Disney Princess Lineup
I had a revelation tonight. I was thinking about the structure of my WIP and my thoughts drifted to my previous efforts at adapting the story of Esther. You see, Esther is a queen. My daughters love princess stories and Disney in particular has made billions on such stories.
So why hasn’t Disney released a princess movie about Esther? Ignoring the fact that she is a queen and not a princess, couldn’t the story be adapted to make it work?
And the answer…is no.
No. NO! It cannot be adapted! Neither Disney nor any other company will ever be able to use the story of Esther for their own purposes. It has always been and will remain a bible story.
But the intriguing part is why. And don’t be fooled. Disney has certainly tried. They were seeking adaptations for Rapunzel a decade or more before Tangled ever came out. And they finally did come out with a version of Rapunzel but Esther continues to elude them.
And here is the revelation. Esther can’t be adapted because the foundations of the story are built on Jewish culture and devotion to God. Neither component of the story can be removed or replaced without the whole story becoming a crashing house of cards.
This revelation in turn lead to a new understanding of what it means for a story to be labeled as ‘Christian’. I’ve blogged on this topic before but I’m not completely satisfied with my conclusions. Indeed, I never really came to any until tonight: If a story can have it’s Christian message removed or replaced then it isn’t really a Christian story. At least, not a strong one. We should all be writing strong Christian stories. We should all be crafting our stories in such a way as to make the biblical principles foundational, required for the story to be told.
And Esther is a fascinating story. Commentators have attempted to plumb the depths or the story for ages. But have any studied Esther as a model story? It’s plot-perfect in my opinion and has all the components to make it irresistible to readers: Kings, Queens, politics, opposing factions, dinner parties, deception, revenge, the threat of genocide, reversals, and even an Act III twist when the evil Haman is hung on his own gallows. The characters show a full range of emotions, gather information, and make life-altering decisions in an effort to escape the trap. Try reading it yourself for analysis and see if you don’t get sucked in.
The final point is that we should study Esther as a model for great biblical stories.
Dragons Can Be Beaten 