These include Iranian queen Tomyris, mythic Indian princess Sita, and the still-controversial Elisabeth Bathory, who may have been the inspiration for Dracula. “The reason they’re rejected princesses is they don’t even fit today’s mold of this standard issue of a feminine role model for kids.” “I think at most points of human history, it is almost an anomaly for women to take on these roles,” Porath said. The self-proclaimed “trivia nerd and feminist” said he wanted to learn about the hundreds of women who helped shape history but were shunned or degraded by it. The former Dreamworks animator started Rejected Princesses earlier this year, after a joke in the lunchroom about “who would be least suited to get the animated princess treatment” piqued his interest about women in history. “I still haven’t processed it, and the amount of work that lies ahead of me.” “It’s overwhelming,” Porath told the Daily Dot. That’s the beauty behind Rejected Princesses, an online blog that shares weekly tales about about oft-ignored female historical figures, with a Disney-style flair.Īnd now the women are coming to a coffee table near you Rejected Princesses animator Jason Porath just got a book deal. They hang out in towers, castles, or dungeons, usually sleeping or embroidering something, and wait for a prince to rescue them.īut there are others-women who behead enemies instead of waiting in towers, command armies instead of sleeping for days, and one who even became the sole radio broadcaster in Nazi-occupied Paris.

This is a collection that refuses to censor the truth.We’ve all read the fairytales about princesses like Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty. The stories are rated by maturity level, with icons that signify trigger warnings for rape, abuse, violence, etc. Porath's book isn't for the faint of heart, despite its fairytale aesthetic. Porath says: 'And when we learn about a true legend - say, Harriet Tubman - we get half the story (and it's usually not the half about her as a plantation-torching Union spy-master).' Many of these women have been forgotten by history entirely or, the stories we hear about them aren't the full stories. His mission is to tell the stories of the 'women too uncompromising, too untoward, or too uncomfortable to fit the modern princess mold.' These women persevered, fought alongside men in some of the world's grittiest wars, discovered the mysteries of the universe, and so much more. Porath, a former DreamWorks animator, began this project as a blog. In his new book Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions & Heretics, animator Jason Porath presents a collection of true stories about the 'amazing, awful or offbeat' women that history has forgotten.

Make room for 100 new, 'rejected' princesses that'll redefine the royal title and force you to rethink the stories you grew up hearing. Make way for a new princess in town - actually, scratch that.

Rejected princesses by jason porath