Hazbin Hotel Shows Us Why It's Hard To Be a Princess

In an age of endless reboots and anti-princess culture, Hazbin Hotel is one of the few original animated princess shows still running in Western media. It gets a pass for its irreverent humor and mature storytelling, in which Princess Charlie Morningstar's innocent nature provides a stark contrast to the demons and vengeful angels surrounding her. The second season of the show came to a close today, and I enjoyed it more than the first one, thanks to a more cohesive plot structure that analyzed the nuances between Heaven and Hell and the gray areas between good and evil. The backstories revealed for characters like Sir Pentious and Alastor are built into the main plot instead of feeling like the isolated vignettes from the first season.

One element that particularly stood out to me for Season 2 is how Charlie's good deeds are twisted by Vox, who represents the corporate media. A large portion of the first few episodes is devoted to Charlie's desire to share her message with the world, causing her to play right into Vox's trap and feeding him more and more ways to manipulate her for his own nefarious purposes. This is similar to the "Damsel in Distress" stigma revolving around Disney Princesses in the early 2000s, which forced Disney to completely rewrite the princess archetype to the point where it became virtually unrecognizable. Hazbin Hotel's social commentary perfectly demonstrates why princesses are no longer in vogue. It can be so easy to twist positive traits like kindness or honesty into something dark and sinister with the right spin.

The plot of Hazbin Hotel revolves around Charlie Morningstar, the princess of Hell, opening a hotel to reform demons and give them a chance at redemption. After learning her hotel was a success at the beginning of the second season, she understandably wants to share her success with the world. However, Vox had a different plan in mind. After the massive war between the two afterlife factions at the end of the first season, most of the guests checking into the hotel are under the impression that it is a place to train demons to kill angels. When Charlie emphatically informs them that is not the case, a difficult task for soft-spoken princesses, they abandon her, leaving her to rely on Vox's twisted media empire to promote her services.

Though I've commented on toxic positivity in the past, this show demonstrates the other side of the coin, in which positive traits like forgiveness and compassion are spun in a negative light. Overly positive and overly negative commentary can both be dangerous because both are ways to deny reality and slander a person (or in this case, a princess)'s image. This is why the pure, kind-hearted fairy tale princess archetype of the past could never survive in today's culture. It's too straightforward, making it easy to twist in a negative light. Today's media seeks characters who are nuanced and complex, which is why Hazbin Hotel has been so successful with modern audiences. The musical format is reminiscent of classic Disney while presenting a social commentary about one-sided characters.

Hazbin Hotel's second season masterfully uses Charlie Morningstar's innocent princess nature to highlight the dangers of twisted narratives and media manipulation. The show's success lies in its nuanced exploration of complex characters and gray areas, proving that even the kindest of princesses can be misrepresented and misunderstood. As the media landscape continues to evolve, Hazbin Hotel's commentary on the pitfalls of simplistic storytelling and the importance of complexity feels more relevant than ever. Do you think any fairy tales can be adapted to fit the nuanced standards of modern media? Let me konw in the comments below!