I don’t really understand the Internet’s obsession with making every lady look like a Disney princess; it’s a trend that I find confusing, weird, and often infantilizing. So when I first saw David Trumble’s collection called World of Women (spotted via Bitch ), in which he illustrated real-life role models to look like Disney characters, I was completely grossed out. But then I did something we so rarely do these days in our image-heavy culture: I read his explanation for why he created his series.
“Fiction is the lens through which young children first perceive role models, so we have a responsibility to provide them with a diverse and eclectic selection of female archetypes,” Trumble explains to Women You Should Know. “Now, I’m not even saying that girls shouldn’t have princesses in their lives, the archetype in and of itself is not innately wrong, but there should be more options to choose from. So that was my intent, to demonstrate how ridiculous it is to paint an entire gender of heroes with one superficial brush.” Honestly, it’s pretty great, and knowing that the inspiration was to provoke a dialogue rather than make more pretty pictures to post on Tumblr makes me feel a lot better.
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble
Image credit:: David Trumble