Giselle (Disney)

Giselle is the main protagonist of Walt Disney Pictures' film "Enchanted". She is portrayed and voiced by Amy Adams, a performance that garnered Adams a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).

Personality

When the film begins, Giselle is an innocent, romantic young woman, living in the land of Andalasia. She is a composite of other Disney Princesses (despite not actually being a princess herself) with her most prominent features coinciding with Snow White. Physically she resembles Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora. In keeping with the image of a typical fairytale character, she is a dreamer who believes in aspects of "True Love" and sings quite frequently. She converses with animals regularly who also assist her in making dresses from "unusual" materials.

Later, when she crosses over into New York, she is shown to be quite naive. She strikes up a conversation with a vagrant who promptly robs her of her tiara and flees, leaving her standing in the rain. She also bursts into floods of tears when she meets a man and a woman whom she learns are getting divorced. She also doesn't seem to be aware of the concept of sexual intercourse, believing that kissing is the ultimate demonstration of affection between two people.

She has also never felt anger at the time of the film, vaguely saying that she has heard of it when Robert tells her he is "angry". She appears on the verge of feeling anger when her tiara is stolen but it starts raining, causing her to descend into sadness before the anger can take full effect. Robert makes her angry later in the film and she is overjoyed to be experiencing that particular emotion for the first time in her life. She matures over the course of the film and develops more of an understanding of the concept of love. Despite her naive qualities, Giselle is extremely brave and resourceful as shown by her narrowly escaping a troll at the start of the film and standing up to the evil queen Narissa at the film's climax. [citation
last = Wloszczyna
first = Susan
title = 'Enchanted' princess steps out of cartoon, into Manhattan
journal = USA Today
date=2007-11-14
url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-11-14-enchanted_N.htm
accessdate = 2007-12-29 ]

Appearance

Besides the obvious differences between the animated and live action versions of Giselle, in both forms she has long red hair and blue eyes, and stands at average height. Her voice has a light, airy feel to it, creating an impression of innocence and naivete. She is typically seen wearing elegant, elaborate clothing.

Andalasia

Giselle hails from the beautiful fairytale land of Andalasia which appears to be situated on a separate planet and possibly in a separate universe where anything that is a fairy tale cliché is more or less present and tangible. The whereabouts of Andalasia are not known, but Giselle refers to it as being "beyond the Meadows of Joy and the Valley of Contentment". Andalasia is ruled by Queen Narissa, Prince Edward's stepmother. It is occupied by creatures with the ability to talk, including magical creatures such as trolls. It is implied wizards are prominent as well. The Royal castle is grand and elaborate, with a courtyard home to a magic wishing well which contains a portal to Earth. Despite these differences, cell phones function and can receive data in Andalasia.

Disney Princess Status

Although Giselle is shown in both animated and live-action forms, she is not being marketed as one of the Disney Princesses, as was thought when a 2007 Toy Fair showed a Giselle doll featured with packaging declaring her Disney Princess status. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-11-22-enchanted-homage_N.htm New Disney princess Giselle has an enchanting royal lineage - USATODAY.com ] ] Disney has since decided not to include Giselle in the Princess line, as they would have to pay for life-long rights to Adams' image. While Amy Adams' likeness is used in promotions of the film, her animated likeness is used on all Princess Giselle merchandise. ["disney.go.com/disneypictures/enchanted/" About Enchanted] Had she been included to the princess line, Giselle would have been the first redheaded princess since Ariel, the first princess since Belle to have the same actress singing and speaking for her, and the first princess since Pocahontas to be romantically pursued by two men.

The latest controversy regarding Giselle's Disney Princess status arose when Disney announced that the appearances of the animated version of Giselle and Amy Adams were different enough such that Disney did not need to pay royalties to Adams for her image, spurning negotiations between the actress and Disney. [ "Disney Princess vs Disney Controversy", page 46. The New York Times, 2008]

References