Hello critters!Took a quiz the other day. Based on the name, was it a character from a Shakespeare play or a Disney Channel movie ? One of the questions was on Princess Protection Program and that made me want to give it a rewatch. Which I did. And you know what? I did enjoy it. Reminded me of my obsession with that network as a teen and how I wouldn't have missed the premiere for a new DCOM for the world, including this one. But as an adult, the feeling is obviously different and less wide-eyed with the pretty dresses and fanciful plot twists.
Starring Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato as the two leads, this Original Movie is peak late 2000s-early 2010s golden age of Disney Channel. Lovato’s Princess Rosalinda is forced into a protection program after her beloved small country gets attacked by a megalomaniac military man. For her safety, she will stay with Major Mason in Louisiana. Gomez’s tomboy-ish Carter, the major’s daughter, has no choice but to welcome the princess into her house and life. As one would expect, both girls don’t see eye to eye at first because of their wildly different backgrounds and prejudices. But through trial and error, they learn to trust each other, open up to each other, and have each other’s back. Carter even comes up with a plan to save Rosie when the situation gets “dire”. By the end of the movie, the two girls have now learned the true meaning of friendship and duty. It is heartwarming and colourful, a bit cliché (as is everything Disney) and has a good old-fashioned moral lesson about doing the right thing.
But it’s not all ruffles and cotton candy. Here are some thoughts.
Just as Rosalinda is rehearsing her coronation ceremony, enemies of her country stage a coup d’état, forcing her to leave her castle, her mother and her whole life behind. She’s then taken to a remote location by Major Mason, who just saved her from being taken prisoner, where she gets inducted into the Princess Protection Program. For her own safety, she will be “transformed” into a normal teenage girl and placed into a safe environment where she will lay low and remain out of harm’s way.
Problem is, she doesn’t get ANY sort of orientation about what typical teenage American girls do and how they behave prior to being released into the wild. No training on regular food, usual sayings or the do’s and don'ts of high school. No preparation on how to take care of herself now that she’s not gonna have staff at the ready. Rosie has impeccable manners but poor social skills in terms of interacting with other teens. It’s no wonder she looks like a fish out of water when she gets to Louisiana and has to adapt to a whole new way of life that she has no idea how to navigate.
It doesn’t help either that Carter is kind of a jerk to her in the beginning. Bait Girl, as she’s nicknamed, is so prejudiced against what she thinks princesses are that she acts hostile and annoyed at first. She doesn’t make any effort to teach Rosie the basics of Typical Teenage Girl 101 yet expects her to pretend to be “normal” just like that. (Perhaps she expected her dad’s boss to give Rosie a rundown on the topic before sending her off?) Instead of guiding her through what is acceptable and what isn’t for a regular teenager prior to attending high school, Carter leaves Rosie to her own devices and then complains that she’s embarrassed because of her cousin’s (or so they tell people) behaviour. I got news for you baby girl, if you don’t teach a woman to fish first, how do you expect her to catch one? If you don’t show her how to hit a ball, she’s bound to miss the target and fail.
I think we’re meant to feel bad for Carter because Rosie is so different and any teen would die of embarrassment if so much unwanted attention was drawn onto them, but honestly I feel bad for Rosie who is simply trying to figure out what the hell is going on and how the fuck she is supposed to blend in. But frankly, I blame the PPP for failing to properly educate Princess Rosalinda before transforming her into Rosie. And Major Mason a bit too, he had plenty of time on the way home from HQ to give his protégée a crash course on acting like a commoner.
One of the main plot points of the movie is the homecoming queen election. In one corner, you have the pretty girly mean and controlling queen bee who has her eye on the prize and will not let anybody take it away from her. In the other, you have basically everybody else. But it becomes an event that drives the girls closer together through getting nominated, shopping for cute dresses and giving back to the community. Rosie was taught nothing else but to be a role model for her people. It's nice to see her thrive as she shows Carter the real meaning of being a princess. At the end of the day, good actions triumph over spiteful arrogance.
Once the girls finally open up about their struggles to each other and understand better where they’re both coming from (mainly through the whole homecoming princesses process), they’re in a good place to learn from each other and become better versions of themselves. More selfless and less judgemental for Carter, more down-to-earth and less naïve for Rosie. Their friendship gets to blossom into a bond of sisterhood and trust that is beautiful and so important for girls of any age. Female friendships often get downplayed as frivolous and easily replaceable but Carter and Rosie show that it is essential to one’s growth as a person to know that a peer unconditionally has your back. It helps relieve some of that anxiety that we can feel when we’re not sure we’ll still be liked when we fail or act foolish. It’s important to know you have someone who knows you and accepts you for who you are, someone who will show up for you even in the darkest times. In this movie the darkest time is a failed (and kinda pathetic) kidnapping so it remains pretty light, but my point stands since both Carter and Rosie show up to protect the other. That’s the power of friendship.
Cupcakes and tiaras 🧁
Nicky 🦊
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