“Where Happily Ever After Happens Every Day”: Disney’s Official Princess Website and the Commodification of Play

Abstract

This article interrogates Disney’s web presence as manifested in its official Princess website, http://disney.go.com/princess, arguing that this new media platform is one way that Disney commodifies play. While the site is only one part of a complex web of texts that forms Disney Princess, it serves a crucial cultural function. As a legitimate Disney site, it has an aura of authenticity; as a site with a dual implied audience of young children and their parents, it is a key way to shape consumers and track online habits. This article argues that despite a persistent emphasis on individual choice, this site works to control and regulate play, substituting Disney-inflected notions of “specialness” for actual user agency.