I'll Never Forgive The Princess Diaries
The movie's unintended impact on an entire generation of women + introducing mini episodes
Hi everyone,
Today we’re launching something new: minisodes. These are, as the name gives away, mini We Are Spiraling episodes.
Our full episodes are narrative stories on audio and they take a lot of reporting and production TLC to make well. And there’s so much I want to talk to you about that we can cover in less than half the length of a full-length feature.
Each minisode will be under 10 minutes long but much more in depth than a social media clip. To me, this is the sweet spot, and why I felt the show needed a middle ground format as well.
I’ve been hoarding material for an episode on this topic for so long I decided it’s finally time to publish. Since I started reporting We Are Spiraling stories, I’ve reached out to Anne Hathaway’s team multiple times. (I have not gotten a yes, hence sharing the stories you’ll hear now, while there are rumors of a Princess Diaries 3.)
Every young girl remembers her makeover as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries. The movie is a classic for millennial women. Mia, a normal San Francisco high schooler, discovers she is actually princess of Genovia.
The movie seeks to portray pre-princess Mia as a mess. Glasses, curly hair. Then in a makeover, her eyebrows are plucked, her glasses removed and…you guessed it. Straightened hair.
This is how Hollywood handles curly hair most often. Even Moana’s curls are nowhere near as prevalent in the live action remake set to release this summer, compared to the actual animated version.
READ: How Disney Is Complicit In Suppressing Curly Hair
“It’s technically looked at as more disheveled,” celebrity stylist Matthew Collins, who works on film and TV sets, explained to me in episode 2.
Anne Hathaway recently told People that she regrets the fact that some people interpreted the makeover as a criticism of curly hair. I don’t blame her for the choices someone else made about how to portray her character, but I also don’t buy the explanation at all.
You can hear why in today’s minisode, where you’ll also hear from two millennial women on how the movie shaped their self-image.
This is why so many millennial women are secretly curly.
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Leave a comment if there’s a question you’d like me to answer or topic you want explored in our next minisode.