Lovia Gyarkye 
‘The Princess’: Film Review
In a recent interview about The Princess, Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton, the film’s screenwriters, explain how they came up with the idea for their project. The duo wanted to turn convention on its head, to dream up a story in which a princess defies society’s expectations of her. Lustig, a father, comes off especially keen to insist on this film’s novelty in the brief conversation: “I was like, ‘Okay, here’s all these princess movies. But what if one was a badass?’”
It seems Mulan, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Tiana and most recently Merida don’t count. Maybe they’re not tough and outspoken enough. Maybe their adventures don’t have enough action sequences. Perhaps these young women needed to be more uncompromising, intimidating. Or maybe the lessons their stories teach needed to be more obvious, repeatedly telegraphed and so blunt that watching the film becomes a test of endurance instead of entertainment — kind of like The Princess.
Related Stories
The Princess
The Bottom LineMore conventional than it appears.
Release date: Friday, July 1 (Hulu)
Cast: Joey King, Dominic Cooper, Olga Kurylenko, Veronica Ngo
Director: Le-Van Kiet
Screenwriters: Ben Lustig, Jake Thornton
1 hour 34 minutes
Directed by Le-Van Kiet and written by Lustig and Thornton, the Hulu film reflects society’s depressing approach to inspiring young people to value women. The Princess seems to equate being a badass with vengeance and restoring old orders (but this time with a woman in charge). Other principles make cameos — intelligence as measured by one’s ability to imagine, a secure sense of ethics and a commitment to community — but they don’t get as much attention as the bloody duels.
It’s a shame, because the protagonist played assuredly by Joey King (The Kissing Booth, The Act) seems like an interesting person. We meet her early in the morning, just at the moment she wakes up to find herself trapped in the tower of her father’s kingdom. She’s wearing a white wedding dress and her hands are chained together. How did she get here? What’s going on?
Before the Princess can properly assess her situation, she must defend herself from a pair of guards sent to check in on her. A gory fight sequence plays out as the Princess — clever and light on her feet — jumps, kicks and glides across the room. Although the situation seems touch-and-go for a moment, she defeats her opponents. Now she has to figure out how she ended up in this situation.
The Princess is a straightforward narrative, with an impressively tight timeframe — it takes place over one day in one area of the kingdom — and action sequences. These constraints are a boon to the film; action-seeking viewers can enjoy watching our protagonist sharpen her skills and outmaneuver her opponents. Kiet stages the fight scenes to maximize their impact — we see the Princess punch and hurl objects from different angles, showcasing her physical grace and intelligence. The Princess is a Disneyfied Arya Stark.
The actual plot is less interesting. As she slinks through the tower, which has been seized by the man she refused to marry, she pieces together what’s happening. Her betrothed, Julius (Dominic Cooper), was offended by the Princess’ rejection. Outraged that she would defy tradition, he decides to take the castle, hold her family hostage and force her hand. If anything, The Princess is a more confident analysis of how men are socialized to feel entitled, to consider women as property and to behave in unhinged ways in response to any perceived disrespect. His behavior is frightening, but not unfamiliar.
The Princess has less than 24 hours to save herself, her family and their kingdom. Lustig and Thornton’s narrative parameters up the stakes of their run-of-the-mill story. As our protagonist slips into and out of different rooms and floors of the palace, she reflects on memories. Shown to us in flashback, these sequences round out the story, adding the necessary background context. The Princess, we are told in more ways than one, had an untraditional upbringing, honing her interest in sword fighting with her mentor Linh (Veronica Ngo) while taking etiquette classes.
In thinking about her past, the Princess remembers lessons Linh tried to teach her about being a warrior. She carries her mentor’s words with her, committing them to memory and to heart. They replenish her confidence and keep her from giving in.
It’s hard to drum up excitement for films like The Princess, which have a chokehold on a market desperate to blindly capitalize on progressive values and ideas. Throwing a woman in front of the camera and a few feminist quips into the script does not make these films any less conventional, or necessarily any more empowering. The cruel irony is that the entertainment industry is overwhelmingly dominated by the kinds of people who consider The Princess’ basic premise radical. And so we end up with self-congratulatory films like these that effectively teach young people that sexism ends when a woman — smarter but equally violent to the men around her — becomes king.
Related News & Content
-
How to optimize ‘select found_rows()’ query? Several ‘high load average’ alerts daily
How to optimize 'select found_rows()' query? Several 'high load average' alerts daily,I have 5,000 regular posts, 6,000 posts in one post type and 2,000 posts in another post type. Needless to say, that has made the wp_posts table quite large. Not to mention, I have custom taxonomie... -
How to Use JSON With AJAX?
How to Use JSON With AJAX?,I've defined a PHP callback function to handle the communication between server-side and client-side: function json_render_modal_body() { check_ajax_referer( THEME_PREFIX . '-modals', 'nonce'... -
Filtering context for render_block function
Filtering context for render_block function,I am trying to use render_block within a function called from the WP admin via AJAX The render_block returns null/empty however if I run my function using the wp hook returns the rendered HTML for ... -
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?
How do I hide submenus from the top menu bar?,My website is wiki-style and has a lot of pages that should only be reached through links on other pages. Having these all accessible from the top menu bar under their respective headings leads you... -
Register users without confirmation
Register users without confirmation,I'm looking to register users without requiring confirmation of their emails (and even better, no password when they register). Basically, I want them to subscribe their mails using wp registration -
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?
How to use AJAX in wordpress front end?,I have two inputs in an HTML Widget block on a post. What I need to do: send the inputs (from the html widget) value to AJAX, construct and execute a query, render a table with the results back on ... -
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order
Display posts from Custom Post Type, group by term, arrange term groups and arrange items within groups by menu order,I have a Custom Post Type 'my_cpt' and a custom taxonomy 'types' which has several terms, all of which have posts. I want to do is be able to control both the order of the groups (terms from my cus... -
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?
How do I know if the custom theme is a child theme or a full-custom theme?,Inherited a custom built WordPress site. How do I know if the theme it uses is a child theme or a full-custom theme? I would like to delete the unused themes for security and to free up space, but ... -
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?
getEntityRecords/useEntityRecords: How to use CPT metadata?,I use getEntityRecords as described in the official data API tutorial (https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson/retrieving-wordpress-data-records/). I.e.: const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState... -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." -
Blondshell and Bully Team Up For New Single “Docket”
Blondshell and Bully Team Up For New Single “Docket”,Blondshell has teamed up with Alicia Bognanno of Bully for the newly released single "Docket." Listen to the track here. -
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face
I’m a clown for not trying Korean beauty secret for glowy skin sooner – don’t worry, I’m not putting cheese on my face,A BEAUTY influencer has regrets about not trying out Korean beauty advice for glowy skin sooner. Although the trick can look a little strange at first, she assured viewers that she was not putting … -
‘We are at risk’ – health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter
‘We are at risk’ - health expert in urgent warning for Irish people over Easter,AN URGENT warning has been released to those jetting off over the Easter break. With measles already on the rise, there is an increased risk of a more widespread outbreak in the coming weeks. Trave… -
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined
Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined,It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in physics, settle questions about Einstein’s theories, and even help explain the universe. -
The odd history of on-hold music
The odd history of on-hold music,We've all been put on hold when we've tried to reach someone. Have you ever thought about the music that plays while you wait? -
‘What Jennifer Did’: Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case
'What Jennifer Did': Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case,Most of Jennifer Pan's entire life was made up of lies. When her parents began to catch on, she decided to bring in hired hitmen. -
Martin Scorsese to Spearhead Doc Series on Christian Saints for Fox Nation
Martin Scorsese to Spearhead Doc Series on Christian Saints for Fox Nation,Martin Scorsese signed a deal with Fox Nation to host and executive produce an eight-episode docudrama titled 'Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.' -
Man Accusing CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp of Sexual Assault Was Paid $480,000: Report
Man Accusing CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp of Sexual Assault Was Paid $480,000: Report,The GOP strategist who accused Matt Schlapp of sexual assault last year reportedly received a hefty financial settlement to drop his lawsuit against the CPAC chairman.
