If Disney Princesses Were Real Women...

Watching Disney movies as a kid, you probably assumed that Princess Jasmine and Aladdin sailed into marital bliss on a magic carpet, that Cinderella left her sorrowful past behind when Prince Charming made her a princess, and that Belle aged gracefully in the arms of her beast. That is what the sweet music and warmly-lit closing sequences would lead us to believe, anyway, and that's fine and lovely — these are fairytales and they're meant to leave us feeling warm and fuzzy (aside from those tragic scenes in Bambi and The Lion King, whoa guys). But, Artist Dina Goldstein is reimagining 'happily ever after' with her dark and clever photo series "Fallen Princesses", which depicts Disney's fairytale princesses in various states of depression and disarray.

Beauty and the Beast's Belle has gone under the knife. The Little Mermaid's Ariel is staring forlornly from the inside of an aquarium. Rapunzel has lost her long locks to illness. Goldstein predicts where these women may have ended up after their beauty faded, their relationships soured, and their luck run out. Given that the happy ending in each of these fairytales hinged on the female protagonist finding herself a man, perhaps Goldstein is trying to teach us a lesson about the perils of that particular trope?

Images: Courtesy of Dina Goldstein