Feminists

A lot of this stuff is not being marketed to males. The Disney Princess stuff is not marketed to boys, it's marketed to little girls. And girls gravitate to this narrow view of femininity like moths to a flame. And their mothers buy it. Disney knows this. You dont see many men obsessing over Cinderella, Snow White, or the Little Mermaid. Boys have very little interest in those characters. So those 1950s stereotypes in these characters are being kept alive by daughters and mothers. The princess line has become a major profitable success for Disney. And women made it so.

The tendency is to blame men for this...but men are not who is buying it. Guys want to see strong characters, male or female. If the girl can kick ass, guys will watch. After all, females have played central leads in video games, science fiction, and horror for many years. And those things are very popular with men.

But no its not unreasonable to request that Disney make a move to modernize their line of female characters. The company seems stuck in the fairy tale world when it comes to girls, while with boys the stories are modern. But ultimately, this current model is what's selling.