The animator of princesses with substance

Forget Cleopatra and King Tut, says Jason Porath, Hatshepsut is the greatest pharaoh in history. A former DreamWorks animator and visual effects artist, Porath, who is now the creator of Rejected Princesses — a website dedicated to “women too awesome, awful, or offbeat” for movies, is rewriting history in his own inimitable style. His creative endeavour that his fans have come to love takes us on a fascinating tour of “interesting, lesser-known women” who have been given Disney-like makeovers.

“Animated princesses never get the chance to actually rule — they are princesses, not queens. They are always ‘next-in- line’. I try to illustrate women who take charge of their own lives,” says Porath of his edgier characters that would have a hard time receiving the green light from the big studios.

Since the release of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” more than 75 years, Disney has been famous for princess-themed animated, romantic musicals highlighting a female protagonist in distress who must be saved by a strong male character. Having mastered a particular trope — making and selling princess movies unceasingly, fervently, and with a great deal of success — the princess factory has rarely stepped away from its famous happily ever after theme.

Porath is having none of that. His type goes beyond kissing a frog. “The women of Rejected Princesses have either incredible or terrible stories but they’re all very different than the ones told by Dreamworks, Disney or Fox,” he says.

Original article by Suparna Dutt D’Cunha

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The animator of princesses with substance