Artist Creates Disney Fan Art Featuring Princesses As Mothers, But Moms Aren't Happy With The Representation
An artist reimagined some of the classic Disney princesses as mothers, featuring the likes of Belle, Mulan, and Ariel as new moms. But the backlash indicates that many mothers are unhappy with the negative representation of bringing a baby into the world.
If you were a loyal Disney fan growing up, you probably watched your fair share of Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Mulan. As little girls, we were enamored with these classic stories of loss, triumph, and victory. An artist decided to reimagine what life would look like for these Disney princesses if they became mothers (as someone else did in 2020, but in the opposite way). It didn't go over so well with many moms online.
Artist Creates Disney Fan Art Featuring Princesses as Mothers, but Moms Aren't Happy with the Representation
Artist Anna Belenkiy is an illustrator who decided to tell the tale of classic Disney princesses after they became mothers. She drew pictures of Belle, Mulan, Ariel, Jasmine, and more during pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood. But many people who look through these pictures can't help but notice that her illustrations only depict the negative, even dark side of motherhood.
In one picture, Ariel from The Little Mermaid is pregnant, kneeling over a toilet, and vomiting. Prince Eric is standing beside her with a huge grin on his face, giving a thumbs up while she looks miserable, complete with green puke on her hair and all over the toilet bowl.
Tiana from The Princess and the Frog is featured in another illustration in which she's trying to put on a pair of yellow pants over her pregnant belly but is struggling to close the button. Her facial expression is one of anger and frustration.
The artist also shared an illustration of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, who is pregnant and gorging herself on a bucket of KFC, a burger, and fries. She appears miserable and the photo appears to be glorifying binge eating and goblin-mode like behavior.
There are more illustrations of the princesses as mothers. Anna draws a picture of Ariel holding her infant; she's in tears as she looks down at her baby with sadness. "The illustration representing the postpartum anxiety and depression," she writes in the caption. "Being a fresh mommy for me involves tones of anxiety, fearful nightmares and constant care about my tiny baby boy [sic]. This post dedicated to all the amazing and strong woman around the world whom suffering from postpartum anxiety and depression."
There are similar illustrations that feature Jasmine, Mulan, and Belle crying as they hold their babies.
While Anna is drawing these illustrations to represent some of the struggles she has faced in her own pregnancy and motherhood journey, many moms can't help but notice that all of the depictions of motherhood are negative. Instagram account Fembible shared the illustrations and many of the comments pointed out how unhappy all the princesses looked.
"why are they all crying though," someone commented.
"Why are we mothers depicted as having KFC on the sofa? That’s fine if you want to do that but it feels odd," a user said.
"Thanks I hate it. Clearly this artist doesn't see positives in motherhood," another person wrote.
"This is a terrible and tunnel vision rendition of motherhood clearly made again to discourage from the nuclear family," someone else wrote.
Some of the comments defended the artist and reminded the users that this is her expression of motherhood, but most of the responses expressed disappointment with how negatively pregnancy and motherhood are displayed on social media.