Complexity means that a character is hard to understand, which none of the princesses are.

I don't think any of them were meant to be. Most of them are actually pretty simple, not that it's a bad thing

I don't think that's the meaning of complex...

When I think of a complex Disney character, Frollo comes to mind.

I can see Pocahontas in the sequel/towards the end of the first film being a little complex.

I think Frollo is a pretty hard character to understand because he's always so mixed up with what he's doing. Wanting to purge the world of sin and wickedness, considering himself a soldier of God and yet he murders and torments people, and lusts over Esmeralda. He's pretty complex.

Mulan is the most obvious example. Do I really have to explain it? She is a girl who is not a tomboy at all, but nevertheless becomes a soldier. She does it to rescue her father, but her true motivations are way more complex. She wants to find her place in live and proof herself. She changes from someone who is too intelligent to get truly challenged and therefore lazy when it comes to her studies (at least that's how I read her inability to learn those boring rules), to someone who accepts the rigid discipline of military life and pushes herself over her own limits.

Then there is Cinderella (but I don't want to repeat my little speech again).

And Rapunzel? Torn between wanting to be out in the world and yet afraid of it, ready to rebel and yet wanting to please her mother. One could write an essay about her fears.

All of them are in their own way. It's all about interpretation. A character can be complex or simple based solely on who is interpreting them. It all depends on the way people read the text they are given.

Some of them definitely are. Especially the first three. I won't get into detail on this at the moment, but there's SO much more to them than sleeping, singing, and running away.

It's funny how people seem to dismiss/diss the Classics and the Renaissance, while saying Tiana and Elsa and the other Moderns are "all better." Really? I fail to see how the Moderns are better, actually.

^^ Agreed. Because you're *supposed* to see them as complex because they go on the cliche "lesson-teaching road trip with a guy they don't get along with but actually don't change much but it's implied you're to think that". And of course all the Classics are really one monolithic being and are too nice and girly to possibly be complex.

I've always thought Cindy was complex for KL's exact reason. She is hard to understand. Like I said on the other poll, I don't always understand why she does or doesn't do something. Why didn't she tell Charming her name? Why didn't she try to get the Duke's attention before she left? Why didn't she just go in the pink dress as it was instead of worrying about modernizing it?

Aurora too, she's hard to understand because we don't get to know every aspect of her personality (a trait I appreciate, actually, because it's much more interesting than nowadays how you know every modern princesses' favorite color, favorite food, their pet, their hobby, their lucky number, their irrational phobia and what they do with their toenail clippings when they trim them off!). She's layered. Her selflessness goes hand in hand with her spinelessness. We never really know her true reason for going to the castle but we can guess.

Also Jasmine. She's a layered character and frankly I don't understand her sometimes (in a good way!). She's so realistic. She's kind of a brat yet has a generous heart. She has a generous heart yet doesn't seem overly concerned with the suffering of her people despite seeing it first hand. She's harsh and quick to condemn the suitors and seems like the type to hold a grudge yet she forgives Aladdin easily every time.

I don't think that knowing very little about a character makes them complex or more interesting than a character we actually do know about. By that logic, that would mean that all of the background characters in the movie are more interesting than the actual characters in the movie. I definitely wouldn't describe Aurora as complex or any of the Disney Princesses. However, I suppose how complex a character is, is in the eye of the beholder.

I wouldn't call any of the Princesses super complex. I think some have more depth a complexity than others, but none of them are extremely complex. But, a character doesn't have to be extremely complex in order to be a good character. I mean I adore the characters of Minnie and Webby, much more than the character of Frollo, but I wouldn't call either of them as complex as he is. So I think people sometimes confuse complexity with being a good, strong enjoyable character.

Elsa, Mulan, and maybe Cinderella and Aurora