Are the Disney princesses moving in a new direction?

I've never really kept up with current Disney news, but since I started this decoding disney writing course, anything related to Disney tends to catch my eye.  So, as I was mindlessly looking at my snapchat, scrolling through people's stories, I saw that Refinery 29 posted "The Problem With The New Disney Princess" as their leading story (shown in the picture below).  Immediately, I clicked on the story to find out more!

After reading this short article, I learned that through Moana, Disney is trying to portray a type of princess, different from the dependent princesses depicted in past films like Cinderella.  Moana is supposed to be a character "capable of action" and "unaccompanied by a love interest" with a different body type than the past princesses - but how different?  In her article, Horan suggests that although Moana appears more athletic than the previous, dainty princesses, she still has a very slim waist and does not have the accurate depiction of a muscular woman.  However, I think Disney is moving in a good direction, showing that a princess doesn't have to rely on prince to save her - she can stand on her own.

I guess we'll just have to wait until November 23rd to judge the new princess for ourselves!

To read more about this article, visit:
http://www.refinery29.com/2016/09/122460/moana-film-disney-princesses-body-type