So what do most Disney character females have in common. They expose their shoulders! Only like three are the exception
Snow White – Exception Cinderella – when her dress is torn Alice – Exception Sleeping Beauty – her color changing gown Ariel – Come on Belle – Ballgown Jasmine – Every outfit but her disguise exposes her shoulders Pocahontas – has one shoulder exposed the whole movie Esmeralda – Both outfits do except but her prisoner shift but that has a hole near the shoulder Megara – her strap falls off when she is seducing Hercules in the garden Mulan– Once in the bath and once when she sit up after being injured Jane– wears a sleeveless shirt, shows off half of her shoulders Tiana– Swamp wedding gown Rapunzel – Exception Anna– Coranation dress Elsa – Snow Queen Gown
13 out of 16 Disney Heroines that expose their shoulders.
Esmeralda is the most divergent character in the Disney version from the book in both looks and personality. I already talked about her personality, now let’s look at her looks.
Disney Esmeralda Hunchback of Notre Dame dancing
The Disney Esmeralda looks 100% a traveler*. She has a darker complexion, dark hair, and light green eyes (with no glint). Her eyes also do not change color pending on how much light is in the space, which kind of makes them look witchy. She keeps her hair pulled back which it creates volume. This bigger hair makes her look older. When her hair is down she looks younger. Her hair also has a slight curl. Though in the middle of the epic running away from Frollo, her hair looks straight but that could just be inconsistencies in animation or the wind, take your pick. But it does look straight. However it also fair to point out that this voluminous hairstyle was on trend in the late 90s.
Esmeralda complimenting Quasimodo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Her age is very vague. Most of the Disney characters have a rough age range or they just say how old they are like Ariel and Jasmine. With this shift in Disney heroines being somewhat more independent and less dreamy, they appear to be older than the typical “Disney princess” (except Tiana, I would say she is like a compromise between the archetypal Princess and the confident independent heroine of the late 90s).
The question is how old is Disney’s Esmeralda? With the age inflation that Disney implements, I’d say she most likely 22 at the youngest, which is “old” for a Disney heroine. The long and short of it is, Esmeralda is meant to be older like “she’s been around.” This is not my phasing, watch the commentary, it’s the scene where Esmeralda is helping Quasimodo from the pillory. To listen to the commentary, The DVD.
One reason why this version made her older could have been to help establish her relationship with Quasimodo as more maternal, more like a big sister than romantic. This could have made her pairing with Phoebus appear more palatable for the audience, though given a lot of bad-faith internet discourse it didn’t really work that way.
19th Century Illustration of Esmeralda with Djali
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame Dancing
How Does the Disney Character Design Compare to the Novel?
Against the original novel by Victor Hugo, Esmeralda’s looks are very different. Esmeralda is never described in graphic detail but she’s described as very beautiful frequently by many characters. Disney Esmeralda is meant to be beautiful certainly but she is never called beautiful in the movie. The closest mention to her looks is Clopin saying she’s “The Finest Girl is France.”
19th century Illustration of Esmeralda
Esmeralda’s Dance Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda in the book is not genetically a full traveler*. Her mother is a French women and while her Father could have been a traveler, it is never actually mentioned who was her father.
Esmeralda has a golden skin tone, black hair and black eyes. Part of Esmeralda’s charm in the book is her innocence and her total unawareness of her own beauty. Disney’s Esmeralda is the complete and utter opposite; she knows her appeal, exploits it and given that quote by the director Kirk Wise that I mention earlier, I’m not sure how innocent is in the movie. So it safe to say that Disney did not use Hugo for even a basis of Esmeralda’s design.
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Looking at the concept art, Esmeralda started off looking more youthful and somehow along the way she lost the youthful look. My guess the vocal inspiration turned the tables on the character design. Alas Demi’s Moore doesn’t sound youthful, at least not when the film was recording the voices. For More Concept Art of Hunchback
Esmeralda giving Frollo a peck on the nose Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
It’s actually not Disney’s fault that Esmeralda’s looks/acts sexy whereas Hugo’s Esmeralda did not. The fault lies in the film history of Hunchback movies.
Esmeralda has long been depicted as sexy or at least no stranger to feminine charms. Esmeralda has also been depicted by actresses who are more known for their sex appeal. Such actresses have been Stacia Napierkowska, Theda Bara, Gina Lollobrigida and Salma Hayak. Also Disney models their characters after the voice actor playing them, so with the choice of Demi Moore it was inevitable that Disney Esmeralda was going to be sexy and follow the line of sexy Esmeraldas.
Demi Moore
In a featurette of the movie, Moore said she could see herself in Esmeralda’s animation. While Disney took their cues from the 1939 version, I think Esmeralda’s look was based somewhat on Gina Lollobrigida’s Esmeralda as well as Demi Moore (maybe, I can’t really tell, I haven’t seen a ton of Moore’s films discern her mannerism and/or acting style in Esmeralda’s animation.)
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda Hunchback of Notre Dame 1956
*Since 2021 the blog has been using the words Travelers or Nomads or Romani to convey the group of people that Esmeralda is associated with while trying to be respectful. You can read that post here. I do tend to favor the travelers usage.
Next Character: Esmeralda – The Beautiful Kind Heroine
Esmeralda Dancing, Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda is a Romani dancer who is the subject of the three male main characters’ affections. She’s very beautiful and sensual. In this version Esmeralda is 100% Romani. She has a dark complexion, thick black hair and emerald green eyes, attributive to her name. She wears a white chemise blouse that off shoulder, a blue corset with thin gold stripes, a purple skirt with a darker purple kerchief
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
worn at the hip with coin trim. She wears some gold jewelry; bracelets, an anklet and one gold hoop. She were a pink scarf in her hair to keep her hair back. She has a second outfit, that is used as an formal dance costume.
Esmeralda Dancing, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
It’s red with purple flutter sleeves and a purple sash at the waist. In addition to her normal jewelry she where a bindi and a crown.
Esmeralda and Djail, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda is a very different type of Disney Heroine, she’s mature and not a dreaming of new life. She deals with her lot in life and gets by the best she can. To make a income she dances.She also dabbles in fortune telling. She is also in the company or her goat Djali. Djali acts are her security system, warning her of danger and trying to protect her from would be harm. In the Disney version, Djali doesn’t get her into in trouble like in book. In fact Djali helps her get out of trouble by helping her deguise as an old begger man.
Esmeralda helping Quasimodo, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda’s main motivation is social justice for mainly her own people but also for those on the outskirts of the social order (i.e. Quasimodo). It’s in this way she is the opposition of Frollo and she hates him and defies him every chance she gets. Prior to her defiance she teased/mocked him with her flirtatious dancing during the festival of fools. She also wary of those in power positions. That’s why she didn’t take a shining to Phoebus at first, but his persistent charm and wit won her over (plus saving an innocent family that almost cost him his life didn’t hurt much either).
Esmeralda and Phoebus, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Speaking of Phoebus and Esmeralda here is a little point I would like to make. A few people feel that it was shallow of Esmeralda to choose Phoebus over Quasimodo. In movies, couples are usually established early, you can usually tell whose going to end up together.
Quasimodo accepts Esmeralda and Phoebus as a couple, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
As a I mention in another post Esmeralda and Phoebus only have one scene without either Frollo or Quasimodo and that is where they are both introduced, meaning that their relationship was established before either of them met Frollo or Quasimodo. Also I can’t see Esmeralda and Quasimodo being anything but friends. She treats Quasimodo with kindness and politeness and comes off like an older family member; she really does treat him with kid gloves. There is no passion unlike Esmeralda and Phoebus. The creators wanted a romance between Esmeralda and Phoebus and that what the movie worked towards.
Esmeralda and Djali having a little fun, Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
As far of Esmeralda’s personality, she’s kind, she has a dry wit and she’s loyal to her friends. She is very resourceful, for example Phoebus owns his life to her make-shift sling shot that saved him from decapitation. She also has a bit of mischievous streak. During the chase after she frees Quasimodo she looks like she is legitimately having fun avoiding arrest while raising some hell. She also uses her feminine charms to get what she wants. She uses it to earn money from dancing but she also gives Quasimodo a peak on the check to get him to allow her to visit him. She is very physically fit; she dances, very agile in a fight (or chase), she can swim underwater, hold her breath long enough to get Phoebus out of his armor and pull up in record time.
Esmeralda exerting some power Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
She also has seems to have some sway in the Court of Miracles as she can stop executions and order the people to leave. She also can seem to refer people to the Court, not sure if that map/cryptic instructions she gave Quasimodo are standard issue in the Court of Miracles or if she is some high rank there. Not only that but the other Rpmani wouldn’t say her location, meaning either they’re loyal to their fellow Romani or she is respected. She also seems to have a close relationship to Clopin who like in the book is leader in the Court of Miracles. She performs with him and he not put off with her meddling in the hanging of Quasimodo and Phoebus, which Clopin seem to be enjoying. It seems to me that she must hold some power amongst her people or the Court of Miracle is egalitarian.
Esmeralda singing “God Help the Outcast” Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda is not a dynamic character. She remains consistent throughout the movie; she’s mature, self-confident and kind at the beginning and she remains that way throughout the end. The only aspect about that changes is her feelings towards Phoebus. In defense of static characters, Esmeralda is not a dynamic character in the book either and Disney doesn’t do dynamic characters very often.
Frollo arresting Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda is not a typical heroine, the scarps she gets into are serious. She’s almost arrested, assaulted in a church, threaten, hunted down by a control-freak mad man, almost burned, nearly dies of asphyxiation and then chased with a six foot sword a top a massive edifice. Makes other Disney heroine’s tribulations look like a child’s play. All she really did to get into all that trouble was being a Romani and a defying a powerful public official; she stayed in trouble because of her beauty and sex appeal.
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre dame
I admit it was refreshing to see a different type of heroine when I first saw the movie in 1996 and it’s great that Disney ventured outside the profitable typical Disney heroine. If Hunchback had come out before this shift in heroine Esmeralda could have easily fit into the Disney princess line.
Now if your thinking “Esmeralda’s not a princess” well I would say neither is Mulan but let me explain some minor points. The Disney Princess brand isn’t actually about the characters being princesses it’s about how their movies did with girls in a certain age demographics, hence why Esmeralda isn’t in the line up already although she was at one point in time. But if Esmeralda behaved more like Ariel, Belle, or Jasmine, a dreamer wanting more, she may have done better with young girls, though it’s hard to say.
I suppose the creators thought Quasimodo fit the dreamer model better than Esmeralda and she would do better as an agent of Quasimodo’s liberation from being a focused shut-in. But another point worth mentioning is Esmeralda in the book fits the Disney princess mold very well and she was very well regarded in the Court of Miracles. So making like a princess wouldn’t have been a stretch and she does dream of a different life with regards to Phoebus. I wonder if Disney regrets this since the Disney Princess line was establish in 2001.
Esmeralda, Quasimodo and Phoebus leaving Notre Dame
