaw isn't actually addressed very much in the movie because she can't speak). Mulan jumps in way over her head joining the army, and has to use her mind/hard work to stay on pace with her fellow soldiers. Rapunzel is meek and Naïve, but learns to both trust people, and stand up for herself. Anna has straight up abandonment issues and separation anxiety. Belle is very stubborn and closed off to the beast (understandably) and has to humble herself a bit, showing him gratitude for saving her from the wolves and making the first step in making amends. Personally, I want to see more stories that involve couples that are already together. Seeing people fall in love is nice and all, but I want to see what it's like AFTER the fun, celebratory parts are over. What goes into making a relationship work? How do they treat each other when the butterflies are gone and maybe things get a little messy? That kind of love is less exciting, but it's the most beautiful of all because it lasts, and is built on something stronger than our wishy washy emotions.

Princess and the Frog had one of the best romantic love stories, and that was released in 2009. To see how far Disney has fallen since, is just crazy and really sad.

So I have to say something about what we perceive as 'strong' women now a days. Most people love to overlook the fact that kindness, patience, forgiveness and understanding are very good traits to have in -- not just women, but men too -- people overall, especially since these are truly strong traits. People only thing anymore of the physical 'I don't need help' sort of strength, which while some can get away with... it's also very disingenuous. Women are known to be the weaker sex (I can say this as I have the uterus to prove it), so their strengths lean more to their mental acuity, their clever natures, to their willingness to help others. It also pisses me off because the classic Princesses (Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella) all have their different strengths that most would not perceive. Snow White: No matter how many times the Evil Queen sought to kill her, she showed a patience, listened to those around her, and acted accordingly. Aurora (Princess Rose): A naivety that comes from being raised by literal fairies, but she grows up quick once she sees Prince Philip, and learns what love is. Aurora I think is my favorite character because this shows young girls how to grow up without losing certain traits from being a girl. She gets cursed yes, but it was a compulsion spell that made her, not her own will. Take that into acocunt. Cinderella: .... No matter what her step-family threw at her in a home her own father had built, she did not yell, kick, scream, demean, or do anything against them until very late in the movie, when she was locked away. Yeah they treated her like shit, but she took it in stride, and was, for the most part just waiting to find a way to leave the home without doing anything drastic. It was her step-mother destroying her chances to go to the ball that really set their downfall in motion, the break-down of everything. Her jealousy as well as that of the step daughters. Hubris, if you will. And in the live action remake? She didn't even tell them to go fuck themselves like I would have. She said 'I forgive you'. And that makes her a much stronger person than me, because I hold grudges worse than a fairy. Even Ariel and Belle can be considered 'damsels'. They aren't though because while they don't actively fight, it's more obvious where their strengths are compared to the classic princesses. Love stories... Well. We all know how much Wish failed. That is all.

Disney's problem is they're chasing temporary popularity instead of trying for something timeless. And what frustrates me is they can still get it right (Encanto proved that much), but it's feeling more like one or two people desperately trying to keep the others in check.

Something I wish people would understand is that it’s not about needing, it’s about wanting. I don’t need a man, that’s true, but I want one.

The problem with Disney is that they became lazy.Nowdays I feel like they want the protagonist to be in a certain way only. For exemple, in Frozen, Anna and Elsa had a great character development I think. Anna found the love she wanted, became Queen of her country, saved her country and Elsa finally found herself in the end. Another great exemple is Moana. She didn't have any love story but she showed us how she followed her dreams and saved her poeple thanks to it. But in Wish, Asha or whatever her name is, doesn't have a personality and acts like an impatient brat all along. Even my 7 years old niece hated it because the movie's story was confusing. Disney needs to go back like they were before and show us movies with beatyful stories. They showed us many times that a person doesn't NEED a lover to depend on but that there is nothing wrong with finding it because love can be beautiful of you WANT to find it, and that's what allows a protagonist to have their own personality and character development. So instead of shaming love stories, they better learn how to write an original story again.

Modern Disney doesn't know what love is. I'd argue that 90s Disney knew what love was more than modern Disney

Disney is criticised when they're telling love stories, they're criticised when they're not telling love stories... If I were them I wouldn't know what to do either.

People need to learn that love doesn’t make you weak. I have an idea for a happier version of Romeo & Juliet they can do!

My answer before the video starts: Because a surprisingly high number of Millenials who grew up with Disney in the 90s kept going on and on about how tired they were of traditional Disney romance stories in the 2010's. For some reason, Disney hasn't got its head around the fact that trends happen and things go in and out of style and perhaps there's a new generation/people who used to think that who now wouldn't mind a proper romance story in Disney here or there again. Edit after I watched the video: Ah, yep, pretty much hit the nail on the head.

No villain songs and No love duetts for years. When Disney tried to make them again for Wish they became a weak villain song and not a love duett. At all cost was ment to be a love song but in the finished movie it was… I don’t know what it is. A wierd duett between the hero and the villain . I don’t understand it. The animatics fans have made with the demo are so good that if you want a Disney love duett then watch them.

2:57 I remember seeing 'Moana' and realizing that the big guy was the protagonist's brother (and not love interest) and thinking, "Well, that's different for a Disney movie!" It didn't occur to me they'd be giving up on love stories permanently!

New Disney Characters on valentines day be like: We will be in our bedrooms, making no noise and pretending we don't exist.

Disney stopped making love stories since frozen and that’s why their movies since frozen has been boring(to me) and not replay worthy . They stopped making love movies to not offend 2 groups of people. The feminists and lgbtq people. The feminist, girl boss will say they don’t need a man to rescue them or help them (even though not all Disney movies before has the men saving them) and the lgbtq will say Disney loves making heteronormative stories and don’t like representing gay stories in their movies. That’s why their new movies have Been flopping eg look at wish. They need to go back to what people have known them as which is that romantic love fantasy stories they’ve been known to do to be successful. People need to stop relating too much on Disney stories cus it’s what ✨FANTASY✨, not real so they won’t get offended with every thing

Men and women compliment one another. We enhance each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses. A woman being in a romantic relationship doesn't make her weak.

I’m so tired of the “Selfless female protagonist” having no love interest. They can’t have both apparently, because loving someone is supposed to be weak? Great lesson Disney.

I honestly don't know what annoys me more, that people now believes that love/romance is bad and hate is good or that we are forced to relate to unlikable characters based on their appearances. My personal theory is the reason why Disney is hates love stories and songs now is because of Buzzfeed. I think it's unfair to reject a good story that has romance elements for the sake of modern media. As someone who is a single bi, listening to love songs not only helps me grow, but also makes me feel something that's good inside... Nice take on this video!❤😊

Disney forgot about the Power Couple trope when they started saying "if a woman loves a man and cares about him she's not independent enough". Yeah.. okay. Some couples are stronger, better, more successful TOGETHER rather than APART. Probably my all time favorite Power Couples are Gomez and Morticia Addams, Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible, and (hear me out guys) the Spy Kids' parents. I can't remember their names but they were badass in all films. Anyway, the closest Disney ever got to a Power Couple dynamic I can think of was in Mulan. But even then it wasn't explored or fleshed out. (The second film doesn't count because that had a dumb plotline.)

I was 6 years old when "The Little Mermaid" came out in theaters. I was 14, nearly 15 when "Tarzan" came out. I was a child/pre-teen/early teen throughout the Disney Renaissance. Hit after hit. It was a great time to be a kid. The list goes from the beginning of the renaissance through the end of the 90s: The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan. You can count Fantasia 2000, but that was mid-December 1999. You also had Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2 from Pixar. The Disney television animation studio did A Goofy Movie. You had amazing live action children's films like Air Bud, Homeward Bound, The Mighty Ducks, Honey I Shrunk the Kids. So many really good movies. The animated movies, kids still enjoy. I love the love stories. I'm not a kid anymore, so I don't need Disney to provide movies for me, but I like the dated gender roles because it's based on biology. Women actually like men protecting them. Men like being heroes. Cinderella isn't a damsel in distress rescued by the prince. Technically, the Fairy Godmother and mice helped her more than the prince. Sleeping Beauty, there's no choice in the fairy tale. She needs the prince. Snow White is also one who needs the prince. But if you look at those three characters, they aren't helpless. Snow White, once she finds the dwarfs' cottage, settles into a new lifestyle without much complaint about her old one. She doesn't demand that her stepmother be brought to justice, she doesn't cry over her situation every day, she rolls up her sleeves and helps the dwarfs. Cinderella has a terrible situation, but the love she has for her dead father motivates her to keep pushing forward in life including caring for the house she grew up in and helping the animals. She does get upset about not being able to go to the ball, but she never expected to dance with the prince. She just wanted to have a night of escape. Her goodness is rewarded by the Fairy Godmother. She doesn't even realize she has been dancing with the prince. He's too stupid to even tell the Grand Duke what she looks like (serious plot hole; most adaptations make it a masquerade for a reason). He doesn't even take the shoe around himself (a lot of versions, he does). She is even the one who pulls out that second slipper after the stepmother tried to sabotage her (not to mention she got the help from her friends). Aurora was also shown to have a personality. She knew the fairies were planning a party for her, so she made sure to be out so as to ruin the surprise. That's mature and kind. She doesn't know the prince is one she dances with. Yeah, she's barely in the movie. Fair, but she's barely in the fairy tale. That is a fairy tale driven by the prince. That's the nature of Sleeping Beauty. It's more the prince's role than hers. Even though he barely talks in the movie, he's the most classic Disney prince and a stand-up guy. He told his father he wasn't marrying the princess because he fell in love with the peasant girl and kept his promise to go back to her. He had to face a gigantic dragon to rescue her. He was chained up at one point. I'm a big fan of Prince Phillip. Not to mention that is beautifully animated piece of art. It's such a gorgeous movie. Disney needs to look at traditional storytelling and quit worrying about the perpetually online judges. You please the audience. They aren't the audience. Most are bitter people with bitter hearts who hate happiness. The traditional stories are adventure stories and heterosexual love stories. Even better if you can marry those types of stories. Tarzan is an excellent example of being able to do that since it does have a love story in the books. Disney nearly flawlessly took that first book and did a phenomenal job of adapting it and updating it by fixing some...questionable parts (it was a book of its time period; I still like the book, I hope to one day read all of them, but I only have the first book, the second book, and the fifth book). I was especially surprised with their television animated series called "The Legend of Tarzan." I used to record it off television every day while I was in high school and watch it later. They brought in so much lore from the book series including Opar. It was amazing. Nearly every character in that series was from the books (I may not have all the books, but I've read some online for free). Anyway, they could do better, but they listen to the wrong people. They are creatively bankrupt and pushed talent out the door (John Lasseter) because they listened to the wrong people. If a competing studio was smart, they would make a traditional Disney-style princess movie with a love story. Don Bluth for Fox did their first animated movie, Anastasia. Very Disney-like movie. That's why it was successful (it was also a 90s animated movie). Don Bluth owned 80s animation, and he did try a Disney fairy tale romance from his studio in the mid-90s as well (Thumbelina). Good movie, not great. Same voice actress for Thumbelina did Ariel's voice, which is interesting. Another studio in the 90s did the Swan Princess, again, a Disney-type animated romance. Everyone wanted to be Disney back then. Then, Dreamworks did Shrek to kind of poke fun at Disney, but they did a romance too.

Everyone seems to be allergic to telling love stories. The whole subject has become ringed around with paranoia and hair-trigger extremes. Any "love story" you see now is really about one person and their anxieties, not two people falling in love. Hell, the whole concept of "falling in love" has become anathema - how could you possibly "fall in love" without knowing every single detail of the other person's life and psyche and having it match YOUR expectations exactly? And "falling in love" quickly??? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE OMG !!!111!!!!! The whole thing has gotten ridiculous. Who even WANTS to hear a love story under such silly and self-sabotaging restraints? Jeez, how did the younger generation become so timid and fearful and Victorian? It's depressing beyond belief.

Honestly, I think in part is because the traditional Disney love story was essentially perfected with "Tangled". I'm not even joking there. "Tangled" is hands down the best love story in the entire Disney canon. Not even "Beauty and the Beast" comes even close, and that's not a dig against it. Is just that "Tangled" is THAT good of a love story. Probably they saw that there was no way in hell they'd ever be able to top that one, so they decided to not bother and explore new territories. (OK, maybe I'm joking in this last part lol)

Princesses not needing a love to do their thing is cool, but like you said, you can have a daring and courageous woman AND a man by her side. They should just have a balance instead of killing it. This is what we know Disney for (also songs), there was no reason to stop.

It's like they think you can't want to be in a happy relationship AND want other things at the same time. Who said we had to sacrifice love to achieve the things we want? Tangled, Princess and the frog and the original Frozen show that you don't need to abandon things to find love. It's sad we haven't had a movie like that for a LONG time.

I think it has to do with our current political climate. Romance in general is at war with current culture because I feel nobody knows romance anymore. Rom Coms struggled in the 2010s for example. There’s a bit of a resurgence now, but it’s nowhere near the 90s and early 2000s. I also think that whether you agree or disagree with issues about different kinds of love besides a man and woman, that has also played a role in why romance films have declined. I’m not going into the political and religious implications because WWIII will begin but no one can deny the fact that has played a role in popular culture.

Great video. I at first appreciated the lack of romance in newer Disney movies (being asexual/aromantic myself), but I do think Disney's animated movies would be better now if they at least had some romance. I think for example Tangled (as you bring up) is quite perfect and that is one movie with a lot of romance that I still related a lot to because both Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene was such great characters that both had their own arc in the story and because it delivered on so many other points (great villain, great songs, interesting story, beautiful animation). And with Dreamworks they had Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish that focused on so many other things more than the romance, but still had an interesting love story as a part of everything and that movie is brilliant in every way. I think those movies was part of showing me that while it can be interesting enough to have some movies that don't focus on romance at all or in a really small extent (Encanto as a great example) and I do appreciate how some characters have no romance focus (I will be disappointed if Elsa gets a romance in Frozen 3, because I've always read her as ace like me), I also really love a romance when the characters has enough agency to be interesting in themselves, not just as the love object, and when the movie also deliveres on having a great story, brilliant music, wonderful animation so that romance is one reason the movie is great and not the only reason. I also think this video also made it clear for me that the lack of romance-trend in newer Disney movies is part of a bigger issue and that is lack of character agency. Because Encanto was an exception, but most of Disney's newer animated movies haven't really been that good and while that isn't necessarily because they've lacked romance, I also think having a love story would have helped the movie in having an agency because it gives a character something to fight for. With Asha in Wish she was so boring because what she sings of in her "I Want"-song is "wanting something more for us than this", not defining specifically what that something is. As we learn from my favorite musical Into the Woods, a very important part of making a story brilliant is making characters that all have something they wish for, something that's that one thing they want more than anything and I think the lack of romance is one of many reasons why newer Disney movies seem generic and uninteresting, because that specific thing a character want more than anything isn't established, so the character is just a character and therefore forgettable.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate how they’re *attempting* to make a point that people don’t NEED romantic relationships to be whole or happy. And that family and friends are just as important, if not more so. BUT… I love *love*. The fact Disney robbed us of Starboy and Asha hurts me on a deeper level than I expected it would. Why, Disney? Why? 😭💔

It’s great seeing Disney princesses who don’t need men but I miss the stories when the prince would risk it all to be there for her and save her at the end. Just because a woman is a damsel in distress doesn’t mean she is any less powerful and independent. Sometimes we all get in trouble and need help

Let's not mince words. They WERE talented before. However, they have regressed SO FAR that they can't even animate a damn horse when EUDWEARD MUYBRIDGE IS RIGHT THERE AS A REFERENCE. They can't write actual villains, they can't write actual heroes, and they can't push the medium. All they know is the basics. This is worse than the "Dark Ages" of the company. It's now the "Remedial Age" of Disney. Also, you forgot Roger Rabbit as the means to get to the Disney Renaissance.

Disney used to be a place for magic and dreams, recently it feels like they’re leaning towards realism more than ever with their attempt to have the audience relate and see themselves in their movies, and then stick a happy ending at the end cuz why not. It’s not bad to want to connect with the audience, but to emphasize it so much that you lose the story and the magic therein? Not worth it in my humblest opinion.

I think people impacted disney in a way that shut out the magic of story telling and the whismical love story book feel it used to have, but i guess the complained 😮‍💨

then we have Puss In Boots: The Last Wish where it had SO MUCH happening but it was all so good IN ONE MOVIE 😭

Disney went downhill since they started remaking everything from our childhood. Regardless if they have romance or not, MAKE A BETTER LIKEABLE STORY INSTEAD OF POLITICS

Society as a whole has shunned relationships in general, specifically relationships (to include friends and romance) with men. It might not sell at the box office, but it sure as hell is selling in real life. Statistics are getting worse and worse for relationships every year, there’s really no point in even trying anymore. Society is pushing for a relationshipless age, so be it if it kills off humanity.

Love stories are kind of a staple of Disney films. Disney kind of shed off a portion of it’s identity by no longer making love stories.

I think it's because Disney made too many love stories so they're trying to do something different even though they could give a more contemporary love story like rom coms do or like they did with Tangled. However, I'd like to see a gay or lesbian love story done properly by Disney though. I doubt it'll happen but you all get the point....

I think it is the same problem as with female heroes in Marvel. They do all the wrong conclusions. What people want is intresting, diverse and fun stories, for characters to be alive and relatable, but Disney only tries to find a "matrix" of a new character and copypast it to every movie.

I fucking HATE cancel culture

Let’s go back to having Disney couples by making Nick and Judy an official Disney couple in their sequel!

As a romance-enjoyer, I've grown so damn tired of the way people put down and scorn romance stories. ROMANCE IS PLOT! ROMANCE REQUIRES DEEP CHARACTER WORK!!! Romance stories are not "lesser" and if your romance deminishes the characters, you wrote a bad romance! It's not a reflection of romance being bad, its a reflection of bad writing!!!

I’m not the romance type person se, but damn if I’m not a sucker for a good romance in my stories. They’re obviously not necessary for everything, but they’re a *vital* part of the human experience, and in many stories, is often one of the few moments of levity for characters facing hardships and is ultimately enriching from a narrative standpoint, assuming it’s well-written and believable. People are too bitter and cynical and it really shows in a lot of writing.

Because it’s modern day Disney and they are super political it’s not a mystery. In their minds feminism means women don’t need men. That’s why.

Because 100% of all female characters now need to be written as quirky girl bosses who don’t need no man for some reason.

I never thought the day would come where I would miss the days when Disney would make love stories. I blame Bob Iger and the executives for this. Now I have to turn to fanfics and Wattpad stories to fill the void.

I miss the classic romance stories!

I love romance movies so much 😭 I have to watch old romance movies because theres not a lot of good ones nowadays.

I didn't realize it until it was pointed out, but now that you mention it, the last real romantic plot being Tangled is really sad. Because it's absolutely one of the best ones, if not the best one. Both characters are fleshed out and have their times to shine, and it's absolutely a shining example of what should be done, and how most things can work if you just write compelling characters and a good story. It's almost like they realized they peaked with Rapunzel and Flynn and just decided to not even try anymore.

Frozen 2 actually had an outtake duet between Anna and Kristoff and it was really really sweet. In the song, Anna ended up being the one to propose and it felt less in your face than the proposal we got in the movie. I was honestly kinda sad that it didn't make it into the final cut.

Honestly I think there's a bit of a bigger problem. They seem to have forgotten how to write characters and morals in general in a lot of their more recent movies so of course romance seems impossible to them. This is just a hunch, but I have the feeling they might have replaced their talent with younger people with less experience plus the execs probably nitpick out any romance because of all the online complaining people have done regarding the classics. I swear Disney can't even write a simple interesting story anymore nevermind a compelling romance.

People: maybe we can fix this and this… Disney: ERASE ERASE ERASE Disney: yeah, solved, no problem anymore People: -_- O.O x.x

Also, why is Disney's first openly gay romance in an animated movie, Ethan and Diazo from "Strange World," just as downplayed? Diazo is in the film for about 2 minutes and is practically not a character. Roxanne, the love interest from "A Goofy Movie" is, like, a hundred times more developed as a character than Diazo.

I would say Disney did listen to criticism and did create more ''dominant'' female leads with Tangled, Princess and the Frog, and also Frozen. However, because of the new feminist movement, they completely scrapped princesses and love stories altogether after Frozen. For this, I blame stupid ideas and the internet.

Just because you want more love stories, doesn't mean you want only love stories. I get it.

If they insist on focusing on sequels only, they could at least make Encanto 2 and give us a cute love duet between Dolores and Mariano (and flesh out their characters more). I personally liked Wish, I like it as is and I also like all the Star Boy fan content a lot too. But I also like the old princesses and wouldn't mind damsels in distress that have a prince charming or knight in shining armor save them. Fantasy isn't about girlbossing, it's about escapism. When life sucks it's nice to daydream about happily ever afters.

I just wanna comment on the princesses you mentioned being criticized... they were released in the 30s and 50s respectively and their primary character traits were in fact being soft spoken good homemakers and damsels in distress. Their female protagonists are literally products of their outdated time period, and EVEN THEN, we got Cinderella was also released in the 50s and she's not a damsel in distress. The fact that disney changed and evolved their princesses and gave us Ariel, Belle, Jasmine in the 90s is proof that Disney has evolved past this "only make them damsels" mindset. Do they need to be saved by their LIs at some point? SURE, but arguably you could also say that doesn't really apply to Belle, Eric saving Ariel was working off her saving him earlier, and Jasmine and Alladin were working in tandem to take down Jafar until Jafar trapped her in the hourglass. Even still, they had personalities, interests and ideas unique to themselves. They weren't reliant on their man to stand on their own. That being said, it looked like they wanted to bring back the love story with Wish, but cut it... and it just... My main thing is why would you cut the love story but keep the love song?! It doesn't make sense!

Devil's not a fan of love.

If the wish failure show us off….we want Return of hood Disney romances

I do admit that i like that they are not overdoing the romance plots nowdays, in the end if the day there are way more Princess with love interest than single one. I like that Moana, Mirabel and Elsa don't have love interest because their stories don't need them and i like the message that you don't nessesary need to fall in love to be happy or that a female character needs a love interest to help her grow (not that the old Disney Princesses gave that impresion). HOWEVER, i completely agree that a female character falling in love or having a love interest doesn't make her less strong and independent and l would love to see another classic Disney love story, specialy if it is similar to Eugene and Rapunzel, Hercules and Megara or Mulan and Shang. Another thing i want to add in regards of wish since you showed the Star Boy concept: While i do agree with a lot of people that are saying that Star Boy should have been keep in the final movie and i consider that AshaxStarboy is an adorable ship, i don't really think that their romance would have made the movie better. I could be wrong, but the concepts are just that, concepts and ideas that we don't know how if they would have been developed well in the final product and as sad at it sounds, i don't think that Wish reception would have turned out that diferent even if they keep the og concepts.

I really like Snow White as a leader, but I do not like Asha as a character altogether. Snow is kind and patient, especially with Grumpy. She guides them and shows a talent as a leader, but is an opposite to the Evil Queen. EQ is cutthroat, forceful, and iron-willed, but her downfall is her vanity and selfishness. Snow never demands they take the fight to her, she just wants to live on with compassion and love. It's weird that Disney doesn't look back at the traits of their previous princesses for inspiration. They don't seem to examine what makes them work, they just use the general idea of that princess as a template. Asha is quirky and stubborn at the start of her movie, yet we don't have actual context on why her personality is like that. She's just a silly goof because some previous successes were silly goofs. Rapunzel was sheltered and only ever interacted with a person who had no interest in teaching her how to be a person. Anna was also sheltered and grew up lonely, the only person she could bond with isolating herself. Mirabel is a black sheep, emotionally isolated by the matriarch of the Madrigals for something she could never control. Asha... has an interview for a really prestigious job and she lost a parent as a child. She doesn't seem quirky outside of the interview part. Maybe a love story would have forced the plot to explore her actual personality traits.

Its weird but while I have grown to hate Frozen because I don't think it's a good adaptation and most of its songs are blah I still love Tangled.

They didn't always tell love stories to be fair. Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland exist.