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Today's young American women are brought up with a sense of entitlement, even of divinity, in my opinion, and yes Disney and all the other agents of non-sense and fantasy do play a part.
I think the sense of entitlement evinced by Americans is a cross-gender phenomenon.
Crass merchandising aside, I have to say that I actually appreciate the fact that Disney has portrayed females as actually something other than just "princesses". I just did a little digging. Here are the top Disney female characters, and a little synopsis from Wiki about each one's attributes:
Pocahontas – Pocahontas is displayed as a free spirited, noble, and highly spiritual young woman. She displays wisdom beyond her years and offers kindness and guidance to those around her. She loves adventure and nature.
Jasmine – Jasmine is the daughter of the wealthy Sultan of Agrabah. She is shown to be brave, intelligent, strong, independent, fiery, and charitable. She can also be quite cunning.Cinderella - a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward.
Mulan - Disney's Mulan [is] a tomboy daughter of a respected veteran, somewhat troubled by being the "sophisticated lady" her society expects her to be.
Belle - Belle is a nonconformist for her time in many ways. The most pronounced is her love of books and knowledge, which the townspeople find odd for a woman. Gaston says to her at one point, "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking...". Belle also does not care about appearances, whether they pertain to herself or anyone else.
Esmeralda - Esmeralda is a gypsy who uses her talents in dancing to earn a living. She has a strong sense of justice, and stands up for what she believes in...This same principled, strong attitude surfaces again when, rather than save herself from the pyre and consent to serve Frollo (whom she despises), she refuses and spits in his face. She is shown as being kind and non judgemental; along with having a high emotional intelligence in dealing with people.
Ariel - Ariel is the youngest of King Triton's seven daughters. She is shown as being adventurous and curious about the world of humans, a fascination which angers her father ...
As I said, the merchandising can get offensive, but if I had a daughter, I think I could do much worse than for her to take to heart the message espoused by Disney's princesses, which seems to be as far from nepotism and entitlement as one can get in a cartoon character.
