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Which Disney Princess is barefoot for the entire movie?

Disney princesses are iconic characters beloved by children and adults alike. Their elaborate gowns, sparkling tiaras, and glass slippers capture our imaginations. But have you ever noticed some Disney princesses go barefoot through their entire movie? Let’s take a look at which leading ladies ditch the shoes and embrace their bare feet!

Background on Disney Princesses

Walt Disney Pictures started producing animated feature films that centered around female protagonists in the 1930s with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Since then, the Disney Princess franchise has expanded to include 12 official princesses from films like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Brave, Moana, and more.

The Disney princesses showcase a variety of personalities, cultures, and stories. Some are born into royalty, some marry princes, and others earn their “princess” titles. No matter their backgrounds, these young women share key characteristics like kindness, bravery, and determination.

In their movies, the Disney princesses wear elaborate ball gowns, majestic robes, intricate costumes, and practical peasant dresses suiting their settings. Glass or crystal slippers are a recurring iconic motif. So are sparkling tiaras and jewelry. But not every princess wears shoes throughout her adventure!

The Barefoot Disney Princesses

You may be surprised to learn that a handful of Disney princesses actually spend nearly their entire movies barefoot! Ditching shoes allows them to connect with nature, evoke a free-spirited vibe, or convey poverty. Let’s see which leading ladies liberate their feet.

Aurora from Sleeping Beauty

Princess Aurora is barefoot for most of the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty. As an infant, the good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant to hide her identity and keep her safe from the evil fairy Maleficent’s curse. Aurora, renaming herself Briar Rose, grows up in the forest picking berries, singing, and dancing barefoot. She continues barefoot even after learning her true royal identity.

In the film, Aurora’s bare feet represent her free spirit and connection to nature. Even while dressed elegantly for her birthday party, she removes her shoes to dance barefoot. The scene emphasizes Aurora’s gentle, down-to-earth character.

Pocahontas from Pocahontas

In the 1995 movie Pocahontas, the titular Native American princess remains barefoot throughout the entire film. As the chieftain’s daughter, Pocahontas respects the land and flows in harmony with nature. She runs swiftly through the woods and climbs mountains barefoot.

Being barefoot helps convey Pocahontas’s courageous, athletic, and adventurous spirit. Her unrestricted feet also symbolize the freedom of her tribe prior to the English colonists’ arrival. Overall, Pocahontas’s bare feet emphasize her natural connection to the land, wildlife, and elements.

Moana from Moana

In Moana released in 2016, the Polynesian princess Moana also stays barefoot for her seafaring journey. As a chief’s daughter chosen by the ocean, Moana needs to be able to tread water, climb onto boats, and grip the earth’s surfaces. Her bare feet enable agility.

Moana’s lack of shoes additionally provides a sense of realism to suit her setting on tropical islands. Bare feet seem fitting for a character who spends so much time on the sand and at sea. So Moana embracing her barefoot lifestyle makes perfect sense.

Advantages of Barefoot Princesses

You may wonder, why do some Disney princesses remain shoeless? Ditching shoes actually provides several advantages that complement the characters:

  • Freedom and Comfort: Shoes can sometimes feel restrictive and uncomfortable. Bare feet allow princesses like Aurora to feel free.
  • Connection to Nature: Princesses like Pocahontas can better sense and connect with the earth beneath their bare feet.
  • Realism: For adventurers like Moana, bare feet suit their environments like the tropics.
  • Safety: Bare feet provide better grip and mobility for climbing, swimming, and more.
  • Innocence: Bare feet can convey youthfulness, purity, and innocence.
  • Storytelling: Lack of shoes helps convey backstories like Aurora’s peasant upbringing.

Overall, bare feet offer several narrative and symbolic advantages for Disney princesses embracing their shoeless lifestyle.

The Shoe-Wearing Princesses

Not all Disney princesses abandon their shoes completely. Several lead characters sport iconic footwear, especially for fancier scenes. Let’s see which princesses do some shoe-donning during their stories.

Cinderella from Cinderella

No Disney princess is more associated with shoes than Cinderella, who wears her iconic glass slippers to the ball. After her fairy godmother magically transforms her dress, she dons glittering glass slippers. One slips off at midnight, leading the prince to search for Cinderella by having women try on the missing shoe.

The glass slippers represent Cinderella’s elegance and hint she is no common maiden. The lost slipper drives the plot, ultimately reuniting her with the prince. For Cinderella, shoes are integral to the storyline.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast

In Beauty and the Beast, Belle wears practical shoes like boots along with formal heels. For her provincial town, flats or low boots suit Belle’s everyday look. But for dancing with the Beast in the iconic yellow ball gown, she wears gold heels.

Belle’s footwear choices evolve from practical to elegant as she gets to know the Beast and sees his inner goodness. Her shoes complement her outfit transformations throughout the film.

Tiana from The Princess and the Frog

Tiana spends much of The Princess and the Frog as a frog, but she wears sensible shoes when human. As a hardworking waitress, she clomps around New Orleans in practical boots. For her wedding gown, she wears decorative heels including a glittery ankle strap.

Tiana’s shoes reflect her working class background and wedding finery. They provide appropriate footwear for her outfits in different social settings.

Why Some Princesses Wear Shoes

What leads other Disney princesses to embrace shoes? Here are some top reasons:

  • Elegance: Heels and glass slippers lend elegance for ball gowns.
  • Practicality: Boots and flats suit princesses’ humble everyday outfits.
  • Story and Character Development: Shoes like Cinderella’s slippers drive the plot.
  • Realism: Practical shoes suit princesses’ middle or working class backgrounds.
  • Transformation: Fancy heels show a princess’s change for special occasions.

Disney uses footwear strategically to convey social class, special occasions, character development, and plot points. Shoes play a key role for princesses like Cinderella.

The Princesses Who Go Both Barefoot and Shod

Some Disney princesses actually spend significant time both barefoot and wearing shoes. They may start shoeless but later need footwear for their setting. Or they alternate between bare feet and slippers.

Ariel from The Little Mermaid

As a mermaid, Ariel from The Little Mermaid goes barefoot, with fins instead of feet. When she transforms into a human, she struggles walking in shoes. But she wears slippers, heels, and other shoes while on land.

The scenes where human Ariel trips in heels show her adjusting to legs and footwear. She balances barefoot freedom with occasionally wearing shoes as expected in the human world.

Jasmine from Aladdin

Princess Jasmine alternates between bare feet and fancy slippers in Aladdin. Inside the palace, she wears ornate slippers fitting a royal. But she removes them to sneak outside the palace gates, better sneaking around barefoot.

Jasmine sheds shoes for mobility and comfort outside the palace’s confines. Both her bare feet and slippers hold symbolism about freedom versus royal restraint.

Elsa from Frozen

In Frozen and Frozen II, Queen Elsa starts barefoot while building her ice palace away from society. But she switches to heels and slippers after restoring her rightful place in Arendelle.

Elsa’s bare feet represent breaking free from constraints while her shoes symbolize embracing her royal role. Shoes chart her journey back to civilization and leadership.

Why Some Princesses Switch Off Shoes

What leads some Disney princesses to go back and forth between barefoot and wearing shoes? Here are some top reasons:

  • Dual settings: Bare feet suit water for Ariel; shoes suit land. Jasmine wears slippers in the palace but goes barefoot in the marketplace.
  • Character development: Elsa sheds shoes while finding herself then dons them returning as queen.
  • Royalty versus freedom: Bare feet symbolize freedom while shoes represent royal restraint.
  • Realism: Princesses may need shoes for formal royal occasions.
  • Comfort: Baring their feet provides comfort for princesses like Jasmine.

The princesses who switch between bare feet and shoes do so strategically to advance the story or symbolize their freedom.

Conclusion

Baring their feet or donning shoes conveys key insights about Disney princesses.Aurora, Pocahontas, and Moana go permanently barefoot to embrace freedom, showcase athleticism, connect with nature, and suit their settings.

Cinderella, Belle, and Tiana wear shoes that reflect their social class and complement their outfits. Ariel, Jasmine, and Elsa alternate between bare feet for comfort and mobility and shoes to meet royal expectations.

The choice of bare feet versus shoes holds deep symbolism. So next time you watch a Disney princess movie, check out what her footwear conveys about her character!