Youth Culture Identities- The Princess Stereotype

The Princess Stereotype
By Cody Harvey

Why does society accept stereotypes? I believe that people accept stereotypes because everyone desires to label those around them with already existing readymade identities. It is also because they wish to define themselves as well as everyone else and they feel the need to belong and fit in somewhere. Stereotypes are in every high school around the world and whether someone attempts to deny that stereotypical groups exist in their school, the creation of different groups is bound to happen at some point. One particular stereotype is that of the Princess. The Princess is defined as being a girl who is spoiled by her parents or society by getting everything that she desires when she asks for it. Her parents are either rich or are middle class and she is sometimes, though not always, an only child. The Princess is sometimes judgmental, cruel, and does whatever her friends do or say.

The media views the Princess as having a shallow state of mind who cares too much about her looks, and wears brand name and expensive clothing. She is also portrayed as being a lover of material objects and one that only talks to those who belong within her group. The Urban Dictionary defines the princess as being a girl “that has been pampered, sheltered and spoiled her whole life to the extent that she has no friggin idea about the real world.” The Princess tends to say or do what her friends do. For example in John Hughes’s “The Breakfast Club,” Claire, who is the stereotypical princess figure, tells the others that she does certain things because her friends do the same thing. She is also viewed as a girl who is the popular girl of the school. Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), in High School Musical, loves material things as she states in her song “Fabulous” (please do not ask me how I know this).

The princesses in films are very different from that of the real world. Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) is the first example of the high school princess. She talks with those that were within her group, wears expensive clothing, and is also worried about her public appearance. Claire is shown in the picture below about to eat Sushi in which she bought for lunch.

The appearance of her lunch also looks expensive which implies that her family is rich.

In the film, Mean Girls, Regina, Karen, Gretchen and Cady are also examples of the princess stereotype as they drive expensive cars, wear expensive clothing, and are very judgmental of those that are not within their own standards. Though the girls are different from John Hughes’s interpretation of the princess because the princesses in the film had their own group and their own way of speaking and viewing others that were in their school. In the end, however, each member finds friends within different subgroups that they never thought of joining.

Sharpay, in the film High School Musical I and II, always wants more material things. She is similar to Claire and the Plastics in Mean Girls in that they all desire expensive things like jewelry, perfume, phones, etc. Sharpay, however, is somewhat different as well because she does change her attitude during one of the films and befriends someone who is not within her standards. The picture of Sharpay below expresses her love for expensive and useless items. She wears expensive looking clothing and a tiara and large earrings as well.

Marianne (Amanda Bynes), in the film Easy A, is a different type of princess because she is very religious, but has the attitude and the personality of a princess. She is also judgmental of others and wishes to change everyone different from her into what she wants them to be.

Even though the princesses in the films have certain differences, they all have something in common with each other. Their desire for material objects, attitude towards others, and their desire to have expensive items help each princess to relate to the other. However, the girls portrayed in the films give an example of the princess stereotype, but not all girls fit the readymade identity that is given to the princess. I know that my statement is true because when I was in high school, there were a lot of girls who fit the stereotype of being a princess, but they did not act like the girls portrayed in film or how they are supposed to be defined. Also, I do not even think that I fit in a stereotype either because I am not much of a gamer, or that I do not know a lot about computers or much for that matter. I just try too hard so I am not sure which group I belong to.

Despite the fact that the girls drove nice cars, wore name brand clothing, and dated only with those within their group, they were not mean, at least to me, and they were very smart individuals as well as being helpful to other people. I tried to deny the existence of the stereotypical groups at my school, but I knew that each person belonged in a particular category. I have a belief that the system of the stereotype is flawed because the labels that are given to people may not fully reflect who they really are. Also, I know several girls who were princesses during high school that had jobs because they wanted to be independent instead of getting money from their parents. For this reason, I also believe that the system of the stereotype is a very flawed system indeed. As in The Breakfast Club, each individual discovers that they are not what everyone believes them to be. In other words, the Princess is only a label that does not apply to every girl in the world that drives expensive cars, or wears brand name clothing, etc. Even though everyone thinks that they belong to a certain group, I believe that everyone is equal regardless of what clothes they wear or who they hang out with, or their likes or dislikes, etc.

Works Cited

Georgia. allthetests.com. “High School Musical.” “Sharpay Evans.” 2010. Web. 20 April 2011. Google Images. “Easy A.” “Marianne.” 2010. Web. 20 April 2011. Lombardi, Allie. Hoffman, Savanna. Cown, Jordan. Mahara.org. “The Breakfast Club: Acceptance.” “Breakfast Club- Claire Standish.” 25 May 2010. Web. 20 April 2011. Madison. unrealitymag.com“10 Movies I thought would suck but turned out to be pretty good (1999-2009).” 10 May 2010. Web. 20 April 2011. Urban Dictionary. www.urbandictionary.com. “The Princess.” 1999-2011. Web. 14 April 2011.