Monday, June 21, 2010

Not How it Happens in the Storybooks

I watched this wonderful episode of Sesame Street with Lana this morning, and it reminded me of our Post About Disney Princesses from back in March.

Here's what happens: Abby, Rosita, and a penguin are playing princess.  Paul Rudd plays a handsome prince. More specifically, he plays the handsome prince, the one from all the fairy tales. And he keeps showing up when the princesses are in trouble, determined to save them. 


But alas, our poor prince is foiled again and again; not by the evil schemes of a fairy tale villain, but--goodness gracious--by the resourcefulness of the very princesses he is trying to save! When Penguin gets stuck up on a balcony, he cries "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair!" And then Abby points out that Penguin doesn't have any hair. While the prince stands there, flummoxed by his failure, Abby flies up and rescues the penguin herself. 

The scenario repeats when the penguin has lost her ice skate, and again when she has skated so enthusiastically that she's flung herself into a mailbox and gotten stuck. Each time the prince shows up, ready to save the day; and each time he discovers, to his chagrin, that the princesses are perfectly capable of saving themselves.

I've included the clip I found on YouTube (which I hope isn't violating any copyrights... but if YouTube hasn't had to take it down, then it should be okay, right?). It's about ten minutes long, and if nothing else, you should watch it for Paul Rudd's amazing performance.




As much as I adore Paul Rudd as a foppish, conceited young prince, I love the moral of the story even better: That girls can take care of themselves, and don't need to be rescued by princes every time something goes wrong. And I really love that at the end of the episode, they talk the prince into playing football with them. Yay for Sesame Street, and a lovely message for little princesses everywhere.

5 comments:

Lin said...

Sesame Street continues to do amazing things. Paul Rudd is a fantastic prince....especially the fake horse riding. Love the clip and love the moral.

Meg said...

Um, I love this post so much. I saw it in the queue and had to watch the clip immediately. Paul Rudd kissing the penguin's feet makes me intensely happy.

Also, this reminds me of The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. My favorite line: "You look like a prince, but you are a bum." One of my favorite children's books.

Melissa said...

Thank you so much for this! "Probably a one time thing...oh well. I gotta take off. Ladies, I've had a blast." lol Paul Rudd was awesome and the moral of the story is awesome. I was happy to hear that FINALLY pixar is working on a movie with a female protagonist. Shannon Hale wrote a post on her blog called "Girls aren't funny and other life lessons" in March and this clip reminded me a lot of the "life lessons" she talks about!

mkgs said...

Megan, the scene with the feet just kills me. Paul Rudd is wonderful.

Melissa, we read that article and loved it! I think we talked about it in the post I linked to. And while we're on the subject, Shannon Hale is a fabulous role model for girls. I actually like her YA books much, much better than her adult stuff.

Anonymous said...

I LOVED this! Great post!