Oh, and not to nitpick, but as for “stick figure” that’s more what I think of when I see Violet and Mirage in Pixar’s The Incredibles, rather than Disney princesses. The latter are often impossibly slender by human standards, but still look like caricatured humans as opposed to super-stylized cartoons. To take a recent example, Elsa may have an unrealistically delicate-looking bone structure, but given that, she’s far from skinny–even her arms have some muscle definition, and her features, including around her visible bone structure, are generally soft and rounded (the same goes for Anna). A real human “stick figure” or skinny person would not give the same impression at all.

Ultimately these are all caricatured cartoon characters–the important thing is the subjective impression they make, and generally I perceive Disney princesses/heroines as having attractive and healthy-looking figures, which I’m sure is the intention while WDAS push the literal boundaries of reality. I have to deliberately force myself to take their designs literally to notice that they’re slenderer than real humans can (or should) be, but I think that misses the point and is in itself pointless (except to observe and study). In a similar vein, when taken literally, Elsa’s face would look positively inhuman, like a freakish space-alien of some kind, but if we simply watch the movie and take it in naturally, then most of us would probably perceive her face as that of a beautiful human woman. That’s how it’s supposed to work–it’s part of the magic of animation, if you will, and the same goes for the rest of her, which is not meant to be taken as literal reality, either.

Now, if the issue here is how impressionable children perceive Disney princesses (cartoons as role models?), then if they perceive these characters as pretty women/girls instead of the scary, monstrous aliens they literally look like, then children probably don’t perceive them as being ultra-thin, either–they just look right if the designers have done their job well.

There is a difference, that is readily granted, but I don’t see THAT much of a difference. In fact, Snow White from back in 1937 seems to have similar proportions. Since then WDAS have moved toward even more stylized/caricatured female figures, of course, including Aurora’s rather extreme hourglass figure, which is somewhat normal-looking except for her incredibly teeny-tiny waist. Fast-forward now to Elsa and Anna, who are significantly more slender overall but actually have thicker waists than Aurora and many other princesses/heroines have–they still have “ideal” hourglass figures, but less pronounced. Coming immediately before (among princesses), Rapunzel’s figure is similar but with smaller breasts, which in the big picture I think is really just trying to find variation wherever they can.

Back to Moana, I think it stands to reason that her form of variance is based on WDAS’ take on Polynesians in general, as we saw with Nani in Lilo & Stitch. It’s kind of a stereotype, but nevertheless even slender Polynesian women (and men, for that matter) tend to have more robust-looking legs, and sometimes arms and waists (muscle, fat, both, whatever–they’re often meatier-looking than many other similar-sized people for whatever reasons). I’m just observing here, not judging. 🙂 Now, the cankles that I was so kind to point out 😉 are really a stereotype because I doubt (based on what I’ve seen) that many Polynesians have them in real life, but they fit right into WDAS’ Polynesian caricature style with the meaty legs and all. Again, I’m not judging or trying to be mean, just observing, as do WDAS as artists. It’s kind of weird to talk about this stuff ;), but in art one has to observe, notice, and interpret all kinds of things. This is probably why Moana’s figure, when compared to other Disney heroines and in reference to real people, seems more normal–I’m saying it’s probably really because WDAS makes all Polynesians a bit thicker, as they tend to be in real life to some degree, no offense intended.

Points taken. I guess I just wanted to add a different perspective.

I think Haley means someone who isn’t a “thin stick figure”.

You went? LUCKY!!!!!

Well I know its not ideal but for me its very close
And come on its Disney, what did you expect??!!

I thought it was Pele too. Although she doesn’t look like what she is usually depicted as so I was a bit confused at first.