I held a poll recently that revealed people liked to read articles that were either countdowns or articles about DP characters who were NOT the princess. To satisfy these requests, I decided to make this (sort of) countdown about the DP Princes titled: DP Princes - Are they decent role-models? (Credit to dimitri who gave me the idea :))

To make this countdown shorter, I have taken a sample of princes to examine (there are two from each era):
Prince/Florian/Ferdinand/Buckethead/Whatever you want to call him - Snow White

Charming - Cinderella

Adam/Beast - Beauty and the Beast

Shang - Mulan

Naveen - The Princess And The Frog

Flynn/Eugene - Tangled


I will be placing these in order of who is the best role-model.

(Fun fact about the Prince, not relevant to the article)


5. Adam/Beast

I think it is pretty obvious how Adam landed himself here, but I will briefly explain myself. For the majority of the movie, Beast is an angry, abusive, selfish, kidnapper (the exact OPPOSITE, in my opinion, of how any good man should be). He keeps Belle captive, yells at her and scares her (sometimes to tears). This all kind of disgusts me.

Yes, he redeems himself towards the end by controlling his temper, and being very loving and caring towards Belle. I will say that he changes the most out of all my chosen princes. However, his antics at the start of the movie make it almost impossible to say he is a good role-model overall, despite the fact, he is may inspire abusive people to change their own behaviour.

4. Naveen

I guess this one might be a little more surprising but let me explain - Naveen is nothing but a player and a gold digger at the start of the film! The thing he most desires seems to be money (as shown by his exchange with the Dr in "Friends on the other side"), and he plays with women's affections without a second thought.

In all fairness, like Adam he changes at the end and becomes a hard-working and loyal partner to Tiana, but once again he only really serves as a role-model to the players who seek to change their own behaviour.

3. Flynn/Eugene

Flynn's placement is a bit undecided. I kept debating whether he should go before or after Naveen. There is no getting away from the fact that Flynn is a thief, and he doesn't have as big a need to steal as some might (such as Aladdin) so some might consider him a person who steals simply for their own gain (although this could be debated as he is an orphan and may have to steal to survive). He also seems as greedy as Naveen as his big dream seems to involve a lot of money and a castle.

I'd say Flynn is a slightly better role-model than Naveen though, because Flynn actually plans to do SOMETHING to achieve his goal rather than marry a rich lady for nothing more than her cash. I also don't consider him a true criminal. In my mind, he started thieving to survive. Yes stealing is wrong, but isn't it necessary in some situations? Flynn is also a good role-model because he has determination, creativity, and a softer-side he is willing to show a LOT sooner than some of the other princes (*coughs* Adam and Naveen).


2. Charming and Prince/assorted names (tie)

In all honesty, I think these two really have too bland personalities for me to truly examine if they are good role-models. The problem is we just don't get to see enough of them! My problem with both of them is that they could be seen as teaching boys to have no personality, which I am strongly against, but there is no conclusive proof that they are like this all the time because they DON'T GET ENOUGH SCREEN TIME!

However, I really like how both of them seem to all be respectful, charming and polite (qualities that I think both men and women should show at times). I can't really say they have any bad qualities to say that they are bad role-models (although the Prince seems a little creepy at times O.o), but I can't really say they are great role-models either because we simply don't see enough of them!

1. Shang

Shang, like any decent character, has his faults but I think he is the best role-model out of my chosen sample. He shows that boys don't always have to be smooth-talking or witty to get a girl, but that they can be honest and hard-working instead. At times, the way he treats Mulan is a little out of line but he has two reasons for that:
a) He thinks Mulan is a soldier and treats her like a commander should
b) He's in the middle of a War.

I think he is a great role-model for a military figure, but also a great role-model to show that a man CAN accept a woman being better at him than something (as shown by the battle scene at the end where Mulan is allowed to take control). I hear so much crap about the supposed "fragile male ego" from my parents, which is quite obviously nonsense. Shang shows that a real man doesn't mind if a woman is more talented at something than he is.

And now, I will conclude. This countdown has been giving me a headache over the placements, and I'm not entirely satisfied with the final placing but I have tried my best! Please let me know what you think in the comments.