On Tuesday, Keira Knightley appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show to promote her upcoming Disney movie The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. But while Knightley said that there are certain Disney movies that she loves—including Moana, Frozen, and Finding Dory—there are two classic films that her 3-year-old daughter, Edie Knightley Righton, is banned from watching.
“Cinderella, banned,” she said. “Because she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don’t! Rescue yourself. Obviously! And this is the one that I’m quite annoyed about because I really like the film, but Little Mermaid [is banned, too]. I mean, the songs are great, but do not give your voice up for a man. Hello?! But the problem with The Little Mermaid is I love The Little Mermaid! That one’s a little tricky—but I’m keeping to it.”
Interestingly enough, Kristen Bell happened to give a separate interview in the same week on another popular Disney movie, Snow White, though her focus was more on the fairytale itself and the way she uses it to discuss consent with her young daughters, Delta and Lincoln. Bell said that every time she reads the fairytale, she turns to her daughters and says, “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you can not kiss someone if they’re sleeping!”
The different parenting approaches of these two celebrities has sparked a debate online on whether it’s better to censor your children from the anti-feminist themes of these movies or to use them as a platform to discuss these topics.
Some sided with Knightley, arguing that some of these princess stories can give little girls the wrong idea about how to navigate relationships as adults.
Snow White is too passive, waiting for a man to save her. Yep, I agree with the points on strangers and consent as well. Different era…
— Lily Mills (@LilyMKE) October 17, 2018
Whereas others sided with Bell, saying it’s much more productive to use these fairytales as a way of discussing complicated topics in a way that children can understand, and to focus on the personality traits that are worth emulating.
I think it’s more important to talk to your kids about it. Explain why certain aspects of the story is problematic. Cinderella is actually a very strong woman. She was abused and Ariel wanted to become human for a long time before meeting Eric. She fulfilled her dream.
— Emma Maria
