Opinion Frogs & princesses: With new science, let’s make new stories

If only Walt Disney had access to the latest research on frogs, published recently in the Royal Society Open Science journal. Far more than the original macabre tales by the Brothers Grimm, it is Disney’s animated films (the company started by Walt Disney is now, arguably, the most influential entertainment behemoth in the world) that have shaped how people across generations see frogs, princes and rags-to-riches princesses. As it turns out, both Snow White, Disney’s first feature-length film from 1937 and The Princess and the Frog could have done with data from the study.

The research around the female European common frog has shown that the amphibian “plays dead” to avoid eager males during mating season. This evidence, in addition to the observation of other techniques, including physical avoidance, has changed long-held beliefs about the timid and docile nature of female frogs — as well as the perceived aggression of their male counterparts. In the world of Disney — and so many other influential stories and archetypes — similar assumptions are built in. Perhaps now, they can evolve. Take the fairy tale frog that needs to be kissed to become the privileged, bratty prince he truly is. Why is the burden of his emancipation on a woman? Or, as so many are asking through cinema and on social media, what’s so “charming” about the prince who kissed an unconscious Snow White?

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As it turns out, myths about the passivity of female frogs were busted as early as 1758 in a book by Rösel von Rosenhoff. But they were likely either ignored, or not taken seriously. Recently, there have been attempts to retell Disney stories, and others, in ways that are a little closer to reality — where characters are closer to people with agency than vehicles for ideas steeped in inequalities. Hopefully, for both frogs and people, a new, more equal fairy tale will be told.