We Need a Disney Princess

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About

We Need a Disney Princess refers to a snowclone popular on Twitter in which people sarcastically advocate for a Disney princess with a certain characteristic. The snowclone is a parody of calls for certain types of representation in Disney films.

Origin

On September 2nd, 2017, Twitter user @SofieHagen^[1] tweeted "We need a fat Disney princess" repeatedly over the course of several tweets (shown below).

Spread

Parodies of the tweet did not start to spread until March of 2018. One of the earlier parodies was posted by @pupinia_stewart^[2] on March 11th, 2018, and gained over 70 retweets and 360 likes (shown below, left). In another example, @gsheffer^[3] made the joke with the plot of Legally Blonde (shown below, right), gaining over 2,800 retweets and 25,000 likes.

Another popular variation on the joke found users inserting song lyrics into the snowclone. One popular tweet by @72goetia^[4] made the joke with lyrics to The Killers' Mr. Brightside, gaining over 45,000 retweets and 147,000 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @70ceeks^[5] made the joke with the lyrics to "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba, gaining over 80 retweets and 480 likes (shown below, right). The jokes were covered by Daily Dot.^[6]

Planned Parenthood "Abortion" Tweet Controversy

On March 27th, 2018, the account for the Keystone branch of Planned Parenthood tweeted in the style of the joke by saying we need several Disney princesses who have characteristics associated with leftist values, such as "is pro-choice" and "is actually a union worker." The most controversial line of the tweet read "We need a Disney princess who's had an abortion." The tweet was deleted shortly after being posted (shown below).

The tweet riled conservatives and anti-abortion activists. For example, Ben Shapiro quote-tweeted the tweet, sarcastically writing "We need a Disney princess who stumps for sex-selective abortions on the taxpayer dime then lectures us about what small children they would have killed should watch for entertainment" (shown below, left). Donald Trump Jr. joked about the tweet by referencing the "identity politics war."

The controversy was covered by multiple media outlets, including Washington Post,^[7] CNN,^[8] and USA Today.^[9]